Talking Points IV

Linda Christensen
Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

The author argues that mass media defines what makes up our children’s thought process and that their standards and ideas come from these movies, music, etc that shape how they will be. For girl’s movies, magazines, and celebrities show them what is beautiful and what isn’t. For guys they are depicted as buff, wealthy, not so smart etc so these are followed.
“Then students start to notice patterns-like the absence of female characters in many of the older cartoons. When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds-even in many of the new and improved children’s movies.”
Many girls today feel like they have to look up to these standards that are placed in front of them. Many of the celebrities that they see on television or in magazines are curvy, big boobs, have tans etc. You could say this leads girls to become aneorexic, bulimic, getting more plastic surgeries so that they can achieve this so called beauty that is displayed to them on TV.
“Have you ever seen a black person, an Asian, a Hispanic in a cartoon? Did they have a leading role or were they a savant? What do you think this is doing to your child’s mind?”
I felt this quote was very helpful because it shows that once again being white has its advantages because if you are white then you are beautiful, have a better life etc. If you’re a minority then you are a servant someone who is uneducated etc etc. Although some people might not see this as anything it is an issue. There could be girls or boys out there who feel insecure about themselves because they aren’t white and they feel that being dark skinned is considered ugly. Today though there has been a tendency towards a shift to having that tan color but it isn’t really tan it’s more of an orange. Many movies though like in Disney all the princesses aren’t dark skinned they are white have freckles etc. This sets a standard and that being dark skinned isn’t considered beautiful.
“For some the lesson doesn’t end in the classroom. Many who watched the cartoons before we start our study they say they can no longer enjoy them. Now instead of seeing a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see the racism, sexism, and violence that swim under the surface of the stories.”
I thought this was helpful because at like in Johnson how we just can’t hide and ignore the facts. These students looked farther and now that the information is in front of them they can’t look at what they used to think was funny and cute. It just isn’t in cartoons it’s in pretty much everything we see today movies, billboards, magazines, shows. There is a hidden message that is showing kids and teenagers how one must be or what is considered the right way. Through all these messages they have the same result they show some group of people being the correct way and others being the wrong whether it is race or gender.
I thought this article was very good, but tough at the same time. Most of these cartoons and movies we were raised on and nobody would ever think that racism, sexism would ever be in there. When I was little I wouldn’t have ever thought that Peter Pan would have bad messages in it. When we are children we still have our innocence and don’t realize these deep messages, when we get older though and look back we see the depictions of people and how there is a lot of messages in there that are negative.
I related this article to something I learned before in my sociology class. On the show Jackass it has guys doing stupid stunts and hurting themselves. Although this does have humor to it, there is a stereotype that does develop. It shows guys as stupid and acting ridicolous and doing dangerous stunts. Many young kids watch this and many of them act like this and immitate this behavior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNXhIAgxTk