Since 2001, American Girl, a doll company that is meant to relate to all different types of girls from America, has come out with a
"doll of the year" with an inspirational story that is supposed to
represent what American Girls of today are like. In 2005 American Girl
introduced Marisol Luna who is Mexican-American.
Each American Girl doll
comes with a book that describes the story behind the doll. In Marisol’s
story she moves from Pilsen, a city in Chicago, Illinois to the suburbs of Des
Plains. Both of these towns are real
places, which is why it offended people who were from that area and also those
of Latino descent who seemed to be discussed negatively in the book. American Girl attempted to relate to girls by creating a doll that lived in a real place to make these girls seem more like real girls that the consumers would know. In this feat they offended groups of people with their misrepresentation of culture and their ideas that assimilation was extremely important. Many lines from the book were quoted in an
article in the Chicago Tribune because they were negatively referencing that the city that Marisol’s
family was living in and saying it was not a suitable place to grow up. Pilsen’s population is mainly Hispanic while
the suburbs of Des Plains is predominantly white therefore when Marisol’s mother
says Pilsen isn’t a place for her to grow up and it is time to get out of the
city, many people believed that it was due to the ethnic makeup of the
towns. The interpretation was that Marisol’s
mother’s reasoning was due to the city’s predominantly Hispanic make up, and that is why it wasn’t a
place for children to grow up. One of
the people quoted in the article, Silvia Cisneros, is from Pilsen and has strong ties to the
community of Pilsen. It seems that
people care more when they are directly affected by a certain problem. In “The Forest, The Trees, and The One Thing”
it is stated that “a major reason that people tend to think of things only in
terms of individuals, as if a society, or a company, or a university, were
nothing more than a collection of people living in a particular time and place”
(Johnson). Cisneros took the time
out to talk to her daughter to inform her that the book represented the
lifestyle in Pilsen wrong. Due to
Cisneros’ own personal connection with Pilsen, she felt the need to defend
it. It seems that when things affect a
person more directly, they are more ready to advocate for or against something
that relates to it. Similar to the
Redskins debate regarding changing the name of the Washington Redskin's football team, Marisol’s introduction to American girl raised concern because
it offended a small group of people. Children
do not truly understand the significance of the story behind the doll therefore
it is not as offensive until the adults make it such.
In Brokered Boundaries, The Motivations for Migrations chart
describes that roughly 22% of people say that they came to the United States
for family reason. Family is an
important part of the Latino identity and whether the people are away from
their families or near them, they are still very well connected. Many immigrants send money to their relatives
who have stayed in their home countries while others just talk to their
relatives many times a week. Girls spend
a lot of time with their dolls and they like to be able to relate to the dolls
they play with because in some sense they make the dolls themselves, where they
can completely control the actions of these dolls and create their own
world. Having Marisol’s mother dislike
the predominantly Hispanic culture that is infused in the city of Pilsen may
make Mexican-American girls who are playing with Marisol, believe that culture
is not salient and does not need to be an integral part of their lives.
Works Consulted:
McCarthy, Brendan. 2005. American Girl doll's book riles Pilsen. Chicago Tribune. February, 02.
Census Bureau. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
Johnson, Allan G. 2008. The Forest, The Trees, and The One Thing. Temple University Press. http://www.temple.edu/tempress/chapters_1100/1366_ch1.pdf
Massey, Douglas S. and Magaly Sanchez R. 2010. Brokered Boundaries. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
I think this blog post is really interesting because when I was younger I was obsessed with American Girl Dolls and one of my favorite dolls was the girl who is portrayed as an indian. This just goes to show how younger people do not care about race or ethnicity and like different dolls or things without having the certain race in mind. It is really not until you are older that these stereotypes and problems come to mind.
ReplyDeleteI was obsessed with American girl dolls as well, and I find it interesting they would use actual places. I'm sure this would greatly effect a girl especially one who lived in that area. Dolls can have very negative effects on young girls, theres a video you can look at on youtube it may be from the 70s or eighties where they asked African American children questions about black and white dolls and they all gave the positive words like "pretty" to the white doll, and negative words to the black dolls. It's very sad and these messages are so harmful for the self esteem of the group it involves.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post because I think that by American Girl Dolls trying to relate to girls, it can also have a negative effect at the same time. While I don't enjoy the company of dolls, dolls can have a very negative effect on how girls perceive them, especially younger girls. By reading their story and looking that a place like Pilsen is not a suitable place to grow up, they will have this view that being in that kind of community is not suitable for them, and might voice their opinion on it. The dolls can also misrepresent an ethnicity that will offend lots of people but little girls won't know the difference.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really cool topic to read about. Personally I never owned an American Girl Doll, but I grew up in the time where they were all the rage. It's really weird to look back at childhood toys and movies and see how they represent different races, and knowing what I know today, I definitely don't agree with a majority of the representations. The fact that these dolls are also supposed to represent and be relatable to real people (kids) is actually really scary and disheartening. Think about us as kids thinking "Wow this doll must be just like every girl of that race", and reading in their little books the hardships they went through and overcame to be where they "are now". I think that having a single American Girl doll represent an entire race to a child is detrimental to what they learn about the world at a young age and perpetuates stereotypes and even racism. Great topic, one that honestly should be talked about more!
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