Give Disney Some Slack

When people look at princess culture and gender stereotypes, many immediately look to the Walt Disney Company for its less than stellar representations of both males and females. However, old Walt was far from the first person to present these tales. Many of them, especially the more well known of these stories, can be traced back long before Walt Disney began making films.

According to imdb.com, Walt Disney began work on Snow White, the first full-length animated film, in 1934. However,  according to flavorwire.com, the original story of Snow White by the Grimm brothers appeared in 1812, a full eighty-nine years before Walt Disney was even born.

Later, also from imdb.com, Walt Disney fronted the production of Sleeping Beauty which was released into theaters in 1959. According to flavorwire.com, the original story of Sleeping Beauty, entitled Sun, Moon, and Talia, was published in 1634, a full two hundred and sixty-seven years before Walt was born and three hundred and twenty-five years before the release of the film.

Lastly, according to imdb.com, Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991, twenty-five years after Walt's death. According to suite101.com, the original story of the Beauty and the Beast can be traced back to the second century A.D. by author Apuleius. That would put Beauty and the Beast close to seventeen hundred years older than Walt Disney.

Seems silly to put so much blame on one man who wasn't even around for the creation of the stories he has allegedly used to brainwash children for years. Maybe, one should look both at the original stories and the Walt Disney Company rather than placing the blame all on the shoulders of Walt Disney himself.

Food Made it in America

Food is definitely a hot topic in America. Go to any city in the country and you will surely find a McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. Why? It is actually quite simple to explain. Pollan puts it well when he mentions how the Great Depression greatly influenced the arrival of so many fast food joints because of how cheap the food was. Most people could no longer afford the typical meals they were having pre-depression era. In effect, President Nixon's administration successively dropped the prices of the crops that were used to produce the processed foods sold at fast food places. However much money people save in the present moment from buying fast food, it does not even compare to the costs later in life. As Pollan says, "there are significant costs-to the environment, to public health, to the public purse, even to the culture". In my opinion, no matter how ignorant a person is or wants to be, for that matter, it is still necessary to make them aware of what is actually going into their body and how it is actually "made". For me, it is not worth it to eat food that in the long run is going to increase the chance of me having a health-related expense that will cost much more than any food. In the end, the question is "how much do you care about your body, your environment, and your life later on?" Even Muncie has a farmer's market and offers people health choices of fruits, vegetables, and other items. As I aspire to live in a big city when I graduate, I am looking forward to the more prevalent opportunities for involvement in the food movement with the massive farmer's markets and organic options.

Learning to be a Princess

I have never been into the Disney princesses. If you asked me to tell you the story line, I could because of their existence in popular culture but not because I myself I had seen the movies--apart from The Little Mermaid that is. I grew up though, a princess. I didn't play in frilly dresses, but I did dress up as a Spice Girl and put on concerts for my grandparents in cowgirl boots and a blanket dress most days. I played with Barbies and babies, had a pretty sweet 90's Easy Bake Oven. I was a girly girl by all means of the word with no brothers or male cousins to influence me otherwise. I have been a dancer my entire life, did a few kid pageants, cheered in high school. I will admit too that I grew up a spoiled brat. I never wanted for anything and that is what contributes to a lot of little girls "princess identity".
Now at the age of 21, I sometimes catch myself feeling entitled and hyper feminine like the chapter discussed and that disgusts me beyond belief. Whenever my mom and I get into a fight because I want something and she doesn't think I need it, it upsets me way more than it should. The privilege that comes with the princess culture we teach little girls has to end sometime in their lives but how do you go from hearing "yes" your whole life to hearing "no do it on your own, don't be entitled." I like to think that I have grown a lot and the world doesn't have to be quite so glamorous but it is so easy to get wrapped up and forget that maxing out my $1,500 credit card was a horrible decision. I think the princess culture, at least on my end of the spectrum, is definitely fed by consumerism. Keeping up with the Jones', or in this case the Kardashian's, is what fuels my interest in the material and is where I continue to unfortunately live in the "princess" world.

Practicing What You Preach

While I was reading "Is Pink Necessary?", I couldn't help but get annoyed with the author. When Paul was talking about Peggy Orenstein, she started out talking about how valid Orenstein's work was and how she focused on the child pageant circuit which is a valid area of study. However, throughout the article, Paul would back pedal, making a strong point, but then immediately began backing off.

For example, in the fifth paragraph, Paul discussed Orenstein's turn to the child pageant circuit and how Orenstein wanted to discover a different take on this medium rather than the traditional "blame the parents" approach.

However, in the sixth paragraph, Paul begins to almost apologize for Orenstein's research. Paul says that Orenstein "argues with herself, questions her own assumptions, ...and then has second thoughts". By doing this, it seems that Paul presents Orenstein as a stereotypical "hysterical woman", one who can't make up her mind and has to apologize when her theories are more speculative rather than concrete. Paul cheapens Orenstein in this way, turning Orenstein from a competent journalist to an uncertain mother who dabbles in writing and wonders from behind her Redbook and ginger ale whether child pageants are good or bad.

By creating uncertainty about Orenstein, Paul seems to reinforce the stereotype that women must be submissive and that their opinions don't mean as much as a man's. After observing Paul at work, I must ask myself whether or not Paul is part of the problem by not sticking to her convictions.

Making Food Choices

Last night my roommate and I, freshly home from Fall Break were standing in the kitchen talking about how our parents keep yelling at us for eating out nonstop. When you're over 21 and a college student at Ball State it is more than likely you'll see a laundry list of "Dill Street, Puerta Vallarta, and Scotty's Brewhouse" on your bank statement each month. The reason for this being convenience. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have searched my fridge looking for dinner to ultimately decide on eating Tidal's Dip at Scotty's with a pitcher of beer. Do I think that this is a healthy lifestyle choice, no, although it is probably worse on my bank account.
As a fairly health conscious person (I buy 90% of my groceries at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods and read food blogs like the New York Times) it makes me absolutely sick to watch documentaries and see fat kids and adults who think that they can't financially afford to eat food from the supermarket. I think that that like we talked about in class the problem doesn't lie so much in the financials but in the accessibility. With the amount of trips I take out to eat every month I could surely afford to stock my fridge full of healthy choices, fresh fruits and vegetables but instead I choose the convenience of grabbing something prepared by someone else and trying to choose the somewhat healthiest thing on the menu. Most of these working or lower class families that choose to go through a McDonald's are families on the go. The could very easily find a supermarket meal under $20 to feed their family of 5 but instead they go for what is readily available to them.

Pretty Pretty Princess

Our lecture on Princess Culture I think hit very close to home for a lot of people in class today. Everything fed to us in popular culture has been spoon fed to young girls as a product. The term "Disney Princess" used to just reference a handful of characters that Disney owns. However, once Andy Mooney saw the want for more Disney princess products the Disney Princess line was started and brought some highest revenue that Disney had ever seen.

Speaking for myself this makes me kind of angry. When I was younger I don't remember too much princess merchandise. It wasn't until after I left my "princess phase" that this line was created. I think the biggest reason as to why this line makes me angry is that it waters down these characters and molds them into faceless characters that represents profit. Quite a few of these princesses have been put into a negative light for being static characters that don't control their stories and are glorified set pieces. The more modern princess have become more and more active than the older princesses. However, even with Disney's introduction of more and more active princesses (Ariel, Belle, Meridia etc.) they still marginalize them by molding them into these money making machines, and denying them of their characteristics.  

As we talked about in class today this separation of these characters can be detrimental to how young girls view the princesses. Instead of seeing well rounded characters they view a shiny and spoiled imposture. Because of this they might not absorb the great attributes of the princess they will just take the materialist view.

Food Inc

            I have seen the Food Inc movie multiple times. Every time I watched it, it was for a class, and I had to analyze it. I've always had the same opinion. I think that people are going to eat whatever they want to eat regardless of what it exposed about the food, because they are already somewhat addicted to it. For example, it would be very hard to break a child from their love of McDonald's even if you showed them that the food wasn't real. To be honest, I don’t think that Americans really care, because it tastes good. They would much rather not know the truth behind the food, or they would rather ignore it.

            I also completely agree with the theory about the food cycle, and how cheaper food is causing people to stay in poverty and only be able to afford that food. It was well explained in class that cheaper food results in cheaper labor. Also, the fact that a 2 liter of pop cost less than a gallon of milk is mind blowing. Another example is the family mentioned in the film that could only afford to feed their family with the dollar menu at various fast food restaurants. Rather than going out, grocery shopping, and cooking a fresh meal, they had to resort to fast food in order to keep their family fed.

           Overall, I think that Food Inc is an amazing documentary that all should see. I think that it definitely raises awareness, but ultimately does not change the minds of the people.