Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Bad men in literature, specifically children's literature


Here is an insightful article called Why do my son's books tell him all men are useless?, by William Leith.

The article points out big huge problems, and doesn't propose to solve any. It's simply an exploration.

Looking at mass media, from cold remedy ads, to The Simpsons, I've had the same reaction as this author. All the men are idiots, distant, immature, and/or useless.

I'm not going to crack open this hive of hornets more than just to say it's a good thing to notice and wonder about.

Enjoy seeing your thoughts reflected in the media sometimes,

Bp

[image credit in linked article]

2 comments:

msherm said...

I never knew this about kids books but I used to notice this a lot in television ads. Dumb men screwing up and smart women coming to save them with a new product!

I just assumed it was because women made more purchasing choices for those kinds of products and it was more effective to pitch a product that way.

Maybe it was deeper than that.

Deb said...

In my limited experience, a lifetime of creative block was broken when fueled by open anger at my parents. I chose to rebuild from those ashes, and found empathy and compassion for the human condition. Had I chosen otherwise, I'd
still be writing some nasty stuff.
-Deb