"Our students suckle the same pap. Our society's culture industry colo-
nizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream. This indoc-
trination hits young children especially hard. The "secret education," as
Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman dubs it, delivered by children's books and
movies, instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in
these social blueprints. Ami often that world depicts the domination of one
sex, one race, one class, or one country over a weaker counterpart." Christensen 126.
This quotation sort of summarizes what the entire article is centered around, which is the issue of racism and sexism within popular children's media. This type of exposure to racism and sexism is what drives every aspect of a child's life later on. The "secret education" that is discussed is the constant reinforcement of SCWAAMP within all types of popular children's shows. This reinforcement leads children to believe that this is how the world is and it shows them what they need to do to get to the top. The dominant role in many children's media is the white, male, upper-class, American who lives happily ever after in his huge mansion and black servants waiting on him hand and foot. Another popular theme is the white female who does anything she can to "win over" Prince Charming. This leads children to believe that this is all women are good for and that marrying the rich white man will make all of their problems disappear and it takes away women's humanity by saying this is all they will ever amount to.
Quote #2
"Women who aren't white begin to feel left out and ugly because they never get to play the princess" Christensen 131.
This quote also goes along with the main theme of the article and focuses more on the sexist side of the argument. Here, Christensen is showing how most of the media children are exposed to portray a beautiful white princess and that portrayal never changes. So when children are constantly seeing the beautiful white girl being the princess, it leads them to believe that if they are not white they will never be a princess, and if they are not a princess then they are obviously ugly. This belief comes from the fact that within princess movies (specifically Disney) the princess is always beautiful, and there is never any other character that is more beautiful than her, so it leads kids to think that if they are not the princess they must be ugly just like the rest of the characters in the movie.
Quote #3
"Pam and Nicole swore they would not let their children watch cartoons" Christensen 134.
When I came across this part of the article and read this sentence I was a little taken back. Of course it makes sense that two students of Christensen wouldn't want to allow there kids to be exposed to this type of racism and sexism in hopes that their children would grow up to think differently than most. However, my question becomes, if these television shows and movies are the structure of our society, then not exposing your kids to this becomes a problem. Like Lisa Delpit says, it is very hard to acquire power, when you do not know the rules and codes of power. So, if you deny your kids access to this information then they may never get power in the world. I am not saying that this is my opinion, I am just pointing out the fact that unless this way of thinking changes throughout the entire country, it would be an injustice to your children to deny them access to this culture, as wrong as it may be.
I love this analysis, especially the connection to Delpit. I never would have thought of showing kids cartoons as teaching them the rules and codes of power, but you're exactly right.
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