Saturday, February 1, 2014

Unlearning the Myths That Bind US by: Linda Christensen




         This was a very interesting article. The author discussed points about cartoons and Disney movies that were created by a society driven secret.  Many people, myself included, have been blinded to the “secret education” that these movies and cartoons are displaying. I’m not even so sure if blinded is the right word to use… maybe denial is. I didn't like how they were picking apart the childhood movies that I grew up watching and still enjoy to watch as being something unfair and unfriendly. I didn't want to believe this article but you also can’t ignore the issues they presented. I decided to talk about three quotes from this text that stood out to me. “Our society’s culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream.” This point is saying that we are given the “vision” of how to be an average person instead of being an individual and creating our own thoughts about the world and ourselves. This is relevant to the text because it is explaining how our minds are being warped by society’s influence and can play a role into what we think about media and its influences.  Another quote I choose is “the second hand information we receive has often been distorted, shaped by cultural stereotypes, and left incomplete.” I found this to be a very powerful message. If you think about it, most of the information you here probably comes from another person. When you hear that information you often take it as being the truth, for some things this can be very naive. This is relevant to the text because as children, you grow up listening to your parents and expecting that the information they tell you is true. You are less likely to question things when you are being influenced. Just like watching a movie or cartoon show, you are less likely to ask what the really meaning behind it is or if there is one.  My final quote is “many students don’t want to believe that they have been manipulated by children’s media or advertising.” This was another strong statement because I can relate to this. This pretty much speaks for itself. The students are getting upset at the fact that they might not be the individual they are because media and society has played a huge role in their decisions. Its relevant to the text because it could be one of the main reasons why students/teens have not been able to see the “secret education” in these movies/cartoons.


*Class discussion comment- p.134, fourth paragraph; “Don’t you ever get tired of over analyzing everything?” I think this would be very interesting to discuss in class and see how many people either analyze everything, analyze some things, or don’t think about things at all.