"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us" by Linda Christensen
After reading what Christensen wrote about cartoons and the media we expose children to it made me rethink a lot of what I knew as a child and what we still expose children to. It gave me a new perspective looking at certain companies, stories and characters that are/have been popular. As a child I don't really remember being exposed to the fact that there were stereotypes around me or being taught about diversity or anything along those lines. I knew people came from different places and had different skin tones, but overall I was a young white girl who was mainly exposed to things with predominantly white characters, and very often males too. I wasn't very aware of the problem with that as a child, but now as diversity and equal rights and representation are becoming a bigger movement they are slowly becoming more prevalent in cartoons and things geared towards young children.
I have three young cousins, 2 girls and a boy, and seeing their toys and TV shows is interesting since there are more princesses of color and characters are changing sometimes versus what I saw. I think there is some movement in the right direction. And like many little girls, my cousin Brooke really loves princesses, and right now that's what she wants to be when she grows up. Well, she just started preschool and on the second day the teacher had each student stand in front of a full length mirror and look at themselves so they could choose constriction paper cutouts and make themselves out of paper. The class is all white children, including Brooke, and she chose the darkest brown skin color paper to use-which was not even close to her skin color. This was confusing for my aunt and uncle to see at open house- then one night while I was over my aunt realized why she did this (her speech isn't always understandable so asking Brooke didn't give a very good answer). Her favorite princess characters are Moana and Elena of Avalor, who she wants to be like so she chose for her paper skin to match theirs rather than her own. So this showed me that the diversification that Disney is beginning to make with some characters is beginning to have an impact on children.
After reading what Christensen wrote about cartoons and the media we expose children to it made me rethink a lot of what I knew as a child and what we still expose children to. It gave me a new perspective looking at certain companies, stories and characters that are/have been popular. As a child I don't really remember being exposed to the fact that there were stereotypes around me or being taught about diversity or anything along those lines. I knew people came from different places and had different skin tones, but overall I was a young white girl who was mainly exposed to things with predominantly white characters, and very often males too. I wasn't very aware of the problem with that as a child, but now as diversity and equal rights and representation are becoming a bigger movement they are slowly becoming more prevalent in cartoons and things geared towards young children.
I have three young cousins, 2 girls and a boy, and seeing their toys and TV shows is interesting since there are more princesses of color and characters are changing sometimes versus what I saw. I think there is some movement in the right direction. And like many little girls, my cousin Brooke really loves princesses, and right now that's what she wants to be when she grows up. Well, she just started preschool and on the second day the teacher had each student stand in front of a full length mirror and look at themselves so they could choose constriction paper cutouts and make themselves out of paper. The class is all white children, including Brooke, and she chose the darkest brown skin color paper to use-which was not even close to her skin color. This was confusing for my aunt and uncle to see at open house- then one night while I was over my aunt realized why she did this (her speech isn't always understandable so asking Brooke didn't give a very good answer). Her favorite princess characters are Moana and Elena of Avalor, who she wants to be like so she chose for her paper skin to match theirs rather than her own. So this showed me that the diversification that Disney is beginning to make with some characters is beginning to have an impact on children.
I must say that looking back on cartoons I watched during my childhood, especially in elementary school classes, I don't exactly recall seeing examples of diversity or stereotypes either and was not really aware of the problems between race, gender, nationality, etc. until around fourth or fifth grade.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ryan's comment above. I also do not recall cartoons showing examples of diversity. I began to notice it in tv shows and movies when I was older and old enough to understand but that's really it. I also do have a niece who is almost 2 and when I watch tv shows I actually notice that they are more diverse.
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