Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us by Linda Christensen

Unlearning the Myths that Binds Us by Linda Christensen is something every parent or adult that lives with a child should read. Linda Christensen goes in depth of the "secret education". One quote that stuck out to me in the very beginning of the reading was: "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." After finishing the Christensen reading all I could think of is my little cousins and my niece whom every time I'm with them I often just change the channel to cartoons to keep them quiet, not realizing that the cartoons are having an effect on their lives. When I was younger watching cartoons was my hobby. In school I was always anxious to go home because as soon as I did, I would watch cartoons. So after reading Christensen and seeing all the cartoons I watched when I was younger be interpreted, my eyes opened and I began to realize certain points and be like oh my, that was my favorite scene or that was my favorite character, I remember just watching certain cartoon shows because it was is at school or that was what everyone was watching and I didn't want to feel left out. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was one of my favorite cartoon movies and after reading Christensen it reminded me of a scene from the movie which was Valiant being introduced to Jessica Rabbit. And after watching it recently it just baffled me to see how older men were going crazy for this cartoon female because of her body shape. But then I thought, she's suppose to be a rabbit but yet has no rabbit like features but her husband Roger does.


So my question to everyone is: What do you do if you see a relative watching a cartoon that is negative, sexist, or racist? How can you stop a child from watching a cartoon show that he/she has began to love so much?

My 16 year old brother to this day still watches cartoon shows that are negative in many ways but yet I know it would be difficult for me to stop him from watching because in his eyes its just "entertainment" when it is something completely different.


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