Extra Credit (Psychology)

Children are never safe when it comes up to the media, because they watch television all day, attend shops and malls with their parents, where media products are sold, etc. Even if they do not do the aforementioned things, they certainly go to school, where their age mates discuss the new cartoon or film, sing popular songs or unconsciously promote the filmmaker`s production. In other words, a child is affected by everything that he sees and hears; he may be subject to various ideologies and may learn different conceptions without being thoroughly informed and without the ability to analyze the offered information critically. The media is created by people, and everything people make and advocate that is calculated for big masses, especially on children`s demand, should be carefully arranged.

Children receive the media messages quickly and without any objection. As, for example, children learn from the Disney`s cartoons about the female role in society, because almost all of its heroines are beautiful, defenseless, coquettish and feeble. The children learn these stereotypes and then apply them in the real world, in spite of true women around them. The way children paly has also altered with time, due to the media that intrudes into the child`s imagination and dictates him/her about the playing scheme he/ she must follow.

The toys of the filmmaker`s company can be found everywhere, and children want them. The toy characters imply children to play the movie, not the ‘scenario’ invented by the child. By doing so, children learn the lessons that the moneymakers from the screen try them to learn. Instead of looking on the world with a broad mind, children concentrate on the narrow dramatic plots that include violence, racism, and abuse, promote stereotypes and teach children how to live an adult life, instead of teaching moral, as all good fairy-tales do.