More Disney Princess Madness

Hey ya'll...If you get a chance check this link out.

I was on Sparknotes...yes Sparknotes, don't judge...and saw a link to an article about a new Hispanic Disney princess, Sophia. Thought someone might be interested. This page has a bunch of articles so read away and tell me what you think!

Hope this is of some interest to someone -- at least it's pertinent to recent class discussion...
Hispanic Disney Princess

Talking Point #6 - In the Service of What?, Kahne: Quotes/Connection

This quote in particular resonated with me the most. Mainly because it reminded me immediately of our service learning, 

"Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels o f schooling. Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students." 

That is exactly the purpose of our service learning. I know, it seems obvious, but I didn't think of it this way until reading this article. Yes, our service enhances the communities in which we are helping, we are active in our service, we are effective and helpful, and at the same time we are furthering our academic goals to become educators. 

This article made me that much more proud to do what we are doing.

"Ms. Adams' students, by contrast, began their work with a systematic and critical analysis ofthe causes ofhomelessness and ofthe strategies employed to prevent it. The class discussed the growing economic disparity between rich and poor, the impact o f homeless ness on children, and the difficult balance between individual rights and collective responsibility. Students read stories by homeless children and wrote essays assessing the impact of homelessness on people like themselves."

This most accurately relates to the process we have followed. Through our curriculum we have learned certain things that we will apply when in the classroom. I know many of us have shared stories on how what we have learning in class and through our readings has already been applied in our SL projects. For instance, my FIRST day I had a Delpit moment. A student wasn't following with the class during reading time...I almost asked, "Alex, is it time to be reading?" Disgusted with myself, I quickly changed my tonality and phrasing. I didn't even think I had a communication issue that Delpit talks about until I applied it to a real life situation.

"After they returned, the students' perspectives on these elementary school children had changed. They were "surprised at the children's responsiveness and their attentiveness," they found the children to be "extremely polite and surprisingly friendly," and they discovered that they "listened well and had excellent behavior." One student wrote, "Everyone at the school had good manners, and [ think more highly of [the neighborhood] now." The experiential and interpersonal components ofservice learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of"otherness" that often separates students-particularly privileged students-from those in need. In so doing, the potential to develop caring relationships is created." 

I found this part rather amusing. Maybe it was naive of me, but before I started my SL project, I didn't make any prejudgements on the demeanor of my students that I hadn't met. I wasn't nervous because I thought that they would be rude but rather I wasn't sure how they would react to having another adult in the room (more specifically -- a white male authoritative figure). I didn't think that they were going to love me or that they were going to hate me -- I just simply didn't know what to expect. Similar to the students in the article, I was relieved to be liked and accepted.   

Here is a picture of where I do my service learning -- Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary
Click the picture and it will send you to their website. If that doesn't work I've provided the link bellow.

Dr. MLK Elementary

Talking Point #5 - Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein: Hyperlinks/Connection

A large vocal point of Orenstein's writing is Disney. Most important to her purpose is Disney's marketing techniques for their princess line. I wanted to post a view pictures and see what kind of conversation sparked.

Orenstein talked about how by making the Disney princess merchandise so vast it was allowing young girls to play out the princess fantasies and take after the examples given in the movies. There are arguments throughout the article that rather than little girls wanted to behave and replicate the actions of these princesses, they just want to dress up because it is fun. We all have a pretty good sense of what the children Disney princess costumes look like and for the most part the adult Disney princess costumes are in the same fashion. There are a couple of exceptions -- oh hey Snow White. There are more just like that one. You can even see the pattern in adult Disney villain costumes. So although little girls are not necessarily playing the rolls of these princesses, what message are they receiving when they see some of the costumes that are out there. Does it play into their schema of femininity? ARE little girls just simply playing dress up? 

Talking Point #4 - Christensen: Reflection/Hyperlink

I have found a similar pattern in any article/discussion that has been related to class this semester. And that is I always have a recent story relative to the topic being discussed. As I immediately started reading this article, I was reminded of a conversation I had with some fellow theatre folk. We were discussing the Disney movies that we used to watch as kids. The conversation started with "The Little Mermaid." As a kid I enjoyed it, as an adult I can understand the sexist, misogynistic content --- A story about a young girl who is told that she doesn't need her voice to attract a man--in fact all she needs is her body. Okay Disney. The discussion moved to Disney female villains. "The Little Mermaid" came back to the conversation. As we all remember Ursula was portrayed as a larger woman -- in fact, most of the female Disney villains portrayed some sort of "SCWAAMP" based "flaw"...here are the Disney female villains as they were originally illustrated....THEN...and here are them NOW. Those were the best pictures I could find. But for the sake of the point, look at Ursula in both pictures. What kind of message does that send?

As Christensen would point out...these are childhood memories and many people would refuse to acknowledge their suggestive messages and characters. Disney movies, however, are prime examples of how the media manipulates our views.