Christensen

Wow, I have totally been neglecting this. I guess about now I'll do some rapid fire blog posts...get them all settled before hell month begins in April.

"For some the lesson doesn't end in the classroom. Many who watched cartoons before we start our study say they can no longer enjoy them. Now instead of seeing a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see the racism, sexism, and violence that swim under the surface of the stories."

Over analysis is never a good thing. This is why psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud are for the most part considered discredited. If you look at anything...absolutely anything, it can be viewed as having "hidden messages". Here are some examples concerning Pokemon and The Cat in the Hat. Hell, I've even joking written one myself about Doug. The point I'm trying to make, is that though there will always be depictions of racism or sexism in popular culture, that does not mean anything. It is not malicious. I doubt anyone takes it seriously. Sure, old cartoons were full of blatant racism, no one is denying that. But the sort of racism Christen keeps pointing out is so subtle and so buried that you need to be lead to it to actually see it and be affected by it. I don't think any kid looks at Scrooge McDuck and sees anything other than "some duck with a lot of money." In fact, "unca Scrooge"'s greed is often portrayed as a fault and is the butt of many jokes. And that's if kids even know what Ducktales is.

"Pizza-Eating Ninja Turtles. What's the point? There isn't any. The show is based on fighting the "bad guy," Shredder..." (My computer is weird about copy and pasting. But you can easily find this quote)

Has this argument not been going around in one form or the other since the 1950s? As a child of the 90s, my earliest memories of this argument include the Ninja Turtles, the Power Rangers, and Mortal Kombat. And like all of the earlier controversies whether they be over say horror comics in the 1950s or Dungeons and Dragons in the 80s, absolutely nothing happened. There was no sudden epidemic of kids attacking each other or anything of the sort. Yes, it would need to be an epidemic to prove that an element of pop-culture was truly influencing children on a mass scale. Most people my age grew up with Disney and people who truly hold racist or misogynist views are the minority.


"I'm not taking my kids to see any Walt Disney movies until they have a black woman playing the leading role."

And shielding them from something is beneficial? I do not buy that. Shielding has no benefits except to create curiosity. Really now. Shielding? Isn't that what those super conservative people like to do?