I saw a screenshot of a Tumblr comment a while ago, and I was strongly reminded of it after watching "The Mask You Live In" on Wednesday night. The message of the Mask is that we need to expand the definition of what it means to be a man so that boys and men can be themselves and not always be showing a mask to the world. The screenshot that this made me think of said this:
"Big Hero 6 did a lot of awesome stuff but can we take a moment to appreciate that it told a 14 year old boy that it is ok to cry and crying and grieving were natural responses to pain and how important it is for young boys to see Hiro cry and give in to his grief instead of continuing to bottle it up and what good that did for him because I can tell you as someone who teaches 14 year old boys they need that message SO BADLY."
Big Hero 6 is an excellent movie, but I had not thought about the message the movie was sending to boys because it's not something I have to think about normally. I had a similar feeling while watching The Mask. There was a scene that talks about media archetypes for males and it showed the heroes of various movies, and I realized for the first time that when I think that, I just think about how attractive those men are, but when boys and men see that, they think that's what they have to be. That can be so incredibly damaging.
And while the message of Big Hero 6 is good for 14 year old boys, I can't help but think about how much easier it would be to start young. If we start young, we can prevent the problems before they start rather than having to fix the problems later on in life.
I think it's awesome that someone noticed that in Big Hero 6. Honestly, I completely missed the message and I believe a large part of it has to do with the themes of the Mask You Live In. I have been influence by our culture, media and people I know so much that I unfortunately overlook the healthy messages that may be out there. I could not agree more with your assessment that we need to start young!
ReplyDeleteAs a father of a young, 4-year-old boy, these types of messages are very good for our children. However, two things come up. First, it is hard to break the stereotype, so very hard. It has been something that I've worked on since my son was born. This "man up" mentality is so pervasive in our culture. My father told me to "man up" and his father told him to "man up" and on down the generations. While I've never actually said that to my son, I have to be careful that my behaviors don't also give him the same message. When he gets hurt, I need to remind myself not to say something like "It's okay, just get over it". Rather, I need to say "I'm sorry your hurting, how can I make it better?" Second, as parents we do need to be aware of these good media messages, and then to bring them to our children's attention because they'll not likely pick up on them either.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your comments. I also watched the documentary, "The Mask You Live In" and while I enjoyed it, it also made me really sad. I didn't realize what it could do to a child to constantly hear phrases like "be a man" and "men don't cry." Saying these kinds of things to a child only hurts, it doesn't make them stronger.
ReplyDeleteI really like your connection to Big Hero 6. Hopefully, as consumers we can identify with these messages and use them with our own families and communities. I hope that if we give these types of movies attention it will encourage the industry to keep producing them.
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