Responds to "Killing us Softly" video by Jean Kilbourne

Click Here to View "Killing us Softly 3" Advertisings View of Woman 

By: Jean Kilbourne

“ Media and Young Veiwers”           

    After watching "Killing us Softly 3" by Jean Kilbourne I was inspired to take a look at media that is specifically targeted to young viewers. I did some research on shows and channels that young girls and boys watch. I first got on to the Disney channel web site and observed and watched all of what was going on, without clicking any buttons an ad immediately popped up for Disney's newest original series “Shake It Up”. The first line of this trailer proclaims  “Cecelia is just a girl that wants to have fun”.  I feel that this is telling young girls and teens that they should just want to have fun. This statement perpetuated the stereotype that girls are not meant to be intellectual of serious about things that have weight and value. During the second part of this 20 second add Cecelia talks about going to sophisticated adult parties which to me imply behaviors that are not healthy for 12-16 year olds to take part in. The character also talkes about wanting to look for boys this touches on a statement made by Jean Kilborn about how media makes woman feel that they need men to be important.  When you look at this from an aesthetic point of view the character Cecelia she is very very thin. This teenager is overtly sexualized threw the use of adult clothing, hair, and makeup that is equivalent to that of a playboy model.  I have found that this aesthetic is common in most current Disney Channel Shows.  This character is only important because she gets picked to be a back up dancer for a show.  I have found that because of the commercial success of Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana the Disney Channel has really pushed the glorification of fame, Hollywood, stardom, and materialism.  This is terrible because a very small percentage of people actually live like this and every one else feels devalued. Girls who watch this programming feel like they need material things that are unrealistic to actuarially own, they feel they should look this way, and act this way. This is similar to the situation that is one of the main topics in “Killing us Softly” that has to do with wanting to have certain unrealistic physical attributes that are pushed onto us by the media.  By shows like "Hannah Montana", "Sony with a Chance", and now “Shake it up” we are pushing impracticable ideas about fame, money, and beauty creating power when there are so many other ways that a woman can be empowered and successful.  These shows display little to no talk of education or schoolwork. They show that a school is a place only were girls can talk about crushes and where boys can play sports.  They show school as being social and these shows focus very little on how working hard and learning can help you in your life’s path.  These shows don’t have any prominent themes of kindness or charity.  They show know one of different social economic classes.  All of the stars are culturally white most don’t references heritage of non-western cultures with out these cultures being made to be comical.

            After getting a full understanding of what the Disney Channel had to offer our youth I took a look at a web site that had been advertised continuously on the Disney channel web site. This was a site that was based off of a show called Monster High, which is based off of some dolls put out by Mattel last July.  These dolls look very similar to the Bratz dolls.  This show I found to be equally if not more terrifying then Disney shows because it had a way of disguising the content threw dialogue.  In class we spoke about how body language and subtext make up about 80 percent of communication. I found that this is very true in media and that it was prevalent in this kids show Monster High.  The two samples of the show display Simi empowering dialogue. The ware wolf girl character does not let a male character walk all over her by challenging him to a race.  This was fine to me but less then a moment after they take this females power away by scripting her to take all this girly materialistic stuff out of her pockets so that she is able to race. This scene is a contradiction because of the second part.  The next sample that I watched had to do with the characters’ entering into a science fair. One character says to another you cant let Cleopatra walk all over you, this is a nice message however what fallows is not. The next part of the interaction of characters has to do with the degraded one bullying the mean one by basically water boarding her which is a form of torture. This show that aggression is and “OK” way to solve issues it perpetuates stereotypes of woman being petty, vindictive, and bitchy and that this behavior is ok.  I feel that this show is potentially extremely damaging to young girls especially since it does target such a young audience. By watching this show and reading the reviews I perceive the target audience to be from about five or six to about twelve years old.  Many adults let alone children at these ages don’t have the filters to distinguish the appropriate behaviors that are shown from the inappropriate ones especially because this show does such a good job of splicing them together. Another important thing to point out about this show is the extreme sexuallization of the characters both male and female. The clothing includes midriff style tops and booty shorts. The female characters are all equipped with their stilettos that are more intense then any that I have seen in my life.  This is an underlying message that girls should dress like this.  So basically this show is communicating that six to twelve year olds should dress like hookers weather the dialog states this or not. I think that I should make a documentary called killing us softly 4 that just focuses on the affects of media to the socialization of children and teens under 12. This is a big topic and a big problem and I think at this point is possible getting out of hand.

            After watching the shows I tried to find any critique of these shows I found very little relevant information. I did find some answers about how these shows affect young girls by watching their personal reviews of the shows.  There is a surprisingly huge preponderance of girls that speak out on you tube about their opinions of the media that they are exposed to.