Saturday, March 5, 2011

Dissident of Dreams

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us by Linda Christensen

Argument

Linda Christensen argues that children unconsciously have their ideals shaped through cartoons and other media.
We are all products of our environment.  Everything we see leaves an imprint on us, especially when younger.  Many cartoons and other media leave us with a small imprint, an expectation of values, that is distorted in some way, whether it be racially, socioeconomically, or sexist.  The "secret education" given to our children is one that must be questioned.  Only after it is questioned, can it be understood and applied to the world in a broader sense.  Christensen's other message is that an outlet needs to be formed.  It is not good to hold in all the thoughts and disgust these stereotypical media create.  Writing about it, to provoke others to search their own thoughts and those hidden in media, or creating projects that can be presented to family, church groups, members of the community, or beyond, is how she had her students cope.  Being frustrated with the tactics used in media and knowing that many of their dreams were by-products of ill-meaning childhood was crushing for many of her students.  After coming to terms with that, they were tasked with spreading the word to others, to help create a network of more informed people, distancing themselves from such media.
The most important aspect of her argument?  Don't keep it inside - unleash it on the world in a way that can help others see.

Reading this article, I thought back to many of the cartoons I watched as a child.  Most were dominated by white males.  Females were either no present or helpless.  And trying to think if there were different races, I can't remember any off the top of my head.  Did you watch any cartoons (or something else) that breaks this pattern and might make Christensen happy?

Just like Racism, it's not always easy to spot things in cartoons and other media.

3 comments:

  1. Good argument. As a kid, I don't think that I ever watched a cartoon that included a different race besides white Americans. Like SCWAAMP says, America values Whiteness and Maleness. This is definitely seen through cartoons. There really never are women who are significant. There are no other races. The men are always the superheroes, while the women are the less important people who are looking for a man to make them happy.

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  2. This article definitely made me question what kind of media I would think about exposing my own children to. I agree with you that I don't remember watching any cartoons with characters of other races. I do remember watching the PBS show 'Arthur' a lot. All of the characters were different animals. (I guess it doesn't say much about racial diversity, but I guess it promotes diversity in general.) The show did include some social justice kind of ideals though. I remember that Arthur's best friend was raised by a single mom, and that Francine's family was poor, and she was just as athletic as any of the boys. I would like to think there are some good shows out there for kids to enjoy.

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  3. i agree with this. in order to prevent this it does need to be spoken about and spread. we can't just keep it in because it will not help the problem. however do you think that little kids pick up the same things that we are talking about? that the only thing that i question.

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