Marketing Violence/Chapter 5

What stood out to me in the marketing violence article was the negative characteristics with minority characters.  I have been aware that Disney movies specifically incorporate stereotypes in their movies.  I am native American and I would watch Pocahontas when I was younger.  I didn’t think anything of it at that time, but there is a part of the film that has a musical chorus stating that the Indians are “savages, barely even human.”  I don’t think that part of the film is appropriate for children because it is conveying that Indians are horrible people.   I think that race is a huge deal and I agree with the author that characters in movies and TV shows are given a persona of a “good guy,” and “bad guy.”  I think that children look more positively at the good guy characters and negatively at the bad guy characters.

There was a passage in chapter 5 that I admired.  “We blame media violence to deflect blame away from adult failings– our society’s failure to help troubled young people, who unfortunately we overlook until it’s too late.”  I think this is important because there are many cases that parents ignore their kids when they are misbehaving.  For instance, the Isla Vista shooting that happened a few years ago in Santa Barbara.  This young adult was already showing signs of odd behavior, however, his parents ignored it.  I find this case immensely interesting because he didn’t live in poverty, and many people assume that acts of violence come from people of low income families.  Ultimately, parents need to be aware of whats going on with their children, and take it seriously when they are acting differently.