Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us by Linda Christensen

Reading Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us made me come to a realization that what I thought were innocent children's movies weren't actually so innocent. I couldn't believe how awful the subliminal messages behind movies like Snow White and Beauty and the Beast were. Christensen states "Many students don't want to believe that they have been manipulated by children's media or advertising" (128) Which is exactly true. The messages were always there, I never missed them. It was just that at a young age I had no reason to suspect that a movie would mold my mind the wrong way. And the worst part is that this continues to happen to children everyday when they watch most anything they see on t.v.

The roles women played in the movies of my childhood were gender restrained and stereotypical. Its disgusting to look back at the movies I would watch and not see a single African American family even. Children watch these movies to craft dreams and find hope in their futures. But a little African American girl growing up in poverty isn't granted the dream of being a princess because movies depict that you have to be wealthy or white and perfectly good looking to be successful or be a princess. This reminded me about our conversation about SCWAAMP. This can cause children to want to change who they are to match what they see in movies. Little girls suddenly think they are too fat and need to diet in order to be successful, and that is just absolutely wrong. Children need to embrace who they are and be proud of what they look like. Healthy is more important than skinny.

Talking points: What shows on television give off the wrong ideas about looks? How can we stop this idea that perfection has a weight limit? I think there needs to be more movies about princesses saving their prince and on that note, two princesses or two princes that get married.