Fond Memories with American Dolls
Last Tuesday night brought back some fond memories of me when I was little and was obsessed with American Dolls. I remember reading all of the American Doll books; my favorite was Molly’s stories (I don’t think that Kit and Kaya were actual characters yet.) I remember getting the magazine every month and my sister and I circling all the things we wanted, which was just about everything. Once we read all the stories, my mom said we could get a doll, like Rachel’s daughter, my sister and I didn’t want the historical characters especially not the slave doll or the poor doll. Instead, we chose the dolls that looked like us with the cute clothes, not the ugly rag-doll dresses. I even had a basketball outfit with high-top basketball shoes just like mine for my doll named Emily.
After class, I was thinking about Emily, still sitting in the back of my closet in her school locker case, which took me a whole summer to save up the ridiculously expensive one hundred dollars to buy, and recalling what I actually learned from American Dolls. Surprisingly, I remember Addy’s story the best and became very fascinated with the whole Civil Rights era when the topic came up in school. Like Kevin stated about his sister in his post, “she was never one to look a little deeper than the surface.” I was the exact same way. What can you expect from a third grader? I think it’s amazing to even get young girls to read about historical events. Of course these stories are altered quite a bit from actual history, but learning about women’s rights and racial equality is important and everyone has to start learning somewhere. Perhaps making dolls and stories to resemble actual historical heroes like Harriet Tubman or Alice Paul would make a better impact on young girls, but I believe having characters that are everyday girls, like the American Doll characters and like the readers themselves, is more effective. I think I would have been scarred for life if I learned the actual stories of women suffering or saw what they did to slaves in the past at such a young age. Just getting exposed to these historical events is important, but I think it is also important to reach a certain age and maturity level before learning all the details. The clip of Hilary Swank getting force fed in Iron Jawed Angels was even disturbing for me at nineteen, but I am glad to know what these women did and all the suffering they went through so we can do all the things women are able to do today.
I don’t think we need to blame American Doll for not exposing the whole truth and all the details about history or women’s suffrage, but rather the textbooks and the learning curriculum in schools. Isn’t that where the learning should take place anyway? The ultimate goal of American Doll is to sell products and make a profit; they aren’t out there just to enlighten the minds of young children. Although, just adding a little bit of educational learning into something little girls enjoy is always better than nothing!
Comments
I am really glad you posted this. You were a lot more clear and I think you said it a lot better than I did. Thanks, and nice job.
Posted by: Kevin | February 3, 2007 10:59 AM