I grew up reading the American Girls books. I loved the different perspectives on American history that I learned about from Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha and Molly, each sharing their stories from widely different eras and backgrounds, from colonial days to the Civil War, to WWII.
Over the years more characters were introduced, including stories from Hispanic and Native American backgrounds, as well as more modern times. And now the company is making a new doll each year, complete with one or two books to legitimize her as a character. Instead of teaching girls history, the company has moved to modeling their characters after current events and trends. It's now a numbers game, as they invent more and more characters and encourage young girls to collect them all, mass producing thousands of dolls with the same face, differing only in skin tone, eye color and haircut.
But the purpose of this post is not to bemoan the capitalistic trend eating away the historic heart of the company. I had actually almost forgotten about this piece of my past (hard to believe, considering I own a Girl of Today doll and quite a large box of accessories for her) until tonight in my archives management class someone mentioned that a new doll just came out and caused quite a buzz.
The new girl is Gwen, and she is homeless. Well, technically, she and her mother only live at the homeless shelter for a few months, but the point of her character is to portray the realities of life in 2009. Although, looking at the doll's smiling, cherub-like face, long blond hair and pristine white sundress, I can't picture her sleeping in the back seat of a car. You can read more details and some reactions to the new doll here and here.
But Gwen is not the new star of American Girl. In fact, she is a minor character in the books about the 2009 Girl of the Year, Chrissa. The real purpose of the homeless girl is to give the true star someone to stand up for, someone for the well-off girl to look after. This theme was first touched on by the historical girl Samantha befriending the poor girl Nellie, but the current situation seems to be taking it further. The doll Chrissa actually has two friends you can buy, Gwen and Sonali, who both need to be defended from the school bullies. They make the perfect accessories for the strong, middle-class girl, adding spice to her life, just like her pet llama, which is also for sale.
I'm not sure what to think about Gwen. The general reaction to the character seems overboard. What should really cause a stir and be impressive would be if the main character were facing the very real trials of day to day living instead of simply having to face down bullies. If the American Girl company wants to teach young girls about current societal evils, they should showcase them, not make them sideplots that serve to frame less meaningful battles.
And if they're going to sell a homeless doll to raise awareness, they should publicize ways to help as well. What good is it to tell us that there are children sleeping on the street, if in the next breath you ask us to cough up nearly $100 for yet another doll instead of encouraging us to give it to those who need it? They tell us to be noble in heart and accept and protect our friends from bullies, whether they have a house or not, while teaching us to be selfish in action, spending our money on more and more of their products.
I miss the good old days.
On a related note, some of the older, Classic dolls are disappearing. Samantha and her friend Nellie have already gone into the American Girl Archive (it's unclear what this means, but I imagine it's like the Disney Vault, and the dolls may be available again in the distant future for limited time offers), and apparently Kirsten is next. It's sad, because these girls were the heart and soul of the company for years. Also, Kirsten, being the Norwegian immigrant, was always my mom's favorite, and it's sad to think that the next generation of girls may grow up without this piece of the historical landscape, traded instead for the glamor of more recent times.
Is the American Girl company still in the business of teaching history? Or has their widening range of dolls, modern mini-eras and ethnicities all about politics? Maybe the two really do fit together. After all, what could be more American than capitalism?
-Kim
Librarian, You're a grand old
11 years ago
2 comments:
Wow.
1st, Kudos to them for attempting to raise awareness about the issue of homelessness in the country, but it sounds like they mis-stepped a little in actually creating the character. I mean, does she have any backstory besides that she and her mom lived in the car/homeless shelter for awhile? What put them there?
2nd, so much of this screams of a concept similar to 'white guilt,' where the ruling class feels guilty about the position they've put the lower classes in and tries to resolve the issue on their own, by swooping in an becoming the savior. That's what Chrissa sounds like to me. Rather than working alongside Gwen, learning about who she is and what can help her stand up on her own, it sounds like Chrissa just sort of plays the middle class superhero, sweeping in to save the day. It reminds me of the song "Light Gives Heat" from Jars of Clay, particularly the line: "Heroes from the West / We don't know you, we know best."
Before this comes across as contradictory, it's not that I believe that the homeless shouldn't be helped - you know that's not the case. Like you said, "helping the homeless" appears to be an after school activity, something fun to do, something to take up her time. Really, advocating for the homeless, helping them out is something that should fundamentally change your outlook on life, the way you choose to view money, the way you view pretty much everything. By trivializing it with "I'm saving you from school bullies," helping out becomes self-aggrandizing.
Goodness. I agree with you - the American Doll company is getting weird.
(secret word: aubun. So close to a real word!)
My conclusion is commercialism. They make dolls of pretty much all the main girls' friends, I think...at least all the recent ones. I'm still upset that they archived Samantha (though I thought making a doll of Nellie was stupid commercialism anyway) - enough that I'm considering buying a Samantha doll on eBay just to keep one of her around...But the company is owned by Mattel, which explains a lot.
I think they need to go back to their roots and pare down the doll collection. I mean, do people really buy more than one or two of them? They have so much merchandise now it's ridiculous.
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