"Rabbit-Proof Fence"

     The world we are living in is becoming more and more diverse. And because of this, it is important that our media reflects this growing diversity, especially children's media because it is the children that will be growing up in this diverse place.

     There are two main ways to address diversity in the media. The first way is to simply show it. Movies like The Fast and the Furious franchise are diverse because they boast a multi-ethnic cast. Comic books can be diverse when they change the main character, such as having Miles Morales (half Black half Hispanic) replace Peter Parker as Spider-Man or by having a woman become Thor. By having characters that are minorities, diversity can be shown. This approach typically does not address political issues.

     The other way is to address political topics related to diversity, such as racism and bigotry. And because these topics are being covered, having a diverse cast is usually necessary. Books like Baseball Saved Us deals with what it was like being Japanese during WWII. The recent film Selma, is about the Civil Rights movements in the 60s. These texts examine at how dogmatism and prejudice affects those around us.

     Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) falls into the second category. This film is based on a true  story about three half caste (half Aborigine and half white) girls that were taken from their home because of the Half-Caste Act. They are placed into a camp where they destined to be assimilated into the white, European culture. However, these girls escape and try to return home.

     The act was passed, essentially, as a way to slowly absorb the Aborigines into the white culture. They want to get rid of diversity by eliminating the natives. In a chilling scene towards the beginning of the film, A. O. Neville, Chief Protector of Aborigines, explains how marrying half-castes to white people will eventually remove all trace of their ethnic heritage.

     People like Neville think they are helping the Aborigine people by re-educating and assimilating their children into the European culture. However, the only thing they are doing is harming families and reducing diversity.

     However, the film does not make everything black and white, instead there were shades of grey. There were white people who helped the three girls in their journey. Also, there were natives who lied to them and tried to help recapture them. Just as people are diverse in their skin colors, they are equally diverse in their intentions and character.

     As I was watching this film, it made me wonder how different the world would be if the Europeans were merely travelers and traders, instead of colonizers. How rich would the Aboriginal and Australian cultures be if they were never interfered with by people who thought it knew better? What would South America be like if the Spanish Conquerors had not actually conquered anything?

     Because of modern technology, our world is becoming more diverse, because we can more readily see and experience cultures not our own. At the same time, because we have all these different cultures at our fingertips, we are blending them together and creating one world-culture. Because of this, it is important to include diversity in our media. Having diverse media is important because it can help people better understand those of a different culture. Diverse media can also help maintain and prolong cultures that are in danger of being enveloped in the world-culture.

"The Bridge to Terabithia"

     Whenever someone mentions nostalgia, many people immediately think of their childhood. For a lot of people it was a time to be cherished; a time full of fun and adventure. Many people look back fondly on their childhood, remembering watching Saturday morning cartoons and playing pretend in the backyard.

     There is a lot of media and other things that can trigger these nostalgic feelings. Recently French Toast Crunch was rereleased with a box whose sole purpose was to trigger nostalgia towards the 90s. VH-1 ran several TV series 100% based on nostalgia, such as I Love the 90s and My Coolest Years.

     Bridge to Terabithia is a novel that stirs up nostalgic feelings, though it was not created to in the same way as I Love the 90s. The setting is contemporary to when it was written, but it deals with children and childhood. The book is about a young boy, named Jess, who befriends his new neighbor named Leslie. Together, they discover a hidden part of the forrest and create a whole, imaginary kingdom there. There is no real driving plot to the story; instead it focuses on what it was like to be a kid.

     I entire time I was reading Bridge to Terabithia, I kept having one of two thoughts. 1) I wish I was a child again. Or 2) I wish I had a child. I have not consumed media that made me long for my childhood as much as Terabithia. There were so many things that I directly related to that reading the book was a trip down memory lane.

     At the school where Jess goes to, the older boys (sixth and seventh graders) would play with the sporting equipment during, while the younger boys would race each other. The girls would play hopscotch and jump rope. The recess at my school was similarly segregated. One way was in basketball. The basket court was essentially saved for fifth and sixth graders. The fifth graders would play against the sixth graders. I was not very good at basketball so I did not play very often; but when I did, it was because I was one of the tallest kids in my grade.

     Our soccer field was also separated, though, in a slightly less politically correct way. There was no distinction between age groups or grades; instead it was the white kids against the Mexicans. The only white kid to play on the Mexican team was Spencer Sutherland. I do not know why, but he had a helluva kick.

     Another part of the story that reminded me of my childhood was Terabithia itself. Growing up, I did not have an entire made of world like Jess and Leslie did. But I did have a place, our treehouse on the other side of the pasture behind my grandma's house, that I would frequent. I would go out there and play GI Joes with my brother and cousins. We would find sticks and use them as guns. I even had a tree stump that doubled as a motorcycle. We would go back there and play all the time.

     But the part that made me reflect the most was when Christmas rolled around. There is this small passage about when Jess got a racing-car set from his dad. It was not working properly and he could tell that his father was not happy with it. Jess knew his dad spent more money on it than he should have so Jess desperately wanted it to work so his dad would be proud he got it.

     It made me reflect on all the times I had gotten something for Christmas that I did not particularly like/want but that I did not want to make my parents feel bad for getting it. And after thinking about receiving and giving presents for a while, it made me realize that I had been a ungrateful child. Without going into too much personal detail, those 13 lines made me reflect and rethink Christmas more than anything else ever had.

     Bridge to Terabithia brought childhood to life. Reading this book was pure nostalgia. Nothing I have read or seen before had made me wish I was a kid again so bad. I love the 90s is cool and all; but that is superficial and mostly explores pop culture items. Bridge to Terabithia, on the other hand, explores what it is actually like to be a kid.

Play and "Disney Infinity"

     Play is an important part of childhood. In fact, one could argue that most of childhood is spent playing. When we grow up, we play a lot less and usually as a release from work. As adults, play can become means to an end: relieve stress, add some fun to a routinely boring day, etc. But with children, play is an end in and of itself.

     While not always the case, a lot of times play involves a game of some sort. It was interesting to see the different types of board games. Before playing them in class, I had never given much thought about the different areas games challenge. Some games are just random luck, like Candy Land. Other games, such as Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Rock'em Sock'em Robots, are still mostly luck, but with some basic motor skills involved. More advanced motor skills are tested with games like Operation, Jenga and possibly Twister. Games like Clue and Battleship have been made into movies challenge critical thinking and do not require any physical skills.

     The skills tested usually, or at least try to, correlate to the age of the  target audience. Candy Land, made for small children, requires no skill and therefore can be enjoyed by even the youngest of children. If you have a small children play Jenga, she will just have fun knocking the blocks over and playing with them. Another small children would not even comprehend how to play Clue.

     That is one of the important things about play: it should correspond with the capacities of the player. If the games is too easy or too hard, whether physically or mentally, the player will not enjoy it. I have played video games, where the levels get progressively harder, where I just quit the game because it got too hard and I was no longer having fun.

     It is also important that the game not be too hard to learn. In class we played Disney Infinity which was the first time I had played it. I am also not a big gamer; I usually stick to games where an arrow directs to the next thing I need to shoot. But, at least in the Toy Box mode, there was nothing guiding me. I should have watched a tutorial, but I did not; so I was left to figure things out on my own. Which was kind of hard. I was not having fun at first because I did not know what to do. But, after I figured a few things out, it became more fun. It is always fun to play the game, but not so much in learning how to play.

     Play is an important part of life, whether you are a child or an adult. And in order for play to be effective, it needs to be within certain boundaries of difficulty. If it is too hard to learn, kids will not bother to learn how to play. Or, if it is too hard or too easy to play, children will either become frustrated or bored and will quit playing.

"The Catcher in the Rye"

     We like to believe that children have it easy: they get to play all day and do not have any responsibilities. However, that is not always the case. As much as we would not want to believe it, childhood is often full of trials and despair. And this is probably evident the most, of all of the sections we have discussed, in the documentation.

     These hardships can be seen in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. This novel is about 16 year old Holden Caulfield who is traveling home after being kicked out of school. The book is about Caulfield's troubles as he is coming home and him reminiscing about previous exploits.

     Life is not easy for Holden Caulfield. He has been kicked out of four different schools. He is worried about what his parents to going to do when they find out. Most of the people he knows annoy him in some way or another. And they are almost all phonies. He often gets roughed up. He accidentally breaks the record he bought as a present for his little sister. He accidentally offends this girl he really liked while on a date. Nothing ever goes right for Caulfield during the entire story. It is basically a book about how hard it can be being a 16 year old.

     The Catcher in the Rye is also told from Caulfield's perspective. Because of this, it is written in a conversational, casual tone. It is full of slang and digressions. Caulfield often digresses, for pages at a time, from what is happening at the moment. He will be in the middle of explaining what is happening to him as he goes home and will be reminded of someone or something from one of his previous schools, which he will talk about at some length before returning to the topic at hand.

     Because of this, The Catcher in the Rye is a documentation, a faux-autobiography. The story is told as the main character experienced it. He is recounting this experience for some unclear reason. He is documenting part of his life.

     I feel like the documentation section we have discussed kind of serves the same function as Holden Caulfield wants to as the catcher in the rye. He wants to stand at the edge of the cliff, waiting for children to come running by and catch them before they fall. He wants to protect them from the harshness of reality.

     Similarly, the documentation also wants to protect children. However, instead of catching them as they fall, it saves them in a different way. It wants to warn them of the despairs and hardships, warn them of the cliff, so they are better prepared to handle it. Documentation stories can help children transition into adulthood.

   Many people idealize childhood: children do not have to work and they do not have any responsibilities; they get to play all day and not worry about a thing. Unfortunately, childhood is not always that easy. Sometimes it can be full of grimness and adversity. Documentation stories, such as The Catcher in the Rye, seek to explore and expound on these situations. And because of this, they can be useful in helping children transition into adulthood without falling off the cliff.