Media Literacy Monday: Advice from a Cartoon Princess

Whenever I see someone taking on the challenge of teaching media literacy in a fun, new way, I can't help but sit up and clap my hands with glee. Second City's hilarious web series Advice from a Cartoon Princess does such a fine job, I didn't just cheer, I laughed like crazy, too.

In the videos comedian Danielle Uhlarik portrays a number of different cartoon princesses. So far she's been Ariel, Belle, and Snow White. Her quips are short lines, describing accurately how things take place for Disney princesses. In the Belle video she tells us "candlesticks are really good at love advice. Because they're French!" Overall, she does a great job of pointing out how ludicrous the roles for women in princess movies really are. The Belle video ends with her reminding us that "the lesson here is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... as long as the woman is good looking."

I really love this series because it takes a complex discussion (gender roles in Disney movies), and makes them easy to understand, humorous, and enjoyable. If only all media literacy discussions could be this fun!

Look below to check out Snow White's advice for you. (Please note, some of these videos do contain a little profanity.)

Youth Media Thursday

We hope you are having a wonderful thanksgiving. You know what we're thankful for around here? All the amazing work our foremothers did to ensure that women have the right to vote.

This past summer some of our advanced grrls in the apprentice program made this great video about how women won the right to vote here in Washington state. Check it out!

Media Literacy Monday: Toy Ads and Learning Gender

Our friend Anita Sarkeesian, who does the great Feminist Frequency vlog, just posted this new video about how kids learn gender through toy ads. She makes some great points, and includes a clip that some of grrls made in the video remix workshop last winter.



For information and resources on ending advertising to children, check out the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Grrl Vlog #4: Celebrity Weight Loss

Check it out! Maile and I made a new video blog, all about the recent high-profile weight loss of Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Osborne, and Sara Rue. What kind of message does their weight loss send? Do we focus too much on weight as an indicator of health? What do YOU think?

Read about Health at Every Size on wikipedia. And if you'd like to read the article about body image and chronic dieters that I cited in the video, you can download the PDF here.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Computer Backups

Hello RG friends & followers! For today's Tech Tip Tuesday I made my first ever vlog (video blog), inspired by friend of Reel Grrls and feminist vlogger Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency! I'll let the vlog, about backing up your computer (the why & the how), starring me and Carrie Bradshaw of Sex & the City, speak for itself:



And as promised, here is a brief list of backup programs I have heard good things about. Be warned: I have not tried all of these personally, and I encourage you to do some research for yourself to decide which is the best option for you. Please also leave comments on this blog post if you have other suggestions or want to weigh in on which is the best backup program in your opinion.

PC users
• MiMedia
• SOS Online Backup
• Norton Online Backup
• Acronis True Image

Mac users
• SuperDuper

• Time Machine
• Dropbox
• ZumoDrive

That's it for today. See ya next time!