Media Letter to the Disney Channel

This is the letter I wrote for class to the President of Disney Channel..

Dear Gary Marsh,

I am currently taking the class Media, Family, and Human Development at Brigham Young University. I have learned a great deal about how media impacts families and children’s development. I grew up watching That’s So Raven, Lizzie McGuire, and Even Stevens, and I absolutely loved these tv shows. These shows were usually set within the familial context of a mother and father, along with siblings living together under the same roof. These shows depicted everyday problems that teens face such as challenges with friends, feuds with annoying siblings, crushes on school boys, failures in academics, and the struggles of making the transition from childhood to adolescence. However, the Disney Channel shows today are not relevant to what the majority of children throughout the nation are going through.

Many of the Disney shows today focus on becoming famous, something that many teens today cannot relate to. According to Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, children are likely to imitate behaviors they view not only in person, but also in the media. Whether you like it or not, the characters in your shows are role models to children around the country. I believe that too many of the young actresses in your shows wear too much make up, their hair is perfect, and their clothes are top notch. Why exacerbate the problem of girls growing up too quickly, as well as girls feeling bad about what they cannot afford to buy?

The characters in tv shows help children know how to respond to certain situations. However, the tv shows you air today are not portraying situations that kids today find themselves in. How does a red carpet event or signing with a record company help children of our society today learn about their part in the world around them? Why this gradual shift from everyday family life to portraying the life of only a dozen young people today who do find themselves in Hollywood? I remember an episode of That’s So Raven when she saw her parents splitting up. It showed her trying to prevent her parents from separating and receiving comforting advice from her friends about the situation. With divorce rates at an all time high, where is that episode today in your tv shows?

Although parents should also hold the responsibility of teaching their children how to behave, many children today are born out of wedlock, or are children of divorced parents. Their working single mother or father may not have a lot of time to spend with them and teach them how to behave. When parents are out working, children are left to watch television. Boys and girls may turn to the television to know how they are supposed to be a ‘man’ or a ‘woman,’ respectively. You have enormous power. Why use it towards shows that children cannot relate to? My proposed goal is to initiate a shift out of the Disney Channel era of fame and wealth and reintroduce everyday familial, academic, and peer situations in a realistic context. If that is unreasonable, reruns of past Disney Channel shows (not at two in the morning) might be refreshing for children who are bombarded by media today that is soaked in fame, wealth, and sex.

McFarland, USA

Over the weekend, my family and I saw McFarland, USA in the theaters and I loved it! It's about a community of hardworking Hispanics who watch their teen boys go to the California state championship in cross country. It was a very inspiring movie and I would recommend it! The community was very poor, so I did not see many cell phones, televisions, or social media displayed in the movie. It was refreshing to see the absence of media and how the boys focused on work, school, and running. It was very uplifting and had a great message about family and hard work. I am grateful for movies like this that focus on hardships and perseverance, rather than sex, wealth, and drugs. 

General Conference

I am so grateful that through the media today, I can hear council from modern Prophets of God. I think General Conference is the best 8 hours of tv watching spent! It is a time to be with my family and listen to much needed council. My family has developed traditions surrounding General Conference as well. It is one of my favorite weekends of the year! I particularly liked President Uchtdorf's talk on grace and I am grateful that I will be able to watch it again and reread it on the church's website. Media can be very uplifting and I am grateful for television, in that I can watch and listen to general authorities of the church. 

Kids in Mind App

In the past, I have been pretty naive going into movies. I don't really know exactly what will happen or how clean the content is. I am grateful for the kids in mind app that let me see ratings for sexual and violent content and profanity. It writes out specific scenes that may even be of question. Before I see a movie, I always like to look at the ratings on this app to see the content breakdown. Although it may be a subjective rating system, I think it offers a lot more information than a basic PG-13 rating. Warning that it does indeed describe inappropriate scenes for some movies. So far, I have liked it and it has helped me in my decisions of whether or not to see a movie. 

Disney Remakes

I've sometimes thought how Disney can continue to make up new story lines for movies. Don't you think anything that could be done, has been done? Obviously that's not the case. However, lately there have been several remakes of old, classic Disney movies. The storyline and characters are already in place, making it easier. Perhaps this is where the next wave of movies ideas will spring from. I've enjoyed them so far and am curious if remakes of old movies will replace those old ones. Will me kids grow up on the cartoon Disney movies or the recent ones? 

March Madness

March Madness is in the air and brackets are all over the place. I think March Madness is a way in which media helps connect people throughout the country. It is a time where basketball enthusiasts, or anyone that really likes basketball, can watch intense games for a chance at winning the championship. So much emotion is put into these games and I love it! During class, I'll see students watching games on their laptops (I've been guilty of that too). While it is distracting in class, I love basketball and it's a chance for my siblings and I to come together throughout the week to watch whatever game is being played. 

Unbroken

I recently watched the movie Unbroken, a true story about an Olympic runner who became a prisoner of war in Japan, and man was it intense. I don't handle emotional and intense movies very well so I don't know why I decided to watch it... peer pressure. However, the movie was extremely well done and the acting was incredible! It gave a great message of strength, perseverance, and forgiveness. However, the majority of the movie is very heavy and I walked away feeling depressed, rather than uplifted. I think that might have just been me personally, though. I have a hard time watching someone get beaten to death, over and over again, even if it's supposed to be inspiring. There were definitely several inspiring moments, but I felt that the graphic violence somewhat outweighed that. I do believe that the actors did an incredible job though and I would recommend it, but with a warning that it's sad! At least for me. I am also visiting Auschwitz in Poland this Spring so that might be a reason why it affected me the way it did. Overall, it was a VERY powerful movie.