Blog #3

Blog #3: Media Influences

In class, we discussed how media heavily influences culture and the mindset we are trained to have. Warren and Fassett explore the works of Laura Mulvey, who claims that cinema frames women as an object of a man’s gaze, and typically passive to a man’s actions. Mulvey takes the cinematic theme and relates it to historical sex scandals. Whether it be Bill Clinton or Tiger Woods, she find there is a theme where women often apologize for the indiscretion of their husband and become an object. Also, women involved in the sex scandals are eroticized in the media as passive sexual objects.

A contributor to media influence in culture is Disney and the subliminal messages that underlay their movies. Since the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (about the 1930s), Disney movies carry subliminal messages pertaining to sexism and cultural appropriation. Although Disney is not the only perpetrator, it receives fire for underlying these messages to children.

Early Disney movies like: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast show signs of sexism. Women or female characters are sexualized and objectified. Little girls watching these movies see Ariel giving up her voice for legs and Jasmine seducing Jafar with her curves and beauty think about how their looks get them what they want. We can argue that this mindset does not settle in children, but what about the idea that cute girls get free drinks? Also, Fifi the feather duster is humanized through her seductive lure and curvy figure, so does that mean women are naturally supposed to be curvy and seductive?

Racism and cultural appropriation identify themselves through Pocahontas and Peter Pan. Both identify Native Americans as red skinned, uncontrollable and irrational savages. Pocahontas sparks the most conflict because Disney rewrites history by portraying Pocahontas as a love-struck, irrational woman who causes tensions between Native Americans and Europeans.

In my experience, I knew there was something I didn’t like about most Disney princesses but did not pinpoint it until later in life. When I was young, I idolized Mulan because she was brave enough to risk treason and saved China. Most Disney princesses were lame and always needed to be rescued and didn’t rescue themselves. Nowadays, Disney has shied away from sexism and cultural appropriation by exploring new ethnic princesses and themes of familial love and romance.

Do children actually see these messages, most likely no. Nick Kolenda claims that for people to interact with subliminal messages, people must have a need to act on the behavior connected with it. “Subliminal messages cannot influence behavior but guide your decisions,” (Kolenda). I think this is relevant because I did not think about these concepts until it was brought up to me, but there is a need for change that Disney has already undergone.

References

Nick Kolenda Psychology and Marketing. (n.d.). Subliminal message: Do they really work? Retrieved from https://www.nickkolenda.com/subliminal-messages/

Warren, J. T., & Fassett, D. L. (2015). Compassionate and Critical Listening. In Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction [Red Shelf version] (2nd ed., pp. 63-76). Retrieved from https://platform.virdocs.com/app/v5/doc/80520/pg/1/toc