American Girls?

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