Christensen

Linda Christensen – Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

Quotes:

1. 1."We are not only taught certain styles of violence, the latest fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic strips; we are also taught how to succeed, how to love, how to buy, how to conquer, how to forget the past and suppress the future. We are taught more than anything else, how to not rebel.”

-          I found this quote to be very strong in summarizing the majority of this article. Christiensen gives us countless examples of how the media is obviously and also subconsciously teaching us negative things from such a young age. I believe in the last sentence when she says we are taught to not rebel she is referring more to staying in social norms. Kids are taught almost right away how to look and behave in order to be seen in a good light or as the “good guy/girl”.

2.  2. "Both of these tales leave young women with two myths: Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from the wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption - in their case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle.”

-          Sadly, this statement is all too true. When I was younger I remember doing “make-overs” with my friends all of the time. We would do everything from makeup to facial masks to improve our skin. Looking back, we probably all got the idea to do these make-overs from movies like Cinderella or Clueless type movies with montages where the “ugly” girl turns into someone beautiful and popular.  Christensen also mentions on the page before about how when women finally do appear in cartoons they’re like Jessica Rabbit (sexy, busty, and with scarcely any clothing).                                                                                                                                                

3. 3. "But more importantly, students saw themselves as actors in the world. They were fueled by the opportunity to convince some parents of the long-lasting effects cartoons impose on their children, or to enlighten their peers about the roots of some of their insecurities.”

-          Assignments like this one that Christensen had her student’s complete do a great job at engaging their minds and interests. Rather than just having them realize how children’s cartoons affect our youth not just now but in their future, she gets them socially involved. She proves this to be a successful method in keeping them interested in the topic and giving them a positive outlet to release any anger they may be feeling about it. They also helped others by putting the information out there in their community.

Questions/Comments/Points To Share:

It’s disheartening when we first realize that the childhood movies we’ve loved contain “secret education”.  The media seems to be trying to rid some stereotypes in children’s movies but I can’t help but think that the sole purpose for this is for the image. They have just recently made a movie about a black princess, could this be because of people constantly mentioning the lack of one? There was a lack of females in cartoons then came women like Jessica Rabbit. Is that the image we wanted to portray to the young girls in our children’s shows?