Blog #4

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us
Christensen and Karp

1. "As Tatum's research suggests, the stereotypes and worldview embedded in the stories become accepted knowledge."

These little cute cartoons we watched as kid incorporate serious stereotypes. This has been brought to my attention before this, but this article opens my eyes to how intense the issue is. Children are so suseptible to information, if a child watches tv featuring a white hero and black vilian over and over again, they will start to associate white with good and balck with bad. This makes sense to me, I mean it is pretty much pyschology 101.

2. "The students start to notice patterns -- Like the absense of female characters in many old cartoons."

These patterns reinforce ideas that were already in effect in society. During the time when women were absent was probably the time when women were kept in the kitchen, they were deemed useless within the whole of society. These cartoons probably helped to reinforce dangerous ideas that were already in place at the time of original airing. Adding to the vicious cycle of women being silence, whether by absence or by showcasing them as simply sex symbols, as if was all women were used for, all they were good for. " Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption..." This was already the mood of the day, and helped facilitate little girls into feeling useless.

3. "Turning off cartoons doesn't stop the sexism and racism."

These ideas, sadly, are a huge factor in our society, he is right its not just cartoons its everywhere. These images are all over our tvs, radios, and magazines, the whole of the media. Probably because we have been so brainwashed as a society that we now find these things funny, when they are not they are harmful to us as people and as a community. These ideas teach our children to see the world of people as unequal. As a young girl you better be pretty, boys better like sports, or your in for trouble. making jokes in the media in regards to stereotypes these problems are never going to end.

I enjoyed reading this article. He kept my interest, I really liked that he included his students thoughts and reactions into this piece, he actually cared you know, what his students took from his lesson matted to him. It was legitimate enough for him to include in his analyses, i know that its not what this article was about but it made me think about other ways to be a good teacher. Never forget to pat your students on the back remind them that they are intelligent creatures, not to just tell them when they are incorrect. This man saw his students as allies, as associates.