Kids and Cartoons, but in Ragtime

As we have finished reading Ragtime, we talked quite a bit about Tateh. We discussed his motives with his silhouettes and contemplated whether or not he was a sellout. Specifically, on Thursday of last week I believe, we talked about Tateh's final idea for a movie that involved all these little kids of color. Some people in discussion brought up the point that, while the idea was good and new, it did nothing to actually change the social atmosphere.

I wanted to delve more into that idea, because I feel that representation is an incredibly powerful tool, one that I think Tateh realized. While I agree with the profitable portion of his movie makes the motive seem less genuine, the overall message is still good. As a kid growing up in a largely white world, I didn't see a lot of myself or people that looked like me in the media. I remember 2 shows as a kid I could actually relate to, Maya y Miguel (Latinx twins who were smart and sporty) and Dora (everyone knows Dora). As a kid, you absorb everything you watch. I wanted to simultaneously be Phineas, Ferb, Dr. Doofneshmirtz's daughter and the sisters from Johnny Test. The characters we watch as kids influence who we want to be and what we think of ourselves, to some extent. For that reason, Maya y Miguel (because Dora does almost nothing) was incredibly influential to me. As much as I loved watching scooby doo and all the Cartoon Network shows, there was a sense that I could never truly be any of them because for the most part, they were all white and if they had characters of color, they were extremely stereotypical. The power Maya y Miguel had shown me characters who did well in school and were fun to watch made me feel like I could be smart in school and do all the cool things they did. The point was when I saw someone like me doing something, I believed that I too could do that thing.

For this reason, when I read Tateh's final idea, I was so happy. Regardless of the profits he would make, this movie would change a bunch of little kids' lives. For them to see themselves represented, playing with a bunch of other kids who didn't look like them, might make them believe that was possible. In an era where interracial friends were more of a taboo and racism was frequent (not to mention overt), the presence of such a film could inspire kids to change the world, one friendship at a time. I know its really cheesy to think of such a small action having such a large change, but I can't help but think back to child me who was so influenced by the cartoon characters I watched. It's impossible to deny the giant impact media has on society and, in combination with the sponge-like characteristic of kids, ready to absorb information, this movie could have that impact on the kids of the era. Furthermore, because new generations have the ability to change the world in a much more powerful way, having these kids breaking the barriers of race as children can foment a generation of progressive adults. Though this idea reads a bit too much into a ragtime sequel or sort of alternate ending, I can't deny how happy that final movie idea made me.