Talking Points #4

Linda Christensen
“Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us”

1) “Early in the unit, I show a Popeye cartoon, ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,” that depicts all Arabs with the same face, same turban, same body- and they are all swinging enormous swords. At one point in the cartoon, Popeye clips a dog collar on helpless Olive Oyl and drags her through the desert.” Pg. 130

This quote surprised me a little bit because I remember watching Popeye with my grandfather when I was little. The cartoon presents myths that were believed and still may be believed in our culture. The people of ethnic backgrounds all look the same. I have heard people say this recently at my brother’s high school graduation, “I can’t tell them apart, those black kids look the same”. I was mortified when I heard it. Also the love interest is treated like a dog. She is expected to follow the man wherever he goes and never complain or rebel.

2) “But, like the original tale, Cindy Ellie’s main goal is in life is not working to end the plight of the homeless or teaching kids to read. Her goal, like Cinderella’s, is to get her man.” Pg. 132

The quote is explaining that while the problem of racism is addressed in the modern version of the classic tale, the other problems are not. Cinder Ellie is just as shallow as Cinderella. She just wants to be married and be in her proper place as a wife. She fit’s the role of the stereotypical perfect woman even though she is a minority. I think that it proves that the race of the character isn’t as big of an issue as the motivations and characterizations of the characters do.

3) “They accept the inequalities in power and exploitative economic relationships. Their acceptance teaches me how deep the roots of these myths are planted and how much some students, in the absence of visions for a different and better world, need to believe in the fairy tale magic that will transform their lives.” Pg. 133

The students accepted that the majority of the characters with power and the rich characters are white and the poor characters are people of color. The reason a lot of people read fairy tales as children and read them to their children because they like that the underdog characters often get what they long for. There is a promise of a better life that is not always visible in reality especially if the person has low socio-economic status or is of color.

This article was very interesting to me because I am taking a children’s literature class this semester. The class examines everything thing from Mother Goose to modern day fairy tales such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We spend a good portion of the class examining the characters and the theme of the works. We found a lot of stereotypical female characters that would fit in with the characterizations in cartoons that the author discussed. There is the girl who wants to be the perfect wife, but there are also girls that end up saving their loved ones like Grettel who saves her brother from the witch who wants to eat him. We read some works that the character was an ethnic person and did work to better their own lives. “Yeh Shen” is the Chinese version of “Cinderella”. She works hard to please her family and to keep in favor with the spirits who aid her in her journey. She takes it upon herself to find the lost shoe and she does not go looking for it so she can fall in love, but so she can please the spirits. I think that there are stories and cartoons that do a good job of addressing issues of race and power, but it takes a little bit more of an effort to find them. They’re not as easily accessible, but they are out there.