Animated Critical Literacy

      When Ira Shor speaks of critical literacy, he says that there must be a "moral core" within the teaching of it so that it does not become simply food for thought, so that it becomes the springboard to real food in real bellies, actual wage increases, and ethical treatment for marginalized groups. This is not to say that morality is such a simple thing to talk about, but through critical literacy the societal reasons for these internalized moral codes that are carried within us can be unpacked and analyzed so they can be seen for what they are. Shor mentions that as a child he and his friends would pay, "40 cents to see a John Wayne cowboy or war saga along with 20 cartoons and devoured teeth-destroying candy," ( 283). When it comes to entertainment, it's easy to overlook some inconvenient truths in the content that's being displayed. John Wayne cheerfully gallops across plains murdering countless native people, but he's framed as being the good guy and it's really cool, so it's perfectly acceptable.  Like overindulging with candy, swallowing pop culture and literary presentations without chewing through them has a cost.

Villains are a staple in narratives. In order for there to be a narrative, there has to be conflict and the conflict has to come from some kind of antagonist. Of course, who the antagonist is depends on the perspective of the audience.  This is a spin on the usual kind of Disney analysis that has been permeating educational circles lately, except instead of the princesses, we'd be critically examining their enemies. A way to turn this into an activity would be to create a chart or graphic organizer of some kind that can illuminate that very often creators of content intentionally or unintentionally portray those who are not in positions of power and privilege as evil. Though it's always possible that someone might say I'm being, "unfair to Disney."

This can be done with almost any work of fiction, but I think an especially easy type of movie to analyze would be Disney films which are produced for children and have a very blatant penchant for doing these types of one-dimensional characterizations based on stereotypes and fear of the other. What I could do as a teacher would be to create a chart or graphic organizer to list observable characteristics such as: physical appearance, things they say, or things others say about them. Even just examining superficially at how the villains in Disney's animated features look will reveal a trend that often these characters are grotesque. Maleficent has horns growing out of her head and green skin. Scar from The Lion King has a darker coat and is scrawny (also Jafar) and effeminate (Captain Hook and Ratcliffe as well). Ursula is fat and has tentacles. The Wicked Queen in Snow White transforms herself into a terrifying old witch.

To further expand on an activity where there's discussion around compelling antagonists, there is definitely room for an assignment about role reversal. Students could then do a RAFT assignment where they can choose to write a letter, a short story, a made-up news broadcast, etc listing all of the terrible or questionable things that the "hero," has done that would make them look bad. A good example of this would be like in The Lion King when Simba runs away after causing the stampede that crushed his father.