Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Connection

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Peggy Orenstein

Connection to Christenson, Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

Before I start, I want to say that I LOVE Disney movies, I think they are fabulous and magical and musically brilliant. However, I do acknowledge that they do have some strains on children. This is something I arrived at through research and lots of critical thinking of the subject. I also think that the strains it does have on children is not dramatic and consumes their entire life into adulthood, I am just suggesting that deep within ourselves is some shared ideologies we have subconsciously taken in from watching these movies and cartoons. (The Pictures are of my Favorite Disney Movies! :) ) 

1.)           Christenson’s point: “Our society’s culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream.”

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Orenstein’s evidence: “‘If I were a [blank], I’d [blank] to the store.’ The girls fell exactly into exactly four camps: princess, fairy, butterfly, and ballerina.”

-Explanation: In regards to Christenson’s quote, colonization is the act of settling, taking over, becoming a colony on land. But here she uses this as a metaphor. That the Disney culture (in relation to Cinderella Ate My Daughter) has colonized children’s minds. She claims that because of the colonization, Disney culture determines how children act, live and dream.For evidence I chose a quote from Orenstein when she is describing her daughter’s preschool assignment with the teacher and other moms. All of the girl’s answers were in the same schema. These things, princesses, butterflies, and ballerinas were what was “cool” or acceptable. But why is it deemed “cool?” Christenson and many studies would say because of the Disney culture and secret education children have subconsciously been exposed to while watching the movies. I’d agree and say that this is a good piece of evidence. Our culture teaches us things we even don’t consciously know sometimes.

2.)        Christenson point: “The messages or “secret education” linked with the security of their homes, underscore the power these texts deliver…the stereotypes and worldview embedded in the stories become accepted knowledge.”

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 Orenstein evidence:

→”linked in the security of their homes underscore the power of these texts deliver…” –Christenson.     →     “Princesses are uncomplicated, classic, and something solid that we (moms) can understand and share with them…they provide…a common language of childhood fun.” –Orenstein.

-The fairytales are classic and give mothers the opportunity to share with their daughters a common interest and encourage the bond because their won’t be as easy for a mother can first handedly connect with when the girls become teenagers and are plugged in to Twitter and Facebook. So in the world of Disney tales and princesses they share a bond, a common language. This then creates the idea that the tales are secure and acceptable because they are being shared with by a parent.

→”The stereotypes and world view”-Christenson      →      On the mothers’ objection to letting their girls watch the fairytales…“Cinderella may ride off with the prince, but before that she spends much of her time dressed in tatters, offering children object lessons about kindness, forbearance, and humility. Without the back-story what was left?” In response, a mother says, “I think it’s all about 

being looked at, being admired, and about special treatment, receiving it not giving it.” –Orenstein

-          The secret education or acceptance here is coming from the same story line in almost the entire line of princess movies, in particular though, Cinderella. The idea that children are absorbing, consciously or not, is that you will receive special treatment and the prince of your dreams and all things good IF you are kind and obey the rules set forth. This seems like a good message except that they are being fed the idea that admiration and special treatment are owed to them.

→ “embedded in the stories become accepted knowledge.” –Christenson. → ‘Princesses value derives largely from their appearance.’  “little girls need to feel to feel beautiful , that being on display, being admired for how they look, is critical to their developing femininity and fragile self-esteem; that princesses set their imagination soaring.” –Orenstein.                         

-  Appearance seems to be everything in all the Disney tales. If you see a thin beautiful women she is probably the princess or an object of lust or worship similarly to a strong and tall man, that is admired for those attributes. If you see a fat, stumpy man he’s probable a fool and then becomes not so attractive. No one wishes to be that guy, the fool because that is the not the character that is desire in the film or tale instead it’s the beautiful princess of the strong man. This then relays the accepted knowledge that to be desired is to be thin and beautiful and for a man strong and tall. 

...Myths That Blind Us; Reflection

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us by Linda Christensen

“A Prison for Your Mind”

Reflection:  I first want to say, THIS IS MY LIFE! I am so struggling with accepting these theories and deciphering them for myself because I have been exposed to so many different ideas. I know I’ve repeatedly said I took critical theory, but this article is all sorts of critical theory. The author specifically focuses on mass media that affects children but many things in life are deceptive. After taking that class you are forced to see things that shape society and you as an “individual,” when in reality, you’re not really an individual at all. It’s really not easy explaining or understanding theory, I was literally in my professor office every week asking him all kinds of questions but like I said, once you get it, you are exposed to a whole new world and that glass is cracked. All in all though, you determine what you want you want to see, if you want to remain ignorant or accept awareness of these things. 

WATCH, WATCH WATCH THIS!!!!

Two theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodore Adorno or as my professor used to say, “The Grumpy Germans” (because their theories are very pessimistic.) wrote The Culture Industry as Mass Deception. They examine U.S. pop-culture and conclude that pop-culture serve the interests of the Bourgeois, the people and corporations in power. (The government, media, advertisers, news, and television and music)All these powerful institutions/people are manipulating the consumers (us) of our culture to ultimately gain capital which then turns into power, it’s a cycle. In easier to understand to terms, I wrote this theory out like this; $ is everything. With that said, the government and big corporations make it almost entirely impossible to for society to live without certain things, for example, technology. But this isn’t always apparent to us; it lies in our consciousness as normal so we don’t recognize that we all have internet or a computer, or all want the latest iphone, why we need it isn’t a question we ask ourselves because we’ve been conditioned by society and by its standards to just accept it.  Just like Christensen points out about the “secret education” about self image in children’s cartoons.

In taking this one step further, Christensen points out that beauty is everything, it’s how you get a man ,and live happily ever after but if you aren’t ,as the ugly step sisters,  you won’t amount to much of anything. So a child grows up with this “secret education” and subconsciously strives for beauty her whole life. Who benefits from that…the makeup industry, the dieting franchises and the cosmetic medicine corporations? Politcal Economy. It ultimately comes down to money and power that keeps this cycle of deception going. “The might of industrial society is lodged in many minds, man is mocked when buying into this culture” –Horkheimer and Adorno

An actor portrayal of George Orwell on his final message, author of dystopian novel, 1984 suggesting a change about any form of deception. (real quotes)

Question: So after reading this article, I was made more aware of childhood media as deception that constructs our beings. And in evaluating how the fairy tales I grew up watching affected me, I realized as was mentioned in the article, I will NEVER leave my house without makeup and If you ask me why, I’ll say I need it. Does anyone else have an eye-opening or reflective experience when reading this? 

Safe Spaces by August

Safe Spaces

August

  

HyperLink:  I found this article very interesting. I think LGBT acceptance is becoming more controversial in today’s society and is a tough subject to discuss. Safe Spaces takes the subject and exposes the faults of this issue in the classroom and the institution of education itself. Right from the beginning August talks about ideology and how educators and students bring their life experiences (ideologies) with them into the classroom. 

This model (left) was used in a previous class I had taken and the way I understand how ideology works was based on something like this image. For this particular article however, I don't think the bottom of the image is relate able but the top is. All of those things, education, media, religion, and politics create ideologies and reinforce them into society. August is trying to make aware and offer up a change to stop the reinforcement of LGTB ideologies, particularly of non-acceptance in the classroom. Though the article is offering a change in the classroom, the problems occur with individuals bringing these beliefs into the classroom. However, most reinforce their ideologies or beliefs unconsciously in the classroom. 

Above is the banned episode of Post Cards From Buster, Sugartime as mentioned in the essay. This is the perfect example as to how ideology in our society works stemming from the media, as I discussed above. Because having two moms wasn't the norm of society it was deemed unsuitable for children to view.

In education it is important "to validate children." It would be the same if we were talking about race as we did last week and language. When these things are not addressed it makes a child feel left out. As an educator, teaching a child to be the best the can be in our society includes expanding their knowledge of the world and like race, homosexuality is something that needs to be addressed. The article suggests a fix in subtle ways, for example with book selection in the classroom and redirecting words or phrases that may hurt another child's feelings. It is the same as incorporating language into the classroom. When a child can identify with something (The Mirror) they feel included and when they can't, they can be exposed to the world through The Window. Human Experience. 

Talking Point/Things to Share: I really hadn't thought of this being such a substancial issue in schools before reading this article, I can admit I was ignorant to the subject. But after reading, I agree with educating our children about the world and the accurate teaching of human experience. I think everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and can do so whatever they choose. However, I think it would be wrong to erase or exclude knowledge of LGBT because that is apart of today's society. Like gender, race and language, sexual orientation is just another piece in becoming an educated citizen in today's world starting within the classroom. 

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

                                                                                        

Quotes:

1.)    “Without question, it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid. I would have trusted and responded with ease. But I would have delayed—for how long postponed? – having to learn the language of the public society…learning the great lesson of of school, that I had a public identity. Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility. What they understood was that I needed to speak a public language.”

-Immediately after reading this quote, I thought of Delpit and scribbled “rules & codes” in the margin of the essay. This child's identity is Spanish and that is where he established his identity. However, he had an awareness that he had to learn the public language of society. I read “learning the great lesson of school, that I had a public identity,” as a mildly sarcastic comment that brings attention to teachers in power enforcing a public identity that will lend a child a tool to success in out society. In just the next paragraph Rodriguez says, on the subject of the English language; “and the point was not self-expression alone but to make one-self understood by many others.” So to succeed in “the white man’s world” you need to know the language that is understood by the majority of others. Just as Delpit suggests in her essay, giving a child the tools to do so.

2.)    “Listening to persons who sounded eccentrically pitched voices, I usually noted their sounds for an initial few seconds before I concentrated on what they were saying…Hearing someone’s tone of voice—angry or questioning or sarcastic or happy or sad—I didn't distinguish it from the words it expressed. Sound and word were thus tightly wedded…I was often bemused, always relieved, to realize how ‘silent,’ though crowded with words my day in public had been. This public silence measured and quickened the change in my life.”

-Rodriguez explains his journey from Spanish to English and throughout he emphasizes not only the language and the English words themselves, but the phonics of those words; the tone, the stressed syllables and the emotions behind the words.  These things seemed to be the best part of his Spanish speaking home, he knew just by the tone and sound of words what they were, with English however, it seemed to be entwined together and wasn't as easy for him to feel comfortable with using English in his home.  Here is where he introduces the idea of “silence” which affected both his public identity (as seen in quote above) but also in his private identity, when his father “retired to silence.”

3.)    “They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.”

-To help me work through this final statement,which is a significant one, I drew out little pictures to get a visual.  If I understand this correctly: Unlike Delpit, Rodriguez ‘ theory is that a child can only achieve one identity because the other suffers or is diminished, whereas Delpit says there is room for both.

Question: After reading this, my question for everyone would be, which theory do you support and how can we apply bilingual acceptance into a classroom to support non-English speakers but also teach and provide them the “public identity.” Like, what would be an effective way in doing so? (In the article linked to classroom an ESL teacher gives her experiences in teaching a bilingual classroom, notice paragraph 3.) 

Thanks for Reading! Have a Good Day, 

Nicole (:

McIntosh; White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

                                        

<----Theorist Althusser(One of the hardest to understand. Bless the professor who had to teach me theory! I am forever grateful!)

                 

    “We don’t see ourselves that way…”

Argument: In Peggy McIntosh’ essay, she argues for the awareness of white privilege and to ultimately make one accountable for their role in social class.

Throughout McIntosh’ essay she uses the ongoing metaphor for white privilege as an “invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and black checks.” She also uses Male privilege as a contrast her theory of white privilege. She describes whites as being taught to think of their lives as “morally neutral, normative and average, and also ideal…” This is an ideology that the white race is taught but become so inscribed into our lives that we don’t even realize that that is what we think. Dr. Bogad’s glass metaphor works here also.

As I was reading McIntosh, I feel as though I have read about some of the theory before that she was incorporating into her essay. Specifically, Altuhusser’s definition of ideology, that works to sustain power to the “higher classes” and also his process of interpellation.

 In thinking of Dr. Bogad’s metaphor of ideology being glass that we usually can’t see through and determine our visions of the world, Althusser says ideologies are “the imaginary relationships of individuals to their real conditions of existence.” “Imaginary" is like that clear glass that blocks our awareness of the “real” conditions of life. McIntosh is trying to get you to see through that glass and become responsible for your place in the realm of white privilege.

McIntosh also talks about power in the social structure that reinforces the white privilege in the United States.  On an earlier page she says, “Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow “them” to be more like “us.” Later in the essay she says, “We might at least start by distinguishing between positive advantage, which we can see work to spread, and negative types of advantage, which unless rejected will always reinforce our present hierarchies.”

I quote these specific sentences because Althusser sees these ideologies for the functions as mediator between systems of power and individuals. It allows the people, racial group, class, etc to remain in power.  This theory can be seen in the quotes above as she explains white privilege and the difficulties of reversing its effects.

 McIntosh ultimately works on herself to realize her role in white privilege and concludes with her solution which is to raise the consciousness of white privilege daily, create awareness.

(really striking article that proves McIntosh' entire theory, associated w/this picture.) 

Comments: In thinking of how this directly connects to teaching in classroom, I think we see a lot the same ideas in Lisa Delpit’s, The Silenced Dialogue. When teaching there are going to be children of different race and social class but it is our job as a teacher to be aware of that glass and see others for who they are and have an awareness of the world around us. 

Pat Parker; For The White Person...

Pat Parker

For the White Person

Who Wants to Know

How to Be My Friend

         

                          “don’t make a labor of it.” –Pat Parker

Argument: In his poem, Pat Parker argues for the personal rights of an individual man that is a part of a certain race and in this case, the African American race. In his rather comedic poem he pokes fun at the stereotypes of being a black man. For example soul food, the better love of a black man, the soulful music of Aretha Franklin and the negative stereotypical actions associated to all black people (rape, mug, steal..etc). With each stereotype he presents he tells the reader or “the white person that wants to be my friend” exactly who he is and how to treat him, with these specific presumptions about him based on his race. I think it easy for us (speaking as a white person) to automatically lump people of a race into their category and don’t think twice. Pat Parker however, is opening up our eyes to see that there are individuals apart from their the race. To demonize one man solely because of his race doesn’t make sense. I think that Dr. Bogad’s ideology metaphor of a glass that obscures our visions of the world, even without seeing it applies to this poem. We assume that all black people like soul music and haven’t been exposed to classical composers, that when you hear about a rape or a theft by a black man we automatically assume that all black men are capable of this act solely because of this glass that deems blacks are usually the cause of all these wrongs and it is okay to assume so. This poem is definitely a tap on that glass, Pat Parker exposes some of the stereotype’s and dismisses them with a snarky and funny comment that explain why and how they are not true for every man.

-Last semester I had a great opportunity to go to a lecture given by author Chimamanda Adichie. In this lecture, The Danger of a Single Story, she shares her experience coming to America from Nigeria and how assumptions were made about her by Americans and how she was viewed and treated as if the stereotypes were right. I think this connects to Pat Parker's poem because Adichie reveals the danger of a single story based on race and the demographics of her upbringing and he reveals the danger of stereotype's based on race. (p.s this is a REALLY great lecture, if you have the time to watch it I suggest you do. So Good!)

Comments/Points to Share: Speaking for myself, I know I am guilty of exactly what Pat Parker describes in his poem: Instantaneously categorizing an individual based on their race and assuming most of the stereotype’s. I think the best piece of advice Parker gives is “don’t make a labor of it.” Through this poem, I have learned to think before I ‘think’ or assume things about others based on racial profiling. If you want to have friends, you don’t have to pinpoint out your racial or cultural differences, friendship comes naturally so don’t make it your job or “a labor of it.” 

Hey Everyone!

Hi everyone, I hope you all got through the Blizzard of '13 okay! My cat is going absolutely crazy because he is stuck in the house! Anyway, I am a Sophomore at RIC studying Elementary Ed w/ a concentration in English. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a teacher. I first came to RIC with my intended major being Music Education. However, my senior year in HS I was diagnosed w/ vocal nodules and they worsened when I started singing everyday freshman year. Knowing that all I wanted to be was a teacher, I observed a HS English class and it just didn't feel right, I then started working with the littler kids and knew that is where I wanted to be. I love helping others and teaching, it is one of the best things in the world! When I have down time, I enjoy reading & spending time with my family especially my baby cousin, Abigail. (She calls me Neecole! haha) I hope you all have a great semester & I am happy to get to know everyone! 

Stay Warm, 
Nicole