post-it note, Dorfman & Mattelart

The introduction of Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart’s Instructions on How to Become a General in the Disneyland Club brought many details to my attention about business and economy and markets. The Disney trademark is designed by adults for children. Dorfman and Mattelart suggest that being “made for children by adults” taints the innocent minds of children through the origin of the ideas from adults; that the ideas of adults inherently suggest inappropriate ideologies for children. Whether they are correct or not does effect the question that I now have about children and the media: in order to survive in a swirling-world of media vortexes, should adults, as protectors of children, protect children from the media, or should children be educated on the effects of the media before the ideologies that we have become accustomed to become the norm for them too?

I don’t remember when I realized that my parents are not perfect. I did at one time think that they had all of the answers, and I know now that they do not, so there is a partition that separates these two periods of time in my life, I just cannot define the moment that I had this realization. The very realization opens many doors though, because understanding that my parent’s rules are guidelines to protect me, rather than the law, makes me a more contemplative human being. To live away from my parents makes me think about consequences and benefits of doing “risky” things…driving way too fast, going out to dinner at 11 pm on a Tuesday, listening to that song that my mom disagrees with…I can make my own decisions. But growing up in a world where my parents were the ultimate power also skewed my ideas of the real world once I realized that they were not everything that I held them to be. Feeling as if we are participating in risky behavior, those behaviors that we would never elucidate for our parents are instilled in us at various levels, according to the severity of our parents’ beliefs.

These same beliefs are those that I believe are cultural, and inherent in all actions that we make or take in daily life. There are racial beliefs in America that exist as a part of our culture that would never make sense in another country. These ridiculous ideologies are recognized as being wrong, but remain a problem. For the same reasons that Disney utilizes animals as characters, Disney also seeks to educate the young and innocent masses on the importance of acceptance and friendships and manners. While these are important, the creators of such media have already given into the ideologies of such a culture. Infused are the images with the preconceived ideas of what sets American culture from any other culture. Good or bad, the creators are trying to change the world while not realizing that their revolutionary ideas have all been tried before. And so the cycle continues…