Talking Points #4

"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us" Linda Christensen
Kaitlyn Paolino

1. "Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live,and dream. This indoctrination hits young children especially hard. The "secret education" as Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman dubs it, delivered by children's books and movies, instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these societal blueprints." (126)

The society we live in, as well as the media that presents itself (movies, television, books, etc.) does indeed tell the people of our world how to "act,live, and dream." It shows what is acceptable and what is not, but by who's standards? I believe that this does hit children hard because some will realize that the culture they are from is not represented at all, or in a positive way through the media. This is difficult, and I like the term used by Ariel Dorfman, "secret education." I think that is a perfect way to describe the way the media teaches children and others to live their life. Furthermore,it is secret because many aspects through the media are not straightforward and a person has to read into a little more to see the message it is sending.

2. "She ended her piece: 'Women who aren't white begin to feel left out and ugly because they never get to play the princess.' Kenya's piece bristled with anger at society that rarely acknowledges the wit or beauty of women of her race. And she wasn't alone in her feelings. Sabrina wrote, 'I'm not taking my kids to see any Walt Disney movies until they have a black woman playing the lead role." (131)

I have seen very few movies where women other than white women were playing a princess. I think that society needs to do a better job of acknowledging the women and men of different races. I believe that many people, like Kenya and Sabrina, feel this way. Furthermore, when she says she won't take her children to see Walt Disney movies, it's funny because Disney just came out with "The Princess and the Frog" with a black woman as the lead role. However, even with that step, Tatiana (the lead role) is from a poor family where her mom is a maid for a wealthy white family. In the end, she does become a princess, however, before that she is how many black characters are portrayed as in other movies (poor and maids).

3. "Turning off the cartoon doesn't stop the sexism and racism. They can't escape, and now that they've started analyzing cartoons, they can't stop analyzing the rest of the world."(134)

This is true. Despite hoping when you turn off the television the racism and sexism will stop, it won't. It's been around for too long and people without realizing will constantly say something that could be offensive. Furthermore, after reading this article, like those students, I find myself analyzing more and it does get frustrating.


This article was very interesting and another eye-opener. It makes me analyze more aspects of the media and question things as well. I like how this article gave examples and most of them I knew and after thinking about it realized how true and stereotypical these movies and cartoons are. I believe that the media is dangerous to the youth of our society. If young people see this portrayals as real, nothing will ever be done to stop them. Like Johnson said, everyone is a part of the problem and everyone needs to be apart of the solution.