Talking Point #4

Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us
By: Linda Christensen

Premise:
-"secret education"
-manipulation
-power
-accepted knowledge
-cartoons
-media
-advertising
-generalizations-
stereotypes
-race
-sex
-social class

Argument:
- Christensen argues that, "Our society's culture industry colonizes [children's] minds and teaches them how to act, live and dream." Through child media, domination can be seen in the categories of sex, class and race.

Evidence:
-It is very common that people of color play no or little role in many child films.
-One of Christensen's students discusses the show "Duck Tales" as a specific example showing that when children watch this show all they will think is that money is the most important thing in life.
-Some of Christensen's students noted that after analyzing some cartoons they realized that the underlying messages in these cartoons effected they way they thought while they were growing up.

Comments:
- I thought this article was very interesting. It was really easy to read because it wasn't very long and not as easy to get lost in. I also think it was easy to read because it has to do with cartoons. It was interesting to read the ways that different cartoons or movies affect our society. One part of the article that I really enjoyed was where the students explained the project they did on the different cartoons. You see these cartoons on television everyday but, you never really think about the message they are sending until you stop to analyze them. I was shocked to see that when I thought about some of my favorite cartoons growing up I realized they didn't imply the best things about sex and race. I would like to know more about the way that cartoons and child films impact their viewers.