Snow Day Online Class
Snow Day Online Class
"Unlearning the myths that bind us"
(45 minutes + Catch Up Time)
For today's class, you will dig a bit deeper into the Christensen article.
1. Movie Analysis (45 minutes)
- View Bechdel Test (2 minutes)
CHOOSE 1 (click title to view):
1a. Watch Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves (17 minutes)
OR
Paper Bag Princess (5 min)
- AND
- 2. Choose one of your favorite children's movies to analyze (from memory).
- For #1 a OR b and your
favorite children's movie, do the following analysis:
- What is the moral of the story/takeaway message?
- Who is the main protagonist? What is their race, ethnicity, gender?
- Who plays the servant or supporting character? What is their race, ethnicity, gender?
- Who plays the baffoon or joker? What is their race, ethnicity, gender?
- Use the Bechdel test on this show and movie. Do they pass?
- What messages about men and women does this film/show convey?
- What messages about ethnicity and race does this film/show convey?
- If you viewed Sleeping Beauty and Paper Bag Princess, what skills did the protagonist use to defeat the dragon? What messages about consent are present in each story?
2. Comment on THIS blog post (below) about CHOOSE ONE type of comment:
- Something that surprised you or that you learned.
- OR
- Implications for you as a teacher or youth worker
4. Review Garcia and Rodriguez for Wednesday (10 minutes)
I have difficultly with the "take away part" because I could choose to interpret things in a number of ways. For instance it seems like I could interpret the moral take away of paper bag princess with "You can solve problems with your wits" but I could also interpret it as: "It teaches children that dangerous people are gullible and easily tricked, it's okay to go up to them and try to trick them". There isn't really a guide to how we are supposed to interpret these things. That's what makes it kind of unhelpful thing to do.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess the implications of this as an educator is that I should probably not reference pop culture or cartoons I grew up with least one of my high school students or their parents have an offensive interpretation of it. That may of sounded snide. I don't intend that. It is hard to convey a neutral tone on text well. I just think this approach is "a damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. Because you are battling against other peoples interpretations. If you ignore what others might interpret and do what you want someone will find a way to interpret a negative thing about it and if you try to make something that can't possibly be interpreted negatively you are going to fail because any one aspect can be interpreted a number of different ways. Luckily I am going to be a math teacher so I just need to focus on math and , hopefully benign, real world applications but a teacher that gets to pick a book for their students just for an entertaining read is going to have a headache when some of their students use these kinds of interpretation.
As a youth worker I feel that in my own classroom I will be more conscious about what I will be showing my students in regards to movies, videos, and books. I want to be sure that there is diversity and equality in what I show the children.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments Julz and Dion. I agree with Dion that there are many and sometimes conflicting interpretations of books, videos, and movies. Given Anita Sarkeesian's points about bias in popular movies, is it possible to do what Julz suggests, to curate all that children view and watch? How if at all would curating what young people see prepare them to navigate and "read" their worlds?"
ReplyDeleteI watched Popeye meets Alibaba and the moral of this story is why save yourself when a man can do it for you. The protagonist in this story is Popeye, he is a spinach-eating sailor and a white American man. While the antagonist was Abu Hassan and his 40 bandits, all Arabic men who steal. The supporting character would have to be Olive Oil she is a tall white American woman who is set up to be a helpless lady needing to be saved by Popeye. The baffon of this show is Wimpy, he is a fat stout white American man who loves to eat. This show does not pass the Bechdel test because there is only one female character, she does not interact with any other women, and all she does is talk about “her love” Popeye. The message that this episode conveys about men and women is that men must be strong and women will go along with whatever because they’ll eventually be saved by a man. As a American Arabic woman, this episode absolutely bashes on the Middle Eastern culture. The men ride camels, Popeye makes fun of the Arabic writing saying “it’s broken”(when it is one of the oldest languages in the world), Abu Hassan says “open sesame”, and calls himself a terrible person. They’re all aggressive thieves seemingly barbaric because they don’t really speak much English they just grunt. Something that surprised me was how this was okay to be aired back then, or even today? There are so many sexist, racist, and ethical issues with this show and yet it was such a big hit because it shows an American white man fighting for the helpless dependent woman he loves.
ReplyDeleteSomething that surprised me was the Bechdel test. I had heard of it before but had not realized how many popular movies did not pass the test. It is really a simple test and seeing one of my favorite movies, "Back to the Future 2" on the list really made me think about what I have grown up thinking is okay and normal.
ReplyDeleteI watched the Sleeping Beauty clip. In this clip, Prince Philip is fighting a dragon in order to get to Sleeping Beauty and kiss her to wake up. The take away message for this is that you need a strong man in order to be saved from anything. The movie i chose to analyze is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. the moral of this story is also that you need a man to save you from anything. In both stories, the protagonists are kissed by men who ultimately "wake them up." The protagonist of the Sleeping Beauty clip was Philip, a typical handsome, white, strong man, because he was the main character in the scene while fighting the dragon. In Snow White, the protagonist was Snow White, a fragile white young women who needs the help of seven dwarfs to stay alive. The servant or supporting character in the Sleeping Beauty clip was Sleeping Beauty because she was just a prop for Philip to rescue in order for the viewer to see that he accomplished his mission. The supporting character in Snow White are the dwarfs because they show that she needs help from men in order to thrive. The dragon in the Sleeping Beauty clip acts as the joker because they make an uproar in the scene, causing the most action. However, the evil Queen in Snow White is the joker because she gives Snow White the poisoned apple, causing her to fall into a deep sleep and while needing the Prince to rescue her. These movies do not pass the Bechdel test because there is only one female with a name in them. This clip and movie show the same stereotypical message about men and women, that a female needs a strong handsome male to come into their life and rescue them. Both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty needed their prince to wake them out of their deep sleep. Alike to most movies of this era, there were strictly only white characters in the clip and movie, sending the message that only white people deserve recognition in media like this, only white women can be beautiful, and only white men can be strong and handsome. I have viewed Sleeping Beauty and Paper Bag Princess, and the skills the protagonist use are swords and their strength to defeat the dragon. And, there was no consent shown at all in each story the men felt they were doing the women a favor so they did not need consent. I think overall, these are very stereotypical messages about gender and male strength, and I can understand that Disney was a product of his times, but he could have done a little more in favor of a female being a strong leading character.
ReplyDeleteI know as an elementary school teacher, that the media i show my classroom will have a huge impact on the way they view themselves, and they will see who is more represented in media. I will be cautious about what I show my students and make sure they are represented in the media I show them.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I learned that I will take away is the "bechdel test". I feel as if I will constantly catch myself performing this analysis of movies/shows now when I watch them. It is shocking to know how many films fail this test and it should raise concern among directors and those involved in the film industry. While "The Paper Bag Princess" failed the bechdel test, I did appreciate how it varied from other stories in the sense that the female was not the damsel in distress. The princess was actually the one to use her intelligence to save the prince from the dragon. That certainly stuck out because it was different from the status quo of these princess/fantasy movies we are so accustomed to.
ReplyDeleteI watched Sleeping Beauty and The Paper Bag Princess clip. In Sleeping Beauty, she is a princess who gets put to sleep by Maleficent. Prince Philip comes to the rescue and slays Maleficent with a sword and wakes Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Although Sleeping Beauty is the main character it is Prince Philip who saves the day. I could see as though why some people may think that this movie is all about a man taking care of a women but the whole point of this movie was that the entire town was put to sleep and the princess could only get woken up by true loves kiss which then saves everyone else, wakes them up and breaks the spell. It's a great film that was known as Walt's biggest masterpiece. The language they use in Sleeping beauty as well as other older films like Cinderella and Snow White, is making them seem weak and they only care about men. It makes them seem as though that's all they care for and doesn't show much independence. As we fast forward to present time, a lot of the Disney films have changed the princesses in to stronger roles who don't necessarily rely on a man to save the day such as Brave, Tangled, Moana, Frozen, Princess and the Frog. Yes, there are men in these films and they do fall for the princess and they live happily ever after but the Princesses take the stronger lead and take care of what needs to be done. I don't think it's fair to look back at a film from the late 50's and say that it doesn't fit with today's standards. As I said, time is changing and so are the more recent Disney films with gender roles, race and ethnicity. Different races are coming in to play, we are having Princesses from other races play the lead role instead of the typical white female. As for the Paper Bag Princess, I would hope no one is currently showing this to children because it's not a good story, very repetitive and not interesting. The princess is off to track down a dragon that had just destroyed her castle and clothing, she puts on a paper bag as that is all she can find, she tricks the dragon in to getting exhausted and defeats him. When the prince sees the princess he is disgusted with how she looks and sends her away. After she fixes herself she ends up leaving him regardless. The fact that she felt strong enough to defeat the dragon and the Prince was not impressed is ignorant. I think this story is also outdated and not relevant to today's society. I would never place a book like this in my classroom. It doesn't have much to it to follow and is no a good story. Neither of these stories pass the Bechdel test. Although Sleeping Beauty does talk to more than one women in the movie, her three fairies, it is still based off of a man.
ReplyDeleteI choose to watch Barbie the Pearl Princess. I never liked Barbie but I figured this would be a great movie to watch for this assignment. In this movie her aunt takes care of her. Her aunt is not really her aunt but took her from the king and queen to save her from the evil father that wanted his son to become king. One day she is asked to come to the royal ball to kill the king. Barbie does not know this is why and takes off to find her aunt and give her, her invention to the party. Along the way her and her friend a sea horse find trouble but using her magic powers to do things with pearls they make it to the big city. She gets a job at a salon, and gets invited to the ball. She and her new friends get ready for the ball and go later that day. After she gets there she dances with the prince. But then the evil father realizes she is the missing princess. she is then kid napped and locked into a prison cell. She uses her powers to get the key and break free. She swims past guards and saves the king. Her aunt is poisoned and she battles to save her. The son of the evil father helps her along with her friends. When her aunt awakes she is told the truth and her parents learn the truth and the the evil father is tossed away. In the end the son is not king and Barbie gets her perfect prince. Also, she and her family are reunited and her sea horse friend and the aunt get to live with her at the castle. I saw that in this film there was lack of a wide range of races. Mainly all the characters in this movie were white. Also, the image of her was having the perfect body and must have style. Also , her aunt told her to stay at home but, she didn't instead she went to the city to find her. Though if she did not her aunt would be dead, so she took a chance. In the city everyone had to look pretty and hold up to certain standards. The royalty dressed nicely and thought of more then them selves but, only after they found out about their daughter. The evil father was full of greed and craved power. His son did not and wanted no part of his fathers plots. He stood up to him in the end after he was bullied around by his father and helped in his capture. In the real would not every girl no matter who they are gets the perfect guy. There is no such thing as the perfect person. Finally, I have to say that this teaches bad images to our children about who they should be in life, this also teaches bad habits and disobedience toward grown ups. Barbie also did not listen to her friend most of the time and if she did she did what she wanted and did not consider her friends thoughts. This is not how a child should learn how to interact with friends.
ReplyDeleteSomething that really surprised me was the Bechdel Test. When the test was first discussed in the video I immediately thought there was no way it was true and that most movies definitely would pass. But when the narrator started showing the films that did not pass, even the extremely recent ones I was shocked. I really liked the choice to have the person on camera get up and get an apple and proceed to eat the apple on camera. I felt like it did a really good job of conveying just how many movie titles can’t pass the Bechdel test. It’s amazing because the criteria isn’t hard and the standards aren’t high but so many movies can’t pass it which is just astounding and really ridiculous. I feel like this probably teaches young girls that their relationships with female peers aren’t as important as their relationships with boys and that their relationships with girls should be focused on talking about boys which is just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised when watching The Sleeping Beauty clip and The Paper Bag Princess. Both characters in it were using two different ways to defeat a dragon. Prince Philip used violence and won by sticking a sword in the dragon. The Princess won by using smarts and wit tricking the dragon into sleeping. When I thought about this I realized the man used his physicality and the woman used her brain. This shows a message of how women and men are different in the fairytale world. If women aren't the damsel in distress then they are using their smarts to fight evil while men use violence.
ReplyDeleteI watched Popeye meets Alibaba and His 40 Thieves, the moral of the story or takeaway is you don't have to try and save yourself when you know a man will come to your rescue. Instead of jumping of the vase before they grabbed it, Olive just jumped back in and let them take her and yelled for Popeye to save her. Once Alibaba and his group of thieves gets her inside their hideout, Olive did what they told her to until Popeye came and saved her.
ReplyDeleteSomething that surprised me was the Bechdel Test, I never heard of of before watching the video and I want to say I'm shocked on how many movies don't past the test but sadly I'm not I'll definitely take this going forward with watching movies to see if they can pass the test.
As a teacher in the future, I will make sure to try and curate what my children watch in class. I could try and talk to the parents but that does not seem like decision.
I grew up as a Disney baby. I am pretty confident in saying I have scene 90% of all Disney Movies. Growing up Disney was my life I knew every movie by heart nd honestly still do. I think there is a lot of analyses that goes into Disney movies. I have actually done a lot of research on certain themes and why they are like that. One that stands out to me is the fact 98% of Disney characters don't have a mother, or the mother is killed in the movie, this is because when Walt Disney became big he bought his mom a brand new house, she lived there alone. There was a Co leak in the hose which filled the house with the poison gas killing Walts mom who he was extremely close with. He always blamed him self for her death and there for every single Disney mom is killed or disappears before the start of the movie. Walt him self was also extremely sexist. This comes through very clearly in his movies, now that obviously Walt is dead and different people are in charge the more modern movies, Tangled, Brave, Princess and the Frog, Frozen, Wreck It Ralph, portray strong women who take charge of there own life an save the day on there own. I think it is very important to show the older movies to kids in the class room. They should see the movies but be taught how to see them through a new lens. Lets talk abut how Bell in Beauty and the Beast, loves her father so much she has the COURAGE to take his place, lets talk about how in Snow White she is an amazing care taker and being a stay at home mm is a great job! Lets change the lens and show children how to pick out the important parts of the movies and forget the rest. One of my all time favorite Disney movie quotes is, "Legends are lessons, they ring with truth" from Brave. I teach my class that when you strip away any movie you are left with a lesson and that underlying lesson is more important then the movie. Beauty and the Beast teaches us that kindness to everyone is important, The Little Mermaid teaches us to fight for what we believe in,, these lessons can be use to redirect the attention of the movies flaws.
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