How Education Works
Before going into depth about the things Disney movies teach children we need to understand how children learn. This is something both teachers and parents should be aware of because the lessons they teach their children do influence who their children are and what they believe. So to learn more on how children learn I researched a piece called, "On Education", a chapter written in Arthur Schopenhauer's book, Parerga and Paralipomena. Although Schopenhauer wrote this piece back in 1851 his ideas and arguments can still be applied to what we know about education today. In Schopenhauer’s chapter, “On Education” he explains that we create meaning of the world through both teachings and experiences. He says that, "concepts arise through abstraction from intuitive perceptions" (Schopenhauer 627). Intuitive perceptions come from our direct experiences so they can also be thought as "natural education" (Schopenhauer 627). When learning from intuitive perceptions we take our experiences and reflect on them as individuals to create meaning. But, I have to question Schopenhauer’s concept because even if we are making our meanings individually we are still influenced by the people or things that took part in our experiences. We might not be directly told, or cognitively recognize that our beliefs and actions are being impacted by our experiences but they are. Intuitive perceptions differ from the way we educate children today in that in American education we put a strong emphasis on teaching concepts or, "ready-made ideas" (Schopenhauer 627) to children.
Is it wrong to teach children ready-made ideas?
Well, if we want children to hold the same beliefs and values as we do then teaching them ready-made ideas or concepts is the best way to do this. But, if you want children to create their own perceptions, understandings of themselves and the world freely we need to teach them differently. Schopenhauer argues that when we teach children using concepts we are shaping their positions, judgments, and create meaning of the world for them. As a parent and/or teacher teaching our children is a big responsibility because the lessons you teach your children will reflect who they are and what they believe. Schopenhauer explains that intuitive perception should come before teaching concepts because "concepts and judgments should have crystallized out from intuitive perceptions and experience" (Schopenhauer 629). So children learn from life experiences and from their experiences make decisions about what is right and wrong, what they like and don't like and what they believe in. All the ideas that are created by a child through his or her experiences are intuitive perceptions. These perceptions shape a child’s view of the world and help to shape who they are as an individual.
Understanding that a child learns from both experiences and concepts means that they are very influential and at such a young age children's beliefs are easily shaped by what they learn. Disney is something that nearly every American has heard of and many have been influenced by. The Disney Corporation is all about "family entertainment"(Palestini 66). Their target audience members are children and their families. This audience is a broad one and because of that it influences more people than many other businesses.
Understanding that a child learns from both experiences and concepts means that they are very influential and at such a young age children's beliefs are easily shaped by what they learn. Disney is something that nearly every American has heard of and many have been influenced by. The Disney Corporation is all about "family entertainment"(Palestini 66). Their target audience members are children and their families. This audience is a broad one and because of that it influences more people than many other businesses.
To be ethical viewers of Disney programs we must “close read” (Gallop 7) into the works that Disney produces and how Disney educates children. In her piece, "The Ethics of Reading", Jane Gallop explains that ““close reading” means looking at what is actually on the page, reading the text itself, rather than some idea “behind the text”” (Gallop 7). The idea “behind the text” (Gallop 7) can be thought of as the “ready-made ideas” (Schopenhauer 627) that Schopenhauer talked about in his piece. These are the messages that Disney wanted its viewer to gain from watching their films. Unlike Schopenhauer, Gallop examine how we learn not from the main ideas in a piece or the ready-made ideas but that we can learn from the minor elements in a piece of writing. Using Gallop’s idea of close reading when viewing Disney movies we can see that the images, music and way people act in the movies can influence viewers. It’s not just the big lessons that are written into the movies that affect viewer but also the minor elements. When Schopenhauer explains his theory about intuitive perception he makes it seem like we as individuals are not persuaded by our experiences to have prejudices but that we are completely free to create our own meaning from our experiences. But what Gallop explains about the minor elements in a text explains that we are influenced by elements in a text. Thinking about the different elements in the Disney movies by close reading I can see how by watching these movies children’s projections of the world and themselves are indeed persuaded to see things in a particular way.
The projections that are put on children influence their understanding of race, gender roles and as a result influence their actions and beliefs. The experience that children get from watching Disney movies is one that generally leaves them with excitement and happiness. The characters become idols that many children aspire to be like. The actions and characteristics that these characters portray in the Disney movies help to shape children. It is up to parents and teachers to decide if these are characters are good figures for our children to aspire to be like. Your fist thoughts of some of these characters might be similar to what I thought before closely reading the Disney movies. Belle from, Beauty and the Beast, is a loving, smart girl who loves to read and wants to take adventures. In the movie, Cinderella, Cinderella is characterized as a hard working girl who is also very loving and caring. In the end of both of these princess movies we see that both Belle and Cinderella’s good qualities help them to obtain both happiness and love. But are there more things that these characters teach our children that we are unknowingly ignoring?
The projections that are put on children influence their understanding of race, gender roles and as a result influence their actions and beliefs. The experience that children get from watching Disney movies is one that generally leaves them with excitement and happiness. The characters become idols that many children aspire to be like. The actions and characteristics that these characters portray in the Disney movies help to shape children. It is up to parents and teachers to decide if these are characters are good figures for our children to aspire to be like. Your fist thoughts of some of these characters might be similar to what I thought before closely reading the Disney movies. Belle from, Beauty and the Beast, is a loving, smart girl who loves to read and wants to take adventures. In the movie, Cinderella, Cinderella is characterized as a hard working girl who is also very loving and caring. In the end of both of these princess movies we see that both Belle and Cinderella’s good qualities help them to obtain both happiness and love. But are there more things that these characters teach our children that we are unknowingly ignoring?
|
If we take a look at the YouTube video, "Become a Disney Princess"; the video I shared earlier in my piece we can see what experiences the young girls are having as they interview the Disney princess's and go to the Bippidi-Boppidi Boutique. In the video the young girls like many other girls their age want to be just like the Disney princesses. When watching the Disney movies these girls unknowingly were being taught lessons about how to act. They were being taught lessons about gender roles and how females should behave. When watching these movies the girls weren’t really making their own meaning or understanding of gender roles completely on independently because the beautiful princesses were influencing their beliefs. The princesses although they obtained very good qualities like the ones I described earlier do teach children “ready-made ideas” as to how females should act and what they should look like.
|
As we see in this video the girls learn good lessons from the princesses including being themselves, and say kind words to people. But then the girls must look beautiful to be as special as the princesses, getting their makeup and hair done. Although I love the fact that the Disney princesses are teaching the young girls to be themselves and say kind words to people, are these girls given false hopes of becoming princesses when they grow up? And are theses princesses really teaching girls to be themselves when they tell the girls how to act in order to be a princess? It’s interesting to me that Cinderella tells the young girl that to be a princess you have to be yourself, but that Disney encourages girls to be like the Disney princesses by having them go to Bippidi-Boppidi Boutique to transform into their favorite princess, something that doesn’t really support the idea of individuality.
The audience members that Disney most influence and helps to shape are children. They influence children mostly through their animated movies using characters to tell stories and teach lessons. These lessons are messages that Schopenhauer would claim to be teaching children concepts or ready-made ideas. Disney teaches children many different lessons through fairy-tale stories that take place in mystical, imaginary lands some with creatures that shouldn't be talking in human voices such as trees and animals. These stories are embedded into children's heads at young ages and give meaning to the reality of the world that they live in. These stories feed concepts to children and then they turn them into intuitive perceptions. So many adults have grown up watching Disney movies and now are letting their children grow up watching Disney movies. But do we have a good understanding of all the lessons that Disney movies are teaching? Are we letting the Disney Corporation shape our children into the people we want them to be? Are Disney movies teaching children valuable lessons? And is it okay to believe all our dreams will come true?