Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us 

By: Linda Christensen 

"Quotes"

This article really opened my eyes to these issues that are exposed to us since as young as we remember. A lot of the sexism and racism that was talked about in this related back to Walt Disney. It's crazy to actually think about and realize that movies and cartoons that we always saw as normal, really have underlining issues that are not clearly shown on the surface. This whole piece talks about these myths that are within the story lines that are going right over our heads. A lot of them shocked me but when I typed "sexism and racism in Disney" into Google, tons of examples came up. Towards the end and a little throughout of this, Linda Christensen talks about how people can be more aware of what is out there in these movies. I think it really all comes down to more and more people being aware so that children don't get expose to these things. Even though they might be too young to even catch on, they're being exposed to it and those are the things that they are being taught. That is the way they are thinking life should be. 

"Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream." 

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"When we read children's books, we aren't just reading cute little stories, we are discovering the tools with which a young society is manipulated." 

(Christensen,Page 126)

I thought Cinderella was a good example to go along with this quote because this movie showed that fairy tale life that everyone wants to live up to. After watching this movie as kids, we now assume that step siblings are just horrible because we think of her situation. I think this movie shows that looks will get you wherever you want to be. Her step sisters weren't as good looking as her and in the end, she got that guy who chased after her. This makes us go crazy about our relationships also. We all want that "prince charming", who does all these grand things and is seen as the "perfect guy". We have these thoughts in our head of what our boyfriend should look like and act and we create these high, unrealistic standards because we saw this movie as kids. 

"Woman who aren't white begin to feel left out and ugly because they never get to play the princess." ( Christensen, Page 131)

This quote touches on the fact that all our disney princess's were white until a certain time. Even though there are princess's now in Walt Disney that are of color and different cultures, they are still not the popular ones. When some one says name a Disney princess, most people go straight to and say, "Snow White, Cinderella , Ariel and Belle." All these characters are white and those were the first Disney princesses that we were exposed to. Those are the templates of what a princess should look like and that definitely leaves people out. My point here is that there are people who think a princess should look a certain way. Even though there are colored princesses, not everyone agrees with it. I think it is great and it is important that everyone can feel special and know that they can live up to the standards of a princess. 

"At first glance the precocious ducks are cute, but look closer and see that the whole show is based on money." (Christensen, Page 136)

 I choose to include this quote just because it shocked me a lot. Just this past Christmas, I watched this DVD I had with a little girl I baby sit and it was all these different stories involving Mickey Mouse characters. There was this one episode that was focused on Donald Duck and his family. I've watched this tons of times in my life and I never once thought of the main focus to be money. Now, looking and thinking back I see where she's coming from with that statement. This proves that these cartoons have their way of manipulating children and in ways I think we all can connect. 

Connecting to Text: 

We can make the connection to Grinner's activity SCWAAMP. Mainly, the letter W, Whiteness. We value whiteness so much that we only had white princesses for awhile and now we have a few princesses that are different races. A Disney Princess was always thought to be as white and that's the problem. You don't need to be white to be a princess. 

Questions/Comments/Points to Share: 

I think this is important and makes us think of what myths we picked up on from children movies. I know one myth that stuck with me is the prince charming from Cinderella. Obviously, I know that's crazy but I do make jokes and say that Prince Charming would of done this, and Prince Charming would do that. It's a list of requirements that this film put in our head's of what a relationship should be like.