Hyperlinks and Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

In her article, Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us, Linda Christensen explains the various stereotypes that can be found in children’s movies, television shows, cartoons, and literature. As a teacher, Christensen, wanted her students to analyze these various form of media and uncover the racial, gender, and class stereotypes that they portray. While doing this she wanted her students to realize how much of an impact the media had on them. Her goal was to expose them to the mass ideologies that society has and encourage her students to try and not buy into them. By the end of this project, Christensen endorsed her students to complete projects, write articles for newspapers, and reexamine the way they feel about the media‘s portrayal of certain people.

At the beginning of the lesson, it was hard for the students to accept that they had been manipulated by the media or that some of their views came from what the media has exposed them to. It was especially hard for some of them to even accept that such blatant stereotyping was in some of their favorite childhood movies. It is difficult to think that the movie you loved as a child and watched a hundred times could be brimming with terrible labels and false representations. As a child, you simply absorb whatever messages the film, television show, cartoon, or book are giving you. It is easy to believe that all Native Americans wear headdresses, live in teepees, and dance around fires like the ones in Peter Pan do.

Christensen and her students looked at various types of media and analyzed their portrayals of men, women, poor people, rich people, people of different ethnicities, and people with different body types. From this research they found out many powerful things. For example, they found that there was a lack of female characters in many of the media they looked at. When there was a female character, she was usually overly sexual, submissive, or completely dependent on a male. Many of the students were outraged by what they discovered and some even threatened to boycott media all together until better representations were created.

Disney has been one of the companies that has come under much scrutiny for their portrayal of women, men, and various ethnic groups. This website shows nine of the worst racial stereotypes that Disney has had in their films, cartoons, and books. In Christensen’s article, she notes the portrayal of Arabs in an episode of Popeye, “later, the 40 thieves come riding through the town stealing everything-food, an old man’s teeth, numbers off a clock-even the stripe off a barber pole”. This description is very close to the portrayal of the merchant and some of the other characters in Aladdin. As an adult, it is interesting to look at some of these characters and think how you just accepted them at face value when you were a child and now cringe at their derogatory fallacies.

This video also contains many racial stereotypes that are portrayed in television shows and movies that are aimed at children. While many of these examples are from Disney movies, Betty Boop, Looney Toons, and The Flintstones are also included. From these clips we can assume that all African Americans have very harsh Southern accents, are incapable of speaking in complete and coherent sentences, and look like the terrible “Mammy” archetype. We can also assume that people of Asian descent like karate, wear glasses, and constantly have very stereotypical Asian music playing near them. These examples are what contribute to the “secret education” children are receiving from the media.

The last page that I found goes along with Christensen’s overall goal for her class. This website lists ways for parents to combat stereotypes and teach their children about them. While simple, the suggestions on this page can be a useful tool in teaching children to not buy into biases. By exposing children to different types of people, different types of media portrayals, and different ways of life, it may be easier to prevent them from absorbing the mass ideologies in our society. If parents help to mold their children’s opinions early on, perhaps they can prevent them from becoming mindless absorbers of the media’s messages.

Talking Point:

In class I would like to discuss why Disney seems to be the main company under attack for their stereotypical depictions. While I believe they are a main contributor, I do not think they are the only perpetrator. It was extremely difficult to find anything about Nickelodeon’s shows or movies. I am certain that Nickelodeon is also guilty of perpetuating some stereotypical images. It is difficult for me to believe that the same research on Disney’s sometimes negative portrayal of women, men, certain ethnic groups, and the like have not also been applied to Nickelodeon.