Blog Post due Tuesday 11:59PM or in class on Wednesday at 9:05AM

Homework due Tuesday Nov 30 11:59PM:

Read Barbara Ehrenreich's “Maid to Order: The Politics of Other Women's Work” 479-495 and compose a blog response based on ONE of the following prompts:

1. Consider what audience this piece was written for. What assumptions does Ehrenreich make about this audience?

2. Consider Ehrenreich's ethos. What is the central argument of this piece? In what ways does her personal experience build her case?

3. Ehrenreich incorporates a range of research and statistics into her essay. Which statistical examples surprised you? Which are most persuasive? Least persuasive? Why?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Disney Animated Films

Disney is a corporation like any other; they are driven by their desire for wealth, not their desire to put smiles on kid’s faces. They make movies and other products that appeal to children in order to gain profits from the parent’s wallets. There is no denying this fact and it is a norm in our society. However, to say that their movies promote such themes as gender subordination and racial stereotyping is absurd. Only by completely overanalyzing the plots and characters of these films could Giroux come to such a conclusion. Also, regardless of the evidence, no child has the real world experience or a mature enough intelligence to pick up on any stereotypes that may exist in Disney movies. As a result, I disagree with Giroux’s argument.
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3 comments:

  1. MarieVAOctober 20, 2010 at 9:27 AM

    I definitely also disagree with that part of Giroux's argument. Children that age would not even be able to register messages of racism and sexism even if they were there. Also, why is Disney being held at such a high standard when simply going out into society displays a significant amount of more sexist and racist incidents. Compared to the real world, the claims made in the attack on Disney are incredibly mild. I will agree also that like any corporation, Disney's job is to make money; why should that be a reason to attack them?

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  2. QuintinOctober 20, 2010 at 9:29 AM

    I completely understand your agrument here,but do you think that Disney is doing this to gain profits from parents or making films for the younger generation? I know that every company wants to make more and more money, but I think that Disney does things for our younger generation.

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  3. Alexa BaroneOctober 20, 2010 at 9:32 AM

    I agree with you. Children who watch these movies are as young as two or three years old. Obviously children this young cannot detect racism or sexism in these movies. I think this completely falsifies Giroux's argument because he is overestimating his audience.

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