Final Smore
Comm 411
Novel
Films
TV Moms
Mothers In The News
I think the news section of class was one of the most interesting because it showed every day mothers and what they were doing, whether it was good or bad. I think the most valuable thing that the news section in class is that media has different ways of portraying motherhood and they can take something as little as breastfeeding and turn it into something extremely positive or very negative. I was surprised to see how many women make the news for abusing or murdering their children. I didn’t realize that it happened so often and it was shocking. On the other hand, there were many positive and encouraging articles towards motherhood and mothers in the news. I was glad that as much negative things we saw, there were positive ones to counteract them.
Advertising
There are so many ways to look at advertising and motherhood. You can look at it by seeing the way mothers are depicted in advertisements or you can look at the ads targeted towards mothers. I really enjoyed seeing the ads everyone picked and the way they thought mothers were viewed. Overall, I think in advertisements, mothers are depicted in a more negative light and old-fashioned way. They are focused on the old-fashioned way of how mothers are supposed to clean, cook, and take care of the house. When looking at the other aspect of ads, I think that they are definitely targeted towards mothers. Whether it is what mothers should be shopping for and buying their children or what cleaning products they should be using, advertisements are targeted more towards mothers. I thought this was a very interesting project and I really enjoyed that it could be looked at in different ways.
Magazines
The magazine project was one of my favorites. It was so much fun to look through our specific year and really see what was important to women during that time. Advertisements were a huge thing during 1955 and it was so interesting to see what type of projects they were attempting to get women to buy. Another big thing for woman's magazines during that year was how much they emphasized the importance of family and children's education. There was a whole section in each month detailing all the schools and certain articles on family life. It was very eye opening to see the way they targeted what woman should thing about and what they should be doing within their homes.
The Feminine Mystique
Disney Films
I found this section of class very interesting because of how absent mothers were throughout them. The portrayal of mothers in Disney films was something I never had thought about but looking into it as a class I was able to see how many of the films did not even mention a mother or did not show one. However, there were a few cases that did have mothers like Dumbo, Bambi, The Parent Trap, and Cinderella. Yet, when mothers were present they weren’t always there the whole movie like in Bambi and The Parent Trap. Or they were evil and manipulative like in Cinderella. Mothers are portrayed in many different ways if they are present but for the majority of Disney films, they are absent and never mentioned.
Children and Teen Movies
This section of class really resembled the TV and Disney movies section. I think the only exception is that there is a huge absence of mothers in children’s movies vs. teens. I think more of the movies aimed towards teenagers have some story of motherly character for the child in the movie. I noticed when there are mothers they aren’t the supportive mother and tend to over their children. There is normally a conflict between them and sometimes it makes the mother or motherly figure look bad. I think overall in the children and teen movies, the mother role is absent and if it is present then it isn’t often portrayed in the best light.
Surveys
Music
Letter to my mommy
Dear Mommy,
Thank you for all that you do for me. I cannot tell you enough how grateful I am for you. Throughout this semester I have learned several things about motherhood that I never knew about. I learned how hard it was for moms back when you were growing up and the struggles they went through. I was able to see moms in the news abusing their children and am so thankful that you weren’t one of the crazy ones. I can see look back at our relationship over the years and it can remind me of the movies and TV shows we watched in class. We have had our good times and our bad times and been there for each other through it all. We’ve had our fights and disagreements but at the end of the day, I know you are always there for me no matter what. I was so surprised when we talked about all the Disney movies and they didn’t have mothers. I couldn’t imagine if you hadn’t been there for me growing up. I’m so proud to say that I had a supportive and caring mom growing up. I learned how many different types of mothers there are in the world and how they cannot be supportive for their children. Throughout this class I was constantly thankful for our relationship and that we have one much stronger than some of the ones I saw in class. Thank you for being the best mom in the whole world! You amaze me every day with your strength and perseverance. You have taught me how to be a young lady and one day a great mom! This class truly made me appreciate you 100 times more!