1. To begin today’s class, we viewed a few short youtube videos that gave examples from Disney movies of damsels in distress, the classic Disney heroine. Another we watched did a good job of explaining and giving evidence from films about the negative stereotypes of women portrayed in many traditional cartoons, like Disney ones. They also stereotype the role the hero is supposed to play and what value they have of women. These are theories and discussing is not  meant to hinder any past or future enjoyment of the stories, but only to discuss the possibility of subconscious influences passed along to children. We discussed, when going through the questions from yesterday’s reading, whether the danger is real here and whether one stereotype (of men or women’s roles) is more dangerous than another. They had some good dialogue in discussing it which was all the activity was meant to do.

Here is the video we looked at. See what you think for yourself – do these traditional stories promote roles that are negative or restrict genders in any way?