Talking Point 4

Talking Point #4: Christensen “Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us”
Premise:
• False advertisement
• Rethinking the meaning of cartoons
• Misinformation/Propaganda
• Changing Views
• White supremacy
• Racism
• Sexism
• Students speaking out
• Raising Awareness
• Stereotypes
• Taking action
• Calling for more diversity
• Favoring groups over another
• Having some cartoons reworked
• Trying to stimulate change of society’s views

Authors Argument:
Christensen argues that by fighting images portraying hierarchy and inequality in cartoons and mass media, progress can be made by students and society in general that will allow for respect and equality to be gained by more groups of people.

Evidence:
1. There is a “secret education” that is contained in movies and mass media that tell people how they should act, treat people, dress and essentially run their lives
2. By trying to advocate for a “Black Cinderella” and creating a story based around Cinderella as a black woman would allow for another group of people to be idolized and thought of as the “princess of society.”
3. By having the students write essays of discontent concerning the images portrayed in cartoons and media as to what is important in life and looking for them to be published in newspapers or magazines is an activist approach to changing what is idyllic in society.

Questions/Comments/Point to Share:
This article by Christensen was aimed at trying to make a change in society by changing the way that media portrays perfection and happiness to people in America. Change needs to be made so that students and people do not get the wrong idea about what is important in life. The article was a smooth read and did not require too much effort on my part to look up words or anything of that nature. It did a good job of showing how society is negligent in favoring some groups of people and types of people over others. It relates to other texts that we have read in class because it is showing how the “culture of power” is truly at work here as Delpit would note. The ‘culture of power’ is at work in a sense that it is dictating how people should act, dress and organize their lifestyles based upon false images and propaganda. Also, I see a little bit of Johnson in this article because Christensen is calling for her students to take action and speak out against the cartoonists and other people in media who are the ones disseminating this false image of perfection to the public.