Talking Points 2

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us
by: Linda Christensen
Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us is an article about how a woman named Linda Christensen helps her students to see how the media send us bad messages through kids and teens. Christensen refers to this as "secret education", therefore implying that we are completely manipulated by the media and I have to agree. Christensen challenges us to look at cartoons and children movies and to really read into them and the messages that they may be sending out. She wants us to look beyond the cute charecters, animals or clothes and try to see exactly what or whom they are trying to portray. She refers to the Little Mermaid and how Ursula the sea witch is the ugly, dark woman who also happens to be very smart and the young pretty one, Ariel, only has one concern and it is how is she going to hook her man. Christensen also takes us back to the movie "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves", where all the Arabic men have the same face and bodies and they are portrayed to all be thieves, stealing food and such. She even goes onto mention that there is a point in the movie where Popeye drags Olive Oyl through the desert in a dog collar. I think that the most difficult part to understanding this article is how did I not notice these horrible messages before. Are we really that brainwashed by the media that we can't see racism, sexism and other different types of prejudices when they are staring us directly in the face. To tie in all of Christensen's thoughts throughout her lessons she had her students go to various lengths to send out the message. Some students developed pamphlets and newsletters that they had handed out at PTA meetings, churches, newspapers, and magazines. I think this is a wonderful idea to do in the classroom because what is the sense of learning if you can't share your knowledge with other people. Overall, I really enjoyed this article and learned that I will definitely think twice next time I see children watching cartoons.