Christensen

Tiffany Scoco
Dr. Corinne McKamey
FNED:346
2 October 2018

"Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us." By Linda Christensen

Summary of Article:

The author is talking about how she was raised in American culture. She says that children’s books and movies teaches children to accept the world as portrayed in these social blueprints. The world around us depicts a dominant race, gender, class and country, these books and movies are teaching this to our children. They look like cute childrens books and movies but in reality they are manipulating our children into thinking these qualities are true of the world around them. Cartoons are also a major influence on children and their way of thinking. It’s one of the first ways children learn about other people and cultures. Children don’t have a lot of experience in the real world so they get their information from parents, books, movies and cartoons. If any of these things have incorrect information or misinform the children, the children wouldn’t know the difference and they would believe their parents, a book, a movie or a cartoon. Meaning that they now believe stereotypes and worldview embedded in these stories that is potentially incorrect and potentially offensive to other races or cultures. The author explains how she tries to take apart these books and movies with her students so they understand the real world not just stereotypes. The author wants her students to critique portrayals of hierarchy and inequality in books and movies, as well as think of a better world with respect and equality. The author then talks about true death is generations living by rules and attitudes that aren't questioned and producing children who do the same. She has her students look at old cartoons because they are the easiest to see the injustice in our society. The author then talks about how there are never any princess who are other races, they are usually all white. This makes young girls who aren’t white feel inferior and ugly. The author says we all need to stop worrying about the self images others create, we need to create our own self images and stop being influenced by others. The author has her students write an essay critiquing cartoons, the students use different cartoons to backup their arguments. In the essays her students talk about seeing racism, sexism and different social classes in cartoons as well as tv commercials and advertising. The author then had her students create a project they could pick a cartoon, commercial or advertisement and discuss the representation of race, gender, class and country within the article they choose. Some children got their project published in local newspapers and church newsletters. The teacher provided the students with an opportunity to make a real change in the world warning parents of what cartoons are children friendly and their long lasting effects on children. Personal Connections / Relate to article / My thoughts : As a child, I personally loved some of the cartoons mentioned in the article like Popeye, Looney Tunes, Duck Tales, Princess movies and more. Looking back, I never realized that these cartoons had so many stereotypes and worldviews in them. As a child I watched these characters doing funny things and I enjoyed watching them. For me as a child, tv was an escape from the real world, from homework and schoolwork, and from my life. As an adult and after reading this article it makes me second guess my tv choices because I never knew that these cartoons had so many stereotypes and worldviews within them. As a child, I loved the Princess Jasmine and Aladdin movie it was my favorite Princess movie and still is to this day. Watching these Princess movies as a child made me wonder if I was ever going to be as pretty as the Princesses. It also made me think if my body didn't look like their bodies then I would never find my Prince. I don’t want my future daughters to feel like that. I want them to know they are beautiful just the way they are and they don’t need to change a thing about them. It makes me wonder if I am a bad person having watched these cartoons and enjoying them so much. As well as wondering if my parents and my teachers and the creator of the cartoon are bad, because they are the people who allowed me to watch these cartoons as well as created them. After reading this article, I don't think I'm going to allow my children to watch these cartoons because I don't want them thinking that these stereotypes and worldviews are true. I want my children to be well rounded and open to all cultures. Point to share:
"The "secret education," as Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman dubs it, delivered by children's books and movies, instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints."
This quote is talking about the impact that books movies and cartoons have on children. Children read these books or watch movies that contain sterotypes and worldviews which cause children to believe them. We need to make sure our children know better. We need to teach them that sterotypes are not something you should believe and we need to teach our children to have open minds as well as to be open to all races and cultures.
Link to Article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0NEFOT1BJZXVnZnM/view