Dissecting my childhood dreams, one Disney movie at a time..

We had EVERY SINGLE Disney movie when I was growing up.  We traveled to Disney to see the characters and I had the dolls, dress up costumes and books.  I remember aspiring to be numerous Disney princesses growing up... unfortunately.  I watch my daughter now and although she has better options than I did, the underlying problems still exist. I have to admit that when I saw Frozen for the first time, I was so happy to see a message about unconditional love between sisters.  I felt that was a step in the right direction, but the problems that have plagued Disney movies for generations still exist.  The Prince is still pompous and the princess (Anna) is still swooning over a guy.  Both princesses are tall, thin and always wearing dresses.    Everyone is white.  And yes, while you can find positive messages (here)  in every single movie, there is still so far to go in my opinion.

The problem is, if you do not experience the inequities and situations that are most problematic with the typical Disney narrative, it is very difficult to even recognize they exist.  I didn't know domestic violence, or violence at all.   I did not have any friends with two moms.  I had no experience with anything other than what was very similar to my life with my mom, dad and sister in our house that we owned. For this reason, I was blind to the underlying issues that were right in front of my face.

Like Linda Christensen states on page 176, I sat on my parents' laps and read the books and watched the movies  over and over  again and they are very happy, loved filled memories for me.  I never questioned the messages, but I also did not really have to  tools to critique the portrayals or the inequality. This chapter has a similar message to the other scholars we have seen throughout this course; having a critical eye.  Not taking things at face value.  Ask why a student is disengaged, and figure out how to engage him or her.  Dive deep into what students know about  technology and what they still need to learn; and also what you can learn from them and what you can both learn together!  We are naturally different and diverse.  If that  is not being represented, we need to question that and ask why.  We need to teach our children to do the same, otherwise we are stuck right where we are, with no opportunity to improve.