Christensen talking points

In this article, Christensen talked about media and how it affects children and their opinions. It talks about how the media teaches children about race without them knowing it, and how the T.V. shows discriminate over different races. The article's first point is that there is no black Cinderella, and that most blacks in T.V. shows don't have leading rolls. However, now there is a black Cinderella. Brandy played Cinderella in a non-animated version of Cinderella. Also, Disney just had it's first black princess in the movie "The Princess and the Frog." Also, the article mentions Popeye. Popeye is a big strong man who always has to say Olive from danger, and she relies on Popeye for everything. Popeye also shows other races as being stupid or inferior to him as a White American man. However, what I found most interesting was when Christensen discussed the Ninja Turtles. The article said that the TMNT showed children the message that violence was okay, and teaches children that problems can be solved by fighting. After reading this, I immediately thought of the little boys that I used to babysit for, who would watch the power rangers and jump around the house trying to karate chop the furniture. This shows just how greatly the media can influence us. We, children especially, get hooked to T.V. shows and movies and try to mimic them in some ways, and they do affect the way we think about certain things. The media has influence on what we buy, the way we talk, and our attitudes on certain things or even people. Such as if something we see on T.V. is something that we buy, if somebody doesn't have that particular item then they could be very unpopular and could be made fun of.