Hi Everyone!
I have been thinking a lot about the documentary we watched in class on Tuesday...although I have seen it before, it always reveals something new and thought provoking after each viewing. I continue to be horrified by the way our culture portrays women (and men), yet I know that my "media consumption" adds to this problem. I have a bad habit of watching reality TV (*blush*) and lately I have been catching up on The Bachelorette. After watching Killing Us Softly on Tuesday, the show held a totally different meaning for me. I was appalled by the portrayal of men and women on the show and in the ads that ran during the show. Typically I DVR programs and fast-forward through the commercials, but I made a conscious effort to slow down the DVR and view a few of the ads after class.
I am definitely not one of those people that say, "Ads don't influence me!" I am completely aware that ads do influence the way I feel about myself and the people around me. About 2 years ago I made a conscious effort to stop reading fashion magazines because I noticed that after I read them I felt much more negatively about myself, my clothes, even the car I drive. I can only imagine the ideas, worries, and fears that develop in teens as they are bombarded by the images of how women and men "should be." I also think the portrayal of romantic relationships in TV shows and movies is incredibly skewed. My favorite reality show, The Bachelorette, sends tons of messages about romantic relationships...most of which are sexist and demeaning: yet I keep coming back for more!
By the way, check out this website for more information on media literacy, the doc we saw Killing Us Softly, and more docs with similar themes: http://www.mediaed.org/
I understand how you feel about this. Having a 10 year old girl it has always been my worry what her self image will become. She is entering that messy stage of the pre-teen. Her classmates have in the past have made comments about how she looks, or what she wears. At first I struggled with what I should do. However, in the end, I knew that if I instilled a core belief in herself that may guide her through the minefield of adolescents.
ReplyDeleteSteering this toward the teaching, I read an interesting article this week that might aide us as teachers through the minefield of emotions and changes. It was one of my annotated bibliographies, "Mapping the use of feature film in composition class". Her aim is to use film as a jumping off point for self discovery. I believe that if we explore these images the negative or the positive, our students will find their own path to safety. Knowing what they believe in, that the images are not real or realistic, knowing that they are more than the images they see will instill a self worth they may carry for the rest of their lives.
The need for media literacy is even more urgent than it ever has been. We, as teachers, are their guide. Using journaling, research, discussion of the media will no doubt improve their chances.
I think it's awesome that you use Killing Us Softly with some of the girls you work with...I think this would have had a profound impact on me when I was in high school. My eyes weren't opened to some of these issues until I got to college. In fact, I got to hear Jean Kilbourne speak about her book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel when I was in college. Afterwards, my roommates and I had a lot of interesting conversations and started paying more attention to the kinds of advertising we saw. Ads definitely DO influence people, whether they want to believe it or not. I still have images ingrained in my mind from my teenage years—Tyra Banks in a Got Milk? ad and an extremely skinny girl in a Guess ad. If I can remember these specific images ten years later, they obviously made an impression on me.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you recognize the flaws in The Bachelorette. I think that's the most important part. We can't always avoid what we are exposed to (sometimes we can), but either way, if we challenge the assumptions and messages inherent in media or advertising, we undo some of the damage. I think that's an important realization to transfer to the classroom. We probably can't influence what our students will watch, but we can influence how they think about what they watch.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Wynter and Danielle,
ReplyDeleteWynter: I can't even imagine how difficult it is to have a 10 year old and to try to battle against all of the media messages that she probably hears everyday. I agree with you; I think parents play a huge role in helping teens develop their self images and self worth...I wonder how we can do this in the classroom too? I will definitely check out the article you recommended; it sounds like a good one! I think our culture of distorting what women and men are is one of the strongest reasons to add media literacy education to the curriculum.
Danielle: You make some really great points...I also remember some specific ads from my teen years: how scary! I definitely think you are right; we can't always avoid the influence of ads or bad reality TV, but we do always have a chance to challenge what we are being told and disagree with the images or message.
p.s. That is AWESOME that you got to hear Jean Kilbourne speak!! I bet she is great in person!
I like to consider myself to be pretty good when it comes to looking at, treating, or even thinking about women in a respectful manner. However this video definitely raised a few issues that I was unaware of and for that, I am thankful. I also liked how it touched briefly on some of the issues men deal with, although I am perfectly aware that they pale in comparison. However, with the way gender roles are evolving in society, I think there should be a video to approach issues for men that are of great importance to the psyche of male students.
ReplyDeleteWynter, I love the idea of using creative writing to expand the minds of our students, as well as helping them deal with their own identity battles.
Katie, thank you for bringing this to class. To touch on what you three ladies have said thus far, I think that with the way multimedia is bombarding all of us with images, references, and suggestions, showing a video like this to our young students could strengthen their critical thinking abilities.
One question though, would a video like this that is obviously skewed towards one gender be best served if we also show one geared towards the other? This way, we are better serving all of our students.
Everyone’s posts about Killing Us Softly are very insightful. Having taught middle school the last three years, I know all too well the pressures teens and pre-teens feel to look a certain way. Amazingly, my students have to wear uniforms and this is still a problem! Many of my male students are insensitive to females and they make disparaging comments without a second thought—or any thought, for that matter.
ReplyDeleteAt my school the last two years, teachers were supposed to be implementing a character education/anti-bullying curriculum one day a week during homeroom period, but I’m not sure how often they fit it in. Regardless, bullying is a problem and a lot of the bullying is in the form of insulting people, particularly based on their appearance. I am convinced Killing Us Softly would be a wonderful supplement to any school’s character education/anti-bullying curriculum. For me, this documentary would complement an instruction that I say to one or more students on an almost daily basis: “The only time you should comment on a person’s appearance is to pay him/her a compliment.”
Great comments by all!
ReplyDeleteI think a key word is "awareness" when discussing ads. It's the ability to step back and consider what/how the ad is trying to affect me.
I'm glad that some have posted their understanding of how important it is for parents to be involved in their children's education. My parents were intentional in their active participation in my education. I attribute much of my academic success to them for their commitment to providing me with learning opportunities and also for keeping me on track! Because I am not yet a teacher, I cannot say this for sure, but I believe that most of the problems we have with our students (academic or otherwise) is directly related to parents' lack of...well, parenting. Either they are not involved (purposely or not) or they just don't care. Basically, I think there are many Americans who believe that school teachers are supposed to be parents, too. I don't want to get on my soapbox here, but I strongly disagree with that perspective.
Weren't we supposed to be talking about "Killing Us Softly"? Oh yeah, that's right. I did enjoy it, although I think the argument would be stronger if it included male-targeted ads. Yes, I know I don't have a six-pack like "everybody else" (I put that in quotes to mean the select few who are in the magazine and TV ads). Anyway, I think my favorite part of the doc was the contrast between the 20-odd adjective-filled magazine ad about a woman's breasts not being "perfect" but her hair could be (IF she bought the product). Kilbourne's hilarious adaptation for the male version related to his, shall we say, package. I'm not sure if that would get through the publishing censors, but it does a great job of making her point. The Calvin Klein ad that she showed at that point in the film with the naked guy covering himself with the jeans projected this comment: If you buy these jeans, she's gonna like your package, period (regardless of what adjective appropriate describes it, that is, how NOT perfect it may be).
There is some difference here. For what I know of surgery today, breasts can be changed, but dicks can't. How "convenient" for the guys. Women have to accept how her man is but he can criticize every square inch of her body because she can change it.
Alright, I better stop while I'm ahead. I'm looking forward to Friday's look at the male-centered ads. I do wonder how we can fight against this "perfect" ad approach. With most things in this world, it's all about the bottom line. So how do we remove the unattainable standards? Hmm....
I too really enjoyed the documentary we watched on Tuesday and I (once again) agree with Uriah: awareness is so important in life... and especially important when woven into the school curriculum. As we have discussed, teens are at that particularly impressionable age where everything they see, do and hear affects them profoundly. The big advantage for advertisers is that this age group is in tandem blissfully unaware that they are affected (as Wynter has also shared with us about her daughter's comments at times regarding products). One fine example of this is in this week's reading of Hobbs. She discusses a Concord teacher asking her class to list 10 brands to which they are loyal. When some students protest, saying they AREN'T loyal to any brands, nor affected by advertising, she casually whispers something to the effect of "I'd never let a drop of Diet Coke pass my lips." And that was it: the floodgate was open and students were off writing about the deluge of products they love. Like this case illustrates, sometimes teens don't know that they are affected until they make some connections between products and the emotional responses they evoke.
ReplyDeleteOne of my annotated bibliography sources (a chapter of a book) touched upon the concept of awareness as well. In "Hearing their voices: Young people, citizenship and online news," authors Carter and Allan posit that if students are more aware of what's going on in the world around them, the then hold the ability to make better, more informed decisions. This spans from the consumer world, naturally, to politics and citizenship.
And since we live in a media-saturated world, they argue that an effective curriculum should help students navigate different media forms they already encounter in their daily lives. Using online resources that students are already familiar with builds connections between the personal and political... as well as products and subconcious messages that advertisers sneak into their ads.
I really like that Juls used the phrase, "We live in a media-saturated world." I completely agree. We can not escape ads, when we're driving we see billboards that say, "Your wife is hott..." for an air conditioning company. We see ads when we get online to check our e-mails, and even if we try to ignore them, they do what they're designed to do. I am concerned with our future students and how far our advertising companies will go to influence our young teens.
ReplyDeleteI love discussing this topic, and I completely am influenced by certain ads and ask myself, "Why don't I look like that?" "Why don't I have that?" But I also have the ability to stop myself and question my thought process. However, I was not at the age of 14. I, too, was a clone of my best friend,who probably could have been in an ad for MUDD Jeans. Even though my parents pushed me to be independent and "be myself," myself was not good enough. It was not until about my junior year of high school that I realized that I was never going to be that girl in the ad, have what they have, etc. So is this a phase that our girls and guys have to go through as a learning process? Is it really preventable? Almost everyone has stated, ads have influenced them in their high school years... I guess "awareness" is the answer?