Blog #5 Unlearning the Myths that Blind Us

After reading this article I can defiantly say that I agree with everything that was written.  I loved how Christensen made her class think about all the things that go on inside the media and how the media is so influential to young viewers.  I first thing that came to my mind when I started reading this was commercials.  Perfect example of this is the smoking ads in the 90's.  At that point in time smoking ad's had been around forever we all remember the Marlboro Man, but they started getting a little more geared toward kids and I would say parents started to notice more about these commercials and the health risks of smoking were more known by then as well. So in turn the took them off the TV.  As I continued to read I started thinking about the cartoons that I watched as a child and started thinking about Popeye and then when I turned the paged she referenced Popeye and I laughed.  I thought about when I was a kid my Uncle was a huge Popeye fan and we would watch the show all the time.  That show is one of the worst ones I could think of and Christensen seemed to think so too.  If you really look at it Popeye was the "Man's Man".  Always the hero, had a lot of pride and was rugged so was Bluto.  Then look at Olive Oil.  As women were looked at in the 40's you were supposed to be super skinny, Olive was, women were looked at as kind of ditzy and Olive was, and then she was always looking for the stronger man.  Think about what that does for both women and men or shall I say boys and girls.  It shows kids that if you are a boy you have to be tough and strong and a hero and you'll get the girl.  And as girls it shows that they have to be pretty, skinny and just go with the man that is the strongest.  This video of Popeye was the one that came to mind when she started talking about how cartoons portray anyone other than whites or even white Americans.  Popeye always shows any other ethnic group is weaker than White Americans.  The video is about Popeye and the Indians at least that's what its called they are not called Native Americans.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baUIo7Gg4J8

There are so many things in the media that as kids we see and want to be like.  As men we need the nice cloths, nice shoes, nice cars, money, in shape, and popularity to get the girls.  And as women they need to have some of the same things but used differently.  Women need the nice cloths, nice shoes, makeup, skinny/in shape, and popularity to get the guys.  That couldn't be any more untrue but the media makes us think like that through magazines, TV shows, movies, and so much more.  It's worse now than it was when I was a kid. 

I can't sit here and say all media is bad and all cartoons are terrible and our children shouldn't watch them.  I think as parents we should stay on top of what our kids watch and teach them right and wrong and about different things in society and life. Teachers can do this as well just like Christensen did in her class.  I couldn't never take cartoons away from kids some of my favorite memories are watching cartoons with my brother and my father on Saturday mornings.  It's just about how you teach our children what certain things are good and what things are bad.