Mickey Mouse Monopoly:

    In Mickey Mouse Monopoly, Disney uses a disguise of innocence to hide how they use forms of bad influences such as abusive behavior in their movies. Mickey Mouse Monopoly takes a close look at Disney movies and unravels some disturbing information.
    Disney has impacted the world through animations and has promoted abusive behavior without children taking notice. It is well wrapped in a fairytale that is sold to children. They do this in a way that blinds the viewers from looking past the fairytale and taking notice of these serious issues. In Mickey Mouse Monopoly it shows how the movie, Beauty and the Beast, can have a particularly negative influence towards young children. In the movie, the Beast clearly abuses Belle. The Beast did not necessarily physically abuse her, but he verbally abused her. He screams at her, he imprisons her, he throws her father out of his house, and impedes her from having food when she refuses to have dinner with him. Although the Beast talks to Belle in a harsh tone and mistreats her, Belle refuses to leave the Beast’s side in order to shape him into a better person even after being terribly frightened by the Beast’s abuse. According to Disney’s message there’s always a good side to everyone despite the horrific circumstances. She stays to socialize him and always seems to forgive his mistakes. This promotes the idea of staying in a abusive relationship to young girls. It gives them the idea that every man is a prince and that they have to do whatever is possible to bring out that prince.
     In the video Dr. Carolyn Newberger gathered a couple of young girls to watch Beauty and the Beast. They were later interviewed and asked how they felt about the Beast’s relationship with Belle. They commented that they would be happy for their relationship but that they felt bad that Belle was always being yelled at all the time by the Beast. They were also asked that if they were to be friends with Belle and that if they saw the hardship between her relationship, then what advice would they give to Belle. They said that they would tell Belle to stay with the Beast in order to bring out the nice prince in him. They would tell Belle to just continue being nice to him and caring until he turns into a good person that treats her right. This shows how young girls are being convinced that being verbally abused isn’t necessarily a bad thing because they could find love at the end of it just like Belle did.
    Beauty and the Beast has promoted the idea of condoning abusive behavior. It gives a horrible message to these young girls because they are being taught that they should overlook the abuse and violence because they have the ability to eventually turn someone into a tender and caring person. The movies made by Disney shows us how we really need to take notice of the types of messages these movies are sending out. Disney has the power to socialize children and change their behavior through this form of innocence that has been corrupting their minds through their movies. It’s disturbing to see how young children are soaking in all this information without having a clue about what they are being taught.

This meme describes the type of “romantic” relationship that the Beast and Belle have. The meme uses sarcasm to demonstrate how dysfunctional their relationship is despite the fairytale theme Disney tries to develop in the story and how she puts up with it throughout the Beast‘s constant verbal abuse.



Tough Guise:

     From watching Tough Guise, we can see how the media influences the men in our society today. The media sets a standard for the male population that makes it almost necessary to meet in order to be considered a man.
    I’ve learned that men are expected to act tough to be seen as a man. Men are always seen as the provider and dominant force because that is exactly how we are taught to be. It’s almost as if it is our obligation to live by this. We see it in movies, advertisements, and television, so we can never really get away from this kind of exposure. Men are the ones that have to be brave and tough in order to be accepted by our society. Society is so quick to judge people, so it makes it extremely difficult for men to act in a different way without being judged and made fun of.  No one wants to be an outsider and they will do whatever it takes to fit the gender roles that has been set for us. We see men being “tough” as social norm for men and many are afraid to break from those standards. In a way men are constrained in a small box that only allows them to do  certain things and act a certain way in order to not be judged by the people around them.
    In the video, some men were interviewed and were asked what they thought the necessary components to be considered a real man were. The men responded that in order to be a real man, they would have to be physical, strong, powerful, intimidating, and tough. The biggest influence on men has been the media and it has shaped them to act in this way. The media promotes the idea of violence and being dominant which has characterized the men in our society. They feel that if don’t meet these expectations, they will be looked down upon.
    The concept of men being “tough” has had a drastic effect on our society today. It has had an impact in our world because a lot of men take the concept of being tough to the extreme and turn that into violence. The most violent people in this world have always been men. Men cause great misery and distress to themselves and the people around them. According to the video, 85% - 99.8% of crimes such as domestic violence, assault, dating violence, murder, rape, and child sexual abuse, are committed by men.
    It’s easy to understand why men act in this way. Men want to be macho and impress others. They want to be the dominant ones in society and there‘s a great possibility that they will always try to be. They want to be respected by everybody to feel like they are worth something. It is a good thing when a man wants to be respected and independent, but they should achieve this for the right reasons, not just because they want to be manly. Being manly and tough is something that doesn’t have to be common in our society. It’s dictated by our society that you need to be tough in order to be a man. If the media would change their view and image about what a man is then it would have cultural and structural changes in our society that will help the upcoming generations of males to be better men.

This picture shows how the men in our society are trapped in a “man box”. It signifies that if they dare to step out if this box, then this is the way they will be judged by society.