Snow White and the "Secret Education"

Argument: 

This author, Linda Christensen argues that there is a "secret education" that teaches children (through books, movies, television, and secondhand information feeding from parents, family, etc.) how society is "supposed" to be. Linda states "Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream. This indoctrination hits young children especially hard."

Her argument ultimately: Children are taught how to think about different races, classes, and situations at a very young age by watching cartoons/ movies. They are being controlled without even knowing. She says how "these messages, or 'secret education', linked with the security of their homes, underscore the power these texts deliver. As Tatum's research suggests, the stereotypes and worldview embedded in the stories become accepted knowledge." Children are never taught to question what it is they're watching. I sure never watched Snow white thinking "there are no black people in this movie" I just watched because it was my favorite childhood movie. After reading this article, it's amazing to me how much I have been influenced by the movies I watched as a kid. One of the things I loved the quote Christensen said in her article "Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption-- in their (Cinderella's) case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle." What's crazy is for the most party, I BELIEVED THIS! You had to be pretty to get the prince, you had to HAVE a prince to be happy. It's amazing how just by watching this, a message is encrypted into your mind that you NEED a man to be happy! Poor guys don't stand a chance because all of the girls are looking for a prince charming, to sing to them, and to dance with them even when there's no music.

"True death equals a generation living by rules and attitudes they never questioned and producing more children who do the same". Children do as they are told...most of the time. Every now and then they'll lie about brushing their teeth but they believe what their extremely tall parents tell them because they "reign over them". What child would ever question what their parents say? Linda Christensen wants to teach them otherwise. She wants to tap on that glass and shatter the stereotypes in cartoons. She wants to rethink schools by first making the students rethink what is they have been taught. She asks them simple questions that they wouldn't think about. The solution to this problem: make them question the "societal norms" that we're taught so often at a young age.

Looking at the Disney Princesses and Princes, they have the same happy looks now that they are forever with their knight and shining armor. This is how all girls can look when they have the man of their dreams too. I've watched all these movies just like any girl would, and it put ideas in my head that I didn't even know that they were putting. Do you see anyone black in these pictures? Asian? How about poor and happy? They're ALL princes and princesses so clearly they have money, and a title. 

In class, I'd like to discuss how it is that this isn't noticed. How is it that people don't realize it? Some do, like Linda. Maybe people just don't question cartoons because they're supposedly "kid friendly". How can we decode this "secret education" further in schools?