Application to Children's Literature

An important question to ask ourselves is why is it important to study all types of media in studying ideologies in children's literature? Nodelman and Reimer put it this way:

"Because television and other media provide the context in which many children first come to literature and continue to experience it, it’s especially important for adults interested in children’s reading to explore the implications of these media, and particularly their ideological content" (Reimer 128).

It's important for those studying children's literature to learn about and understand other forms of media, these films included, because the ideological assumptions presented in this type of media will inevitably be present in other forms, children's literature included. Movies are based off of books many times, and recently there is a trend for books to be based off of movies (especially in the case of Disney).

We study the ideologies presented in Disney films to learn what they are saying about children and about society. What will children pick up from this? These movies and books were made for children, so what underlying lessons are seeping into the children's minds? I asked my niece some questions as we watched The Lion King, hoping to find some valuable responses in regards to gender roles, but this four-year-old girl's responses fit more appropriately in this section about ideology.

I asked Chloe as we watched if Scar was nice. She replied, "No, he's mean." When asked why he was mean, she responded "He wants to be king." Interested, I asked why he couldn't be king, and she informed me that it was "Because he's mean." I asked her if mean people can't be kings, and she said, "No." Finally, when I asked why that was, she answered, "Because they can't."

From this seemingly insignificant conversation with my niece, I found out a lot about ideologies our media presents. Things were so positive in her mind; kings cannot be corrupted, and good will win in the end. These movies taught her that good kings will always overthrow bad ones. What really caught my attention was the matter-of-fact, "Because they can't," which sounded like, "That's just the way it is."

Though it's more race-related than gender-related, I was given an interesting response to why Simba's fur was darker than Nala's. I was fishing for an answer that would indicate she'd caught on to the idea of "the fairer sex," but she told me that it was because Simba was more mean than Nala. Although that's not true of Simba necessarily, that was also a message Disney movies are sending. Scar was darker than Mufasa. Captain Hook had dark hair and eyes. Maleficent dressed in black and had dark features as well. Many of the villains are darker than the heroes!

Literature and film have an effect on what children view as "normal." To Chloe, what she said is just the way things are. She learned all of this from media, not her parents or friends.