Okay...I don't like to get all ranty (that's a lie, I do), but I just saw this commercial that really bugged me and the constable is at work, so I'm going to yell in y'alls general direction. If you don't mind.
It was a commercial for some Barbie interactive toy. You hook up this weird Barbie like device to your computer and you can play some sort of Sims like game, only it's all Barbified. I was in the process of taking a sip of my cab. sauv., so I neglected to get the name.
With this Barbified Sim, you can shop and look at fish in an aquarium ('Oh look! An aquarium!'...actual line from the commercial) and own a pet. I'm assuming that you could probably decorate your dwelling and do house work as well. Cuz who doesn't want to do that in your virtual world? Might make you feel like you're actually getting something accomplished, rather than just going around in perpetual circles. But I digress.
Now, I'm not really of the opinion that a girls entire self worth or self image later in life is all wrapped up in a ridiculously stiff action figure. I had Barbies when I was a kid, lots of 'em, and I loved them to death and played with them endlessly. It never occurred to me that I wanted to be like Barbie. I never had dillusions of one day looking like her. Ken was always a little too geeky for my tastes. I didn't see myself ending up with him, driving around in my Corvette one day.
The fact that my mother never let me have long hair when I was a kid is something, at the tender age of thirty, I am still extremely bitter about. Don't even get me started about being put on a liquid diet at 12. Are you catching my drift here? Dolls are dolls. Their inanimate. They exert no influence. Without imposing any outside values on them, kids are left to their own devices and more often than not I suspect, simply act out how they view the world and their own experiences with their toys.
Now...back to the commercial. I've always wondered why there was such a gender divide with regards to video games. The answer is quite simple; violence. Girls just don't get it. For the most part at least. Fantasy or role playing games, I would assume, are more likely to draw a female audience. I got hooked on Sims type games for a while, world building kind of stuff. Which is essentially what this Barbie thing is.
But I mean, c'mon!! Aren't there more interesting things to do with Barbie than go to the freakin' mall???? "Oh look! An aquarium!" Seriously??
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is what all of the market research tells Mattel that young girls want. But that is, in fact, what young girls do. Can't their fantasy life be a little bit more challenging than picking out clothes and being cute?
This bugged me as much as the time I saw girl-oriented Lego's at the Lego store. Clickits I think they were called. With regular Lego's, the primary coloured ones, you can build anything. Anything your imagination can conceive of. With these pastel Clickits, you can make jewelry. And? That's it, jewelry. Granted, you can make a necklace OR a bracelet, or maybe both...perhaps some matching earrings. And the box is packaged like a purse. Really, I've forgotten what I was complaining about (note the sarcasm).
*sigh* I dunno. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to be a princess. I just think we can't ever stop encouraging wanting to be the knight in shining armour too.
3 comments:
What can I say, and what do you care what I say? As an old girl, I spent my time with little baby dolls, then I spent my time climbing trees, racing as fast as I could go, playing jacks, spinning tops,jumping rope, and playing football with my brother. I grew up Barbie deprived. I do remember at about 14 wishing for some breasts..sigh..it really never happened.
I didn't have a daughter, but I would sure have a hard time with the Barbie, princess stuff. I think I'd be afraid it would stick. I hate that little girls wear leopard skin pants, heels etc.
Ooh, forgive me, you did not ask me for a dissertation! I do love reading what you have to say.
Cheers to you!
I spent most of my childhood outdoors as well. We lived on a lake, and there was nothing that was more interesting inside than there was out. I also had dinky cars and Lego's and baby dolls and lots of crafts and Barbies. It was a good mixture. I agree that the princess stuff is a hard line to walk. It is fun, but there has to be some balance. Of course, that's just my opinion, as always.
I had Barbies, but because of the forest behind my house, my Barbies were survivalists - they spent their time camping, climbing trees, gathering berries and building lean-tos. Ken had sadly lost part of his nose in a parachuting accident, so he spent a lot of time inside, whining about his disfigurement. He really needed to get on with his life.
If I ever have a little girl, she may have Barbies, but I'll be sure to show her how to build a lean-to.
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