Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Racial And Gender Stereotyping
Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Racial and Gender Stereotyping
Kaitlin VanBuskirk
University of South Carolina
When examining an individual’s appearance, what are the first few characteristics that you identify? Is it their gender? How about their race, or social class? As a society we immediately categorize each other; we classify every aspect of our personalities and presentations. If a certain characteristic of an individual seems to deviate from the social ‘norm’, we cast that individual off and claim them to be different from us. But who are we, and where has our society received these notions of right and wrong? It is important to note that reality is completely relative and totally depends on the culture and the time period. Reality is also fluid and ever changing. It continues to evolve as society either agrees or disagrees on what is acceptable. Today, the media plays a vital role in portraying who and what members of our society should be. Disney has been around for generations and continues to be a dominant media conglomerate that aids in gender socialization of our youth while also painting a vivid …show more content…
Since this corporation owns so much of the media they have the ability to exercise control over what the world sees and hears and ultimately acts out. This specific enterprise, dominated by corporate interests, has monopolized and polices the market. It controls every aspect of how it represents itself and is in a key position to sell our children whatever they wish to market. As a society, we develop our reality from the cultural mechanisms around us. We learn from everything that these billion dollar corporations give to us, and we solemnly listen to them. They represent an authority figure to us, and we passively accept their control. Drawing on Disney as an example, it is no question that the media today gives us stereotypes of race, class, and
Kaitlin VanBuskirk
University of South Carolina
When examining an individual’s appearance, what are the first few characteristics that you identify? Is it their gender? How about their race, or social class? As a society we immediately categorize each other; we classify every aspect of our personalities and presentations. If a certain characteristic of an individual seems to deviate from the social ‘norm’, we cast that individual off and claim them to be different from us. But who are we, and where has our society received these notions of right and wrong? It is important to note that reality is completely relative and totally depends on the culture and the time period. Reality is also fluid and ever changing. It continues to evolve as society either agrees or disagrees on what is acceptable. Today, the media plays a vital role in portraying who and what members of our society should be. Disney has been around for generations and continues to be a dominant media conglomerate that aids in gender socialization of our youth while also painting a vivid …show more content…
Since this corporation owns so much of the media they have the ability to exercise control over what the world sees and hears and ultimately acts out. This specific enterprise, dominated by corporate interests, has monopolized and polices the market. It controls every aspect of how it represents itself and is in a key position to sell our children whatever they wish to market. As a society, we develop our reality from the cultural mechanisms around us. We learn from everything that these billion dollar corporations give to us, and we solemnly listen to them. They represent an authority figure to us, and we passively accept their control. Drawing on Disney as an example, it is no question that the media today gives us stereotypes of race, class, and