Monday, March 8, 2010

Talking points #4
"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us"
By: Linda Christensen

Linda Christenson argues that we have to go live our lives the way we want to and not the way we are “supposed” to according to society’s rules. There is no right or wrong way to live your life. Linda Christensen wants us to pick apart all of the cartoons that we see on TV and what we see in the movies that kids watch to find out where the discrimination, sexism, racism, and the jesters towards the rich and poor.

1 - "We look at the roles women, men, people of color, and poor people play in cartoons." In the cartoons from way back in the day, there are not a lot of women movie stats or even roles for women. When women were first introduced to movies and films, they would be all dolled up. Looking beautiful, better than the average. All young girls and even women looked up to the female characters on TV and in movies. This is when stereotyping was born. This was the jester that told all women what the ideal character looks like to attract men and to get whatever they want in life.

2 - “When we read children’s books we aren’t just reading cute little stories, we are discovering the tools with which a young society is manipulated”. Little kids don’t really pay too much attention to the messages in the stories or the morals at the end of the stories; they just pick up on things they are interested in. When I used to work at a day camp one of my kids, Joey, knew how to read a Thomas the Train book all by himself. He was only 3. He would even hold the book upside down, but once he flipped that page and recognized the picture he knew exactly what words went with it. Today I watch cartoons and movies and I see a lot of hidden messages I have never seen before. Some or very sexual messages and some or even suicidal messages, like in the Wizard of OZ, one of the guys who auditioned to be one of the characters didn’t get the part, and in the back of a scene he hangs himself. I do not believe that this is right for kids to be seeing.

3 - “I’m not taking my kids to see any Walt Disney movies until they have a black woman playing the leading role”. It’s so hard to explain to a child why there aren’t any black women with leading roles. It’s just like telling a child why there aren’t too many black dolls to play with. My little cousin Joia, is half African American and Italian, as she was growing up we always tried to give a mix selection of colored dolls. One day she asked why there were whiter baby dolls then black baby dolls. All I could say to her was that the new black baby dolls haven’t arrived yet. I don’t see why film producers don’t take into consideration that this is a multicultural society and a multiracial world, and that it’s ok to mix race in characters.

I liked reading this article. It made me see that not everyone does see or except that we are a multiracial and multicultural society. Children are not exposed to diversity very much in the media. They always see the same thing. A white doll, or a white movie star, and we wonder why children aren’t familiar with different races and cultures it’s because society does not allow them to be familiar with such things.

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