Mickey Mouse movie and reading

The video we watched in class today, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, was thoroughly thought provoking and an eye opener. I will admit, I have grown up watching Disney movies throughout my childhood. As a child, like most children, I did not notice or recognize the stereotypes that were being made on different social groups. While watching these movies I do remember my mom reminding me that these stories weren't real, they were make believe. As I became older I did learn that not everyone's lives have happy endings, unlike Disney. I really enjoyed this video because it gave me a new way of thinking of the Disney Company and how the company is portrayed as innocent and sweet, yet in reality it has subliminal messages that are being sent out to children. It shocks me how many assumptions there are made on different social groups. The video was very well organized and had numerous amounts of evidence that back up the idea of stereotyping other social groups and showing that whites are the more dominate group.
Throughout this video I also learned Disney portrays the female characters in very diminishing ways, by having them be seductress, non-aggressive, always needed a male to help/save her, domestic, and so on. Yet, they never discussed the other side, males as being masculine or the idea of masculinity.

The most interesting chapters of today’s reading I thought were the first article, “Night to His Day” by Judith Lorber and “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel. I became a lot more aware of “doing gender” and how we act, talk, and appear is what distinguishes us from male or female. We, as a whole society, create what are male and female characteristics and if one does not follow those patterns they are looked down upon and may be considered gay or lesbian. Over time gender roles can change, like the example they give in the book, men caring and nurturing for their children on the public bus in becoming more and more prevalent within our society. After reading these articles it really gets me thinking of how my everyday life is shaped around gender roles. As a small example, my roommate earlier had her boyfriend over and she insisted that he go outside to look at her car’s oil level (she’s been having problems with her car) because it is a “man’s job to get nice and dirty and wet.”