Discussion: "Jimmy Wales Is Not an Internet Billionaire"

We have all had those lectures from teachers, librarians, professors, etc. about how we ought to be wary of, or in some cases completely avoid, Wikipedia.  Regardless of your view, the fact that none of the information is influenced by the “business” side of Wikipedia remains.  There really is no business side, and any conflict of interest comes from individuals that choose to edit pages.

In the article “Jimmy Wales Is Not an Internet Billionaire”, the author, Amy Chozick, explains Wales’ background as well as his current lifestyle and notes that after 12 years of Wikipedia being online, Wales is not nearly as wealthy as many believe him to be.  Chozick also states that Wikipedia is the fifth-most-viewed website in the world with more than 20 billion page views and 516 million unique visitors each month.  She says it is also estimated that should Wikipedia accept banner and video ads, it could potentially be worth $5 billion.

Do you think that the fact that Wikipedia does not use advertisements for profit makes it a more reliable source, or does the fact that anyone can edit the site negate this aspect?

Do you think that Wikipedia ought to accept advertisements in order to keep such a large database of information available, or would this upset those who appreciate the non-profit characteristic of the site?

Do you think that the “community” of volunteers who run Wikipedia is an advantage of Wikipedia, or ought it be more of a hierarchical system?

Kang Research Report

‘Should Redddit Be Blamed for the Spreading of Smear?’  is an informative article on the origins/history of Reddit, as well as a caveat regarding Reddit’s exponentially growing power. Written by Jay Caspian Kang, the article appeared on July 31^st 2013 in the Sunday edition of The New York Times under the caption “Crowd Sourcing a Smear.” The article provides a balanced and trustworthy reflection of Reddit. However, readers should still be cautious of how the emerging dichotomy in traditional news and 24-hour news of assertion is represented by The New York times- a more traditional news medium.

            Kang, the author of the article, has an experienced background that adds value to the dilemma being addressed. He grew up in Boston and Chapel Hill before graduating from Bowdin College (2). From there he attended Columbia University (4), where he received a Masters of Fine Arts Degree. Kang is an embellished writer that has received the 2003 Sinkinson Prize for Best Short Story, founded ritalin magazine (3), and gained valuable experience by writing for Wired, The Morning News, Deadspin, The Awl, and The Antlantic.com (3). Currently, he works as an editor for Gratland. Kang’s high involvement also indicates that he is not a new writer worried about building his résumé, rather he is at the point in his career where he can take risks and really channel his inner opinions. Additionally, because the article was written in July, over 3 months after the bombings, there really wasn’t any time constraint or pressure. This further reinforces the goal of the article being to provide a new and balanced perspective on Reddit’s increasing power and role in the aftermath of the bombings.

            While Kang’s experience verifies his article, his position as a journalist possibly ads a bias to the tone of his argument. In the past, traditional news consisted of journalism of verification. This type of journalism was primarily concerned with reporting accurate and unbiased facts. However, with the emergence of the 24-hour news cycle, traditional news is becoming increasingly uprooted. The new 24-hour news cycle pressures journalists and even citizens to announce news, even before fact checking. The misidentification of Sunil Tripathi was a direct consequence of societies willingness to accept unchecked facts and pressure for quick information. As a business being largely replaced, it is difficult for a traditional journalist to essentially report on journalism of assertion. Although this bias is most likely unconsciously present, Kang does a good job highlighting the benefits of Reddit’s role in news these days as well. He points out the significant role that Reddit played in the Colorado theatre massacre, where Redditers were some of the first people to provide coverage, even offering correct and specific statistics regarding injuries/fatalities.

            Kang’s article has even been evaluated by other redditers in the form of comments and questionaires on Reddit. This provides some indication of how accepted Kang’s claims are. Opinions seemed to be mixed. One Redditer commented, “You wrote a great piece, Jay.” However, others were more defensive. Alex Angel said, “I just don’t understand why the blame was put on us and not on the outlets that did shoddy reporting”(1). These contradictory opinions are natural as people come to terms rapidly changing role of Reddit.

            In brief, although there appears to be a conflict of interest, the article provided an accurate and balanced perspective of Reddit that should be trusted by readers.

           

Work Cited:

1. Reddit. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j3q0b/i_am_jay_caspian_kang_author_of_the_recent_nyt/ (accessed 11/30/13)

2. Huffington Post, The Book We're Talking About: 'The Dead Do Not Improve' By Jay Caspian Kang, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/dead-do-not-improve_n_1747545.html

3. Y. Peter Kang, August Issue: Jay Caspian Kang Explores Korean American Male Anger in New Novel, KoreAm Journal, http://iamkoream.com/august-issue-jay-caspian-kang-explores-korean-american-male-anger-in-new-novel/

4. Bowdoin Orient, http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/archives/2003-02-28/news02.html

5. The Morning News, Losing in Vegas: Jay Caspian Kang's "literary moment", http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2010/11/11/jason-kang-morning-news-the-high-literary-moment-gambling-addiction/

            

Online Assignment 3

            Two course concepts that I saw in the documentary Mickey Mouse Monopoly, which argued that Disney movies are having a negative effect on the children who watch them, are the concepts of cultural studies and cultivation theory.

            The concept of cultural studies explores how media affects culture, and in turn how culture affects media, as well as how the companies in control of media use their power. In the 1920’s the Frankfurt school hypothesized that media is a form of production that produces culture, which is made up of values, beliefs, myths, and common sense, all of which are political. The opportunity of the people in charge of the media to speak through mass media or decide on its content is a form of power. In the video the narrator talks about how Disney is a transnational media conglomerate, explaining Disney has a tremendous influence on national and international popular culture. Another aspect of the cultural studies concept found in the video is people in the cultures mass media messages enter may resist the ideas. This is apparent through out the video. Author Dr. Henry Giroux was one of the first individuals to call out Disney for its control over the media. He explained the difficulty he had with using a Disney image on the cover of his book explaining that Disney has “monopolized the market on how it represents itself.” Although not everyone agreed with his critical view, it was important that he called this view to the public’s attention, instead of remaining a passive receiver of the messages Disney movies were creating.

            The concept of cultivation theory can be found in the film as well. This research focused on the common cultural experience a child was born into in the second half of the 20^th century. The concern was that television was replacing family, state, and church’s influence on children. People who spent more time viewing television, especially children, developed distorted perceptions. Although the research focuses on television, this concept can be applied to children watching Disney movies. Dr. Diane Levin discuses this idea when she explores the idea of role models to young children. Dr. Levin explains, that when trying to develop their idea of what women should act like and be like young girls focus on dramatic characters such as Disney characters rather than real women in their lives. Another aspect of cultivation theory apparent in the video was the idea of stereotypes being reinforced by Disney. According to the cultivation theory research impressions of the world can be cultivated through long-term media exposure. This can be dangerous as the children could pick up the stereotypes portrayed in the movies. Marisa Peralta explains the negative portrayal of Latina people in the movie Oliver and Company through the Chihuahua character. “It’s almost expected that the character playing the Latino will do something he shouldn’t do,” she explains, “if it wasn’t so tragic it’d be comical.”

Online Assignment #3

After watching Mickey Mouse Monopoly, I find the "magic bullet" and "two step flow" perspectives simultaneously prevalent in Disney's media. 

Dr. Justin Lewis argues that the two-step flow is applicable to Disney, even as this transnational conglomerate has "unprecedented control over what we consume." While some appeals to children may be direct, Disney's media is much more effective by creating its own "world" and penetrating our culture through movies, television, toys, decorations, and family experiences (DisneyWorld & DisneyLand; Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade). "Disney" is a household name, and one of the first that children know. Through this vast context, Lewis argues that the way media influences how we think is by creating a certain of images, of which a slow accumulation is more subtle and powerful than a "whiz-bang" effect. 

As consumers, we should find this is disturbing. The film references an anachronistic Hercules store, which emphasizes "shopping and all the excitement of products." By having our youth watch these movies and immersed in this culture, they are learning a very consumerist ideology with little regard to the side effects of their actions -- because in movies, there are no side effects. 

Dr. Gail Dines argues that the images we see in Disney movies create "coded immediate ideologies. " These stereotypes do not take much time to build up in our minds, building inaccurate schemas of gender roles and race relations. According to Professor Wells' lecture on  Payne Fund findings, it follows that these harmful ideologies are picked up by children, even if they are untrue stereotypes: "Children accept the information in the movies as correct unless it is flagrantly incorrect." According to Dr. Alvin Poussaint, "what you pick up from the media is stereotypical." The more a child watches, the more he or she will attempt to act like these impossible stereotypes in appearance, during play, and in interacting with others. This is indicative of media that is "powerful, direct, able to incite action": the premise of the magic bullet theory.

These movies have very real effects on our society. According to Dr. Carolyn Newberger, the perpetuation of abuse in The Beauty and the Beast is "horrific... This is a movie that is saying overlook the abuse, overlook the violence, there's a tender prince lurking within...." In Snow White, there's a young female completely isolated, enjoying cooking and cleaning and her friends, the animals, and she's happy. Ariel perpetuates giving parts of yourself up for "your man." Tarzan casts African - Americans as jungle animals, and The Lady & the Tramp casts Siamese cats as having typical Asian features. Perhaps our culture loves these films too much so that we overlook these discrepancies. But for a conglomerate that has "no obligation to make art... history... or a statement," and when "Money is our only objective," perhaps we should hold Disney, and our media, to a higher standard.

My mother, recognizing and outraged by these stereotypes,  never allowed me to watch Disney movies growing up. In middle and high school people would make Disney allusions, and I wouldn’t be “clued-in”. My high - school English teacher even attempted to use a Disney film I can’t remember to explain Romeo and Juliet; while this made sense to every one else, I was even more confused. From the outside looking in, it’s interesting (and creepy) to see how much Disney is still a part of our culture.

Online Assignment #3

The Mickey Mouse Monopoly documentary gave insight into Disney’s power in influencing our stereotypes and cultural expectations hidden behind an image of fun and magic. Behind what Dr. Henry Girox describes as a “spectacle of innocence” are powerful messages that make their way into American culture. Two perspectives demonstrated in Mickey Mouse Monopoly are the cultivation theory and the “magic bullet” theory.

Cultivation research shows that long-term media exposure influences people’s perceptions and behaviors of certain groups. One example of Disney cultivating certain ideas is seen in its portrayal of race. In the beginning of the documentary, for example, Marisa Peralta explains how her daughter wondered why all the dark people always seemed to be doing bad things. Marisa Peralta also pointed out that in one Disney film, the only hispanic character was a Chihuahua that always seemed to be doing what he should not be doing. Issues with the portrayal (or lack thereof) of black characters are also seen in Tarzan and the Jungle Book. For example, in the Jungle Book, Dr. Diane Hadley claims that the orangutans and monkeys are meant to be black people. She also points out the problems with how these characters sing about wishing to be human. While hiding behind a mask of good intentions, these messages about race distort perceptions and maintain negative stereotypes.

Among Payne Fund Findings in line with the “magic bullet” theory of direct absorption of media messages, children learn from, tend to accept things as true from and imitate what they see in movies. Disney’s role in creating genders norms and roles is transmitted directly to its young audiences. According to Dr. Diane Levin, children look to the most salient characters for cues on how to look and act and Dr. Gail Dines noticed that even the coy and seductive female animal characters contribute to constructed notions of femininity and what being a woman is. She Several troubling messages come from Beauty and the Beast. Dr. Carolyn Newberger says the message of “saying no and not really meaning it” is shown in the candlestick and broom characters and the message of reinterpreting and excusing abusive behavior is demonstrated by Belle when she falls in love with the beast. Young girls absorb these messages directly from Disney movies without a lens of feminist sensibility.

These gender and racial stereotypes are dangerous because of the appeal of Disney’s movies and families see the movies as wholesome entertainment, according to the documentary. Yet these movies cultivate ideas and distort perceptions with a magic bullet, hitting a vulnerable, malleable young audience.

There are several salient issues brought up in the movie Mickey Mouse Monopoly.  Through interviews with various experts, a few roles of media are expressed.  The two I noticed the most were the cultural studies and cultivation research.  Dr. Justin Lewis talked about the vast reach of the Disney Empire, stating that because Disney was so widespread it formed child’s imaginary world across the globe, which gives them a lot of power.  He claimed that Disney creates an environment that consumers, especially kids, get used to.  This isn’t an immediate effect; contrarily it’s a slow accumulative effect.  This backs up the cultivation research theory because the children’s impressions of the world are cultivated through long term media exposure.  Another expert whose views mirrored the cultivation research effect is Dr. Alvin Poussaint.  He specifically talked about Disney’s portrayal of the “others” in society.  He talked about how the crows in Dumbo, the monkeys in Jungle Book and other characters sounded/were portrayed as African Americans.  Not only does this dehumanize that race of people, but also many times in the films these characters are either evil or are aspiring to be more like the “white” characters.  This is another main point of the cultivation research theory, that perceptions of certain groups in society may be cultivated by media representations. 

The other theory I was reminded of in the film was the cultural studies perspective.  Dr. Gail Dines said that unless conscience decisions are made by the writers of Disney movies, which she doubted, the stereotypes that are portrayed come from what the writers know.  This screamed cultural studies theory because the content of media comes from within a culture, and it acts as a cycle to bolster these stereotypes.  Dr. Diane Levin’s views also seemed to back up the cultural studies theory.  She talked about how when girls think about how to be a woman, they aren’t consciously thinking to themselves “how should I act, dress, and look to be a woman?” but merely using examples that are readily available to them, which in the world we live in where Disney is so prevalent, a lot of the times the readily available images are from Disney movies.  These representations of women in the media (Disney) reproduce the power structure that is already in place in our society, especially so thirty or forty years ago.  However, as individuals within a society change, the images from the media change to fit the views of the culture.  An example of this would be the depiction of Mulan versus the Belle.  Mulan is a much stronger, independent woman than Belle was.  While Mulan is the hero in the movie, at the end of the story she goes back and fits into the assigned gender roles, which demonstrates that things change very slowly.  The movie Mickey Mouse Monopoly brought to light the various impacts that media has on our society, and the consequences those effects can have on the children of a culture can be enormous, and not necessarily in a good way.

Online Assignment #3

Throughout the Mickey Mouse Monopoly documentary, I found two theories were most relevant: The Cultural Studies Theory and the Cultivation Theory.
Disney owns a lot of various companies. As such, they have a “tremendous influence on culture.” It is this influence that leads Disney to have “unprecedented control over images” and as a result, provides the public with a limited and skewed perception. Rather than family, state, and church shaping our perceptions, that job is done by television—as evidenced by the Cultural Studies Theory. Images—like Mickey Mouse—provide companies with an opportunity to speak through mass media as a form of power. Regarding the publishing of a book, the image of Mickey Mouse underneath a Mouse trap was unable to be published due to publisher’s fears of upsetting Disney—or worse, being sued by them. Another example of this power struggle is one in which people are not allowed to use a picture of Disney World without obtaining permission first. A culture in which Disney is incredible and they must be “protected” at all costs has been fostered by this use of media to gain power. Taking a deeper look at the image of Mickey Mouse, the image is associated with happiness, love, and childhood memories. According to the Cultural Studies Theory, content comes from within a culture. Thus, in the states, the culture that is strived for is one that involves “happy ever after’s”… Perhaps a twist on the “American Dream.”
Cultivation Theory emphasizes the danger of creating a “mean world” for the public. A “mean world” in which citizens have heightened levels of fear, anxiety, and anger. However, Disney seems to be creating the opposite. “Heavy viewers” would see that good always triumphs over evil. Yes, there are fire-breathing dragons, but there are also always knights in shining armor—who are ready and waiting to save the “damsel in distress”. Long-term media exposure involves more than a once-off viewing. It involves playing with Disney-related toys, games, and watching movies. Does this long-term exposure give us a skewed vision? Life won’t always have a happy ending or a fairy godmother. However, is it really that bad to have kids grow up thinking positively? It’s far better than growing up a cynical child. We allow “Disney to shape our children”, but perhaps it’s a beneficial type of shaping.
There are negatives to the way Disney can be perceived through the Cultivation Theory mindset. The theory states “perceptions of certain groups may be cultivated by media representations.” This plays a role when looking at how men and women characters are portrayed by Disney. Women are supposed to have the skinny waist and large chest and “use their bodies”. Unfortunately, this brings rise to concerns of feminism. The women characters almost always seem to need rescuing by the big, handsome, aggressive, male character. However, when looking at modern-day society, it is a social norm for people to be with one another. Humans are inherently made to be social creatures and interact. Thus, is it really so bad for Disney to encourage companionship?
While Disney does convey an ideal world in which evil is always conquered and people always find their mate, it is a tough line to walk. At the end of the day, though, Disney really is just a fantasy.

Online Assignment #3

Throughout the documentary Mickey Mouse Monopoly, many academics and scholars comment on the potentially dangerous effects of the Disney corporation’s dominance in the world of childrens’ entertainment. From shaping unrealistic expectations of gender roles and negative perceptions of race or history, it is clear that the content of products of the Disney corporation in the form of toys, movies and the entire image of the company itself, has a massive effect on shaping the worldview of young children. While there are examples of all of the five perspectives of media effects throughout the movie, the two most prominent are the magic bullet effect and the critical-cultural view.

The magic bullet effect, which argues that the media are powerful, direct and able to incite certain emotions and actions within their audience, is undoubtedly a major factor in the way that Disney influences the minds of children. Specifically, the gender representations portrayed in Disney films, although they tend to be extremely misleading and largely unattainable, play a significant role in shaping how children play with each other, and even see themselves. For example, Dr. Gail Dines argues that the images of women in Disney can construct notions of femininity and what being a woman is really about, despite how false the portrayals really are. Women in Disney films are always highly sexualized, with absurd and impossible body proportions, but the fact that young girls see this image so often communicates the idea that this is what real women are supposed to look like. This is an example of the media’s direct and powerful impact on how their audience sees themselves and the world around them -- we begin to associate these false notions with the ideal woman and feminine qualities and anything that doesn’t match up to these unrealistic expectations is somehow wrong.

The critical-cultural view is also an important perspective to recognize in the influence of Disney and how it both represents existing American culture and shapes it. Regarding cultural studies, the Frankfurt School concluded that media are one means of production that produces culture, and the ability to communicate through mass media is a form of power. Stuart Hall’s assessment of cultural studies also argued that messages are created through media in a society to communicate certain values and beliefs, something that is undoubtedly done through Disney’s products. As Dr. Justin Lewis argues, because Disney is such a major media conglomerate and is so popular across the globe, “the story that Disney tells will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world all over the world. And that’s an incredible amount of power.” Dines added that one of the most cultural institutions in modern society is, in fact, the media, which “gives us a whole array of images, of stereotypes, of belief systems about race, about class, about gender.” Disney’s immense power as a major media corporation has a huge role in shaping not only how their young audiences see the world around them, but also the belief systems that are subtly communicated through Disney’s films.

Online Assignment # 3

In the documentary the Mickey Mouse Monopoly, experts explain the effects the media has, specifically major companies like Disney, have on children and their perceptions on groups and society. The magic bullet and cultivation theory perspectives are used to explain these reactions children have when watching the films, and what messages they are being given from huge conglomerate companies like Disney.

The magic bullet perspective can be used to explain how children react to watching Disney movies. The Payne Fund Studies show that children watching films learn from the movies, and form attitudes about the groups portrayed in the films. In the Mickey Mouse Monopoly, multiple experts describe how Disney develops characters of certain races and genders in their films. Marisa Peralta of the Rafael Hernandez School explains how Latinos are perceived in Disney films. Really, there is only one example: the Chihuahua. The Latino character in the movies will always end up doing the things that he shouldn’t do, like Alonzo stealing a car in Oliver and Company. She doesn’t understand why Latinos can’t be represented as humans, but are instead represented as dogs. Disney movies also lack representing black people in their movies. Dr. Alvin Poussaint gives the example of the hyenas in The Lion King and how they spoke in a street, city, African-American dialect, and they were considered “the bad guys.” Children are adopting an idea about people from these types of characters. Jacqueline Maloney of Harvard explains how her friend’s child was playing and was scared of the “hyenas” and the people he was scared of was a group of black children playing nearby. He heard their dialect and related the two groups. This gives children the idea that people that talk like that, are bad, and thus, that African-Americans are bad. These examples show how direct and powerful the media is in this magic bullet perspective.

Another perspective explained in the film is the cultivation theory. The women of Disney movies have not changed much over the years: they still have enhanced sexual features, with large breasts, large hips, and a small waist, and are seductresses. The characters show how women can be influential against men, but mostly with their bodies, which can be dangerous to a young girl watching the movies. Dr. Gail Dines of Wheelock College says that, “this presents people with a notion of what femininity is about. This is not a mirror on society, not reflecting who women really are.” Young girls watching Disney movies even before they can speak are shown what “society” thinks their bodies should look like, or what beauty is. They take these messages more strongly than looking at everyday women walking down the street, who are real examples of what normal women look like. Young people generate ideas of their place in society when watching these films. Alison Wilson of the Neighborhood House Charter School explains how young girls in her class play “Mermaid” and “Princess” and reenact these damsel-in-distress scenes, and the young boys come and save them, because in the movies, the girls are always unable to save themselves. The men are always saving them. This is an important point of cultivation research, that these impressions and behaviors in society can be cultivated through long-term exposure of the films.

Online Assignment #3

For many years now, the public has been growing concerned with how influential various types of media are on children.  For example, violent video games have been feared as increasing violence in children and giving them false perceptions of reality.  However, a seemingly more innocent source of concern is Disney.  In Mickey Mouse Monopoly, this concern with the effects of Disney productions on children is discussed, and three of the perspectives discussed in lecture were referenced in the documentary: the Magic Bullet perspective, the Cultivation perspective, and the Cultural perspective.
Early in the documentary, Justin Lewis argues that to think that the effects of Disney are immediate and direct is incorrect.  Hence, he is arguing against the Magic Bullet perspective and setting the stage for the discussion of the other perspectives that involve more long term and complex effects.  Lewis’s argument is supported by the idea that the concern with how misrepresentation of race, gender, and reality in general often found in Disney movies are not immediately pointed out.  These ideas and fears started out small and slowly grew to be large enough to have numerous studies conducted focusing on the effects of these misrepresentations in the psychological development of children.  This idea is manifested in the Cultivation perspective.
The Cultivation perspective says that small and indirect effects accumulate over time and affect our perceptions and impressions of the world.  In the documentary, concerns associated with this perspective were those such as body image, domestic violence, and general equality in young girls.  The most shocking was Beauty and the Beast, a widely popular film of 1991 that even returned to theaters in 3D recently.  The relationship between the main characters is quite obviously one of domestic abuse, even if it is fiction.  Many fear that portraying such a relationship as a romance and suggesting that the girl ought to stick with “beast” actually impacts children’s behavior.  Obviously this impact would not occur in an immediate way, but may rather slowly influence how children would perceive such a relationship or situation.  Another idea presented is that of the female body image.  Dr. Gail Dines and Dr. Diane Levin argue that the way Disney portrays women is not a reflection even of the most ideal body type, but rather a construction of what ought to be ideal and worked for.
Similar to the slow integration of ideas that the Cultivation perspective focuses on, the Cultural perspective looks at how these misperceptions and distortions of reality are portrayed in media because of their existence in our culture.  It is unlikely that any Disney writers are purposely portraying racism or abuse intentionally, but rather these situations in reality naturally come out in their writing simply because of their presence in the writer’s own culture.  However, as stated by Dr. Gail Dines in the film, whether or not such troublesome aspects of Disney films are intentional, they are still dangerous and ought to be recognized for the influence they have, and have had, on children.

Online Assignment 3: Mickey Mouse Monopoly

Mickey Mouse Monopoly effectively illustrates the immense power that media—in particular Disney—has over our culture. I believe that the film focuses on two “perspectives” of media: critical-cultural and cultivation. These perspectives often are intertwined.

               The mass appeal of Disney films is integral to our society because Disney effectively constructs our culture by how it represents men, women, and life in general. The ideal man is usually represented as buff, strong, and in control (e.g. Hercules, The Beast [even though he is “ugly,” he represents these qualities], Aladdin [despite living and eating an unbalanced diet as a pauper, he is muscular]). In contrast and more problematic, as Dr. Gail Dines describes, women are represented as slim, seductive, buxom, and in need of rescuing. This image of woman has barely changed from early Disney films up to the present day. She says that even female animals, as is the case with the sensualized bunny rabbit seducing another animal and a female centaur being pursued by male centaurs in a movie from the 40s, fit this “notion of femininity.” A further example of how Disney represents culture problematically is aptly demonstrated in the question a young girl asked her mother—“Why is it that black people are always doing bad things?” Disney has a massive viewership, so when it portrays culture in certain ways, society will likely reify those stereotypes in our culture because we see them so widely and so often.

               Similarly, Mickey Mouse Monopoly shows the sway Disney holds in the context of the “cultivation perspective” of media, where television is a cultural environment that exercises influence through small, cumulative effects. Justin Lewis states that Disney is the “dominant story-teller for children globally.” Its audience is massive, its influence permeating our society because, as Alvin Poussaint describes, it is a part of our culture. Most importantly, it is part of our culture to be raised as a child watching Disney films. And at this point in time, multiple generations have been raised on Disney films. It’s deep within us. Lewis articulates how media is not a “magic bullet” but the slow, cumulative effects of the cultivation perspective. He says “The way media influences what we think is much less immediate and straightforward…creating a certain environment of images that we grow up in, that we become used to. And after a while, those images will shape what we believe and understand about the world.” This can be seen in how children pick up on social interactions and motifs from their environment (television) and begin acting within the culture they see depicted from a very young age. The film describes how a young girl out on the playground swooned up against a fence while her friend recruited boys to “save” her, thus enacting the Disney stereotype that women are in need of rescuing. If children grow up thinking and behaving in this way, they are more likely to see things this way as adults.

               Henry Giroux says that “Disney has made a spectacle of innocence.” Consequently, it is easy to see how society has been drawn in by and fallen in love with Disney films. However, it’s problematic when these films permeate our culture to this extreme degree, but represent negative stereotypes of gender roles, body shapes, race, and relationships. I believe that as college students who are likely to have children within the next decade, we need to consider whether or not we wish to continue holding Disney as such a deep-rooted part of our lives.