Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

“Kenneth noticed that people of color and poor people are either absent or servants to the rich, white, pretty people.” (Page, 130)

This quote stood out to me because growing up I saw a lot of cartoons that really had major influences on me. It always been true that there wasn’t that much diversity. Cartoons have never showed different ethnicity groups being the main characters. If anything growing up all I saw was Looney Tunes were always one of my favorites, especially “Speedy Gonzalez” it’s a Mexican rat running non-stop, if you really think about it that carton portrays Mexican culture all in the wrong way, it was banned because of the simple fact that it may offend Mexican Americans. Mexicans have a prosperous cultural heritage which is consistently tarnished and misused by these insensitive cartoons.

“Overwhelming and discouraging to find that our self-images have been formed by others, but if we don’t dissect them, we will continue to be influenced by the” (Page, 133)

This quote stood out to me because I understand were Justine wrote about how what we watch on TV makes us who we are as we grow up. All of us growing up watched some kind of cartoon or show that we were addicted to, for me it was Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles. I loved those shows and they had a major influence on me not in a good way what so ever because I was always trying to do the type of things that they did, for example my favorite was Leonardo, the one with the two swords, I could not get my hands on two swords so I grabbed the next closet thing, knives. I used to hide them from my mom and run out side and throw them at the house vinyl which was made out of wood so the knives would go straight into the wood if I threw them right. That all stopped when I almost seriously injured my stepfather because I was trying to practice my accuracy on the door, so when I threw the knife he was opening the door and the knife was implanted into the door. I would have seriously injured my stepdad. I got the biggest spanking that night. I also wanted to be Superman, he was my favorite super hero, my moms used always help me tie a towel around my neck and prete4nd I had a cape. I would jump from couch to couch, from my mother’s bureau to her bed. I just loved to see the cape flap, I was not the brightest kid because my mother told me that I tried to jump out of the window, mind you we lived on the third floor, I still don’t believe that but why would she lie. I agree with Justine because though shows makes kids want to do what they see and believe in things that are not true.

“I don’t want students to believe that change can be brought at mall, nor do I want them thinking that the pinnacle of a women’s life is an “I do” that supposedly leads them to a “happily ever after” (Page, 133)

I saved this quote for last because it’s a strong message not just for the kids that believe in all these cartoons but also because many people go out of their way to be accepted by others. That just because you can go to the mall and buy different types of clothing to make you fit in does not mean that you’re a different person. Everybody is different and learning how to accept yourself before accepting others is the biggest task that may cross your path. If your life always worrying about who accepts you and changing who you are in a society full of change will get you NO were. I think it’s really important that she pointed out the pinnacle of women because it’s not just something directed to women. It also directed to all men because it takes two to marry and what I take from this quote is that we cannot believe in the fairy tale endings and everything coming to easy because the real world is full of obstacles that if you’re not prepared for will knock you down and be extremely hard to bounce back. That that happy ever after ending comes with hard work and that it’s not something you can buy but something that you can work for to obtain the greatest amount of success.