Christensen argues that the media is manipulating kids at a young age. They are exposed to the racism and stereotypes that the media portrays through movies, cartoons and literature. Furthermore, at that age most kids do not question what they see and so they tend to agree with what they see. Accepting the knowledge that is exposed to them through the media makes them not question if what they see is reality or fiction.
Some examples are Disney movies with prince and princesses that are white and at the end they live happily ever after. Also, teenage mutant ninja turtles that fights the "bad guy" and never gets hurt and in reality fighting will get yourself injured in someway.
The author wants the students to analyze the characters of a cartoon and they can clearly see the racism, gender superiority, violence and other stereotypes that are related to everyday life.
Questions/Comments/Point to Share:
What are the percentage of kids that are influenced by the media to a point that they grow up believing in the stereotypes that they were exposed to? The kids who are sheltered by their parents and they only thing they have is a tv. Are they questioning what they are seeing? In my opinion the ones who are exposed more to reality will be more open minded.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792691/
I agree that some kids feel they are invincible because of the characters they see on tv, not being able to separate fiction from reality
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