What are dolls telling young girls - 8.19.2007.1

Ok, I saw something on the Cartoon Network and it upset me. I’m not talking about the Naruto marathon. I love anime, and Naruto is up there with Rurouni Kenshin, Cyborg 009, and Dragonball Z. Still there is a bit that isn’t as good as some of those others.

But let me not wax on about anime. Either you get it or not. The point is that there have been several commercials throughout the marathon. One particular commercial was far more disturbing to me than all the others. It’s not the endless Pokemon games, nor the super sugar bomb pop cereals. It’s a doll.

I want to specifically point out the Hi-Glam dolls. They are similar to the various, and idiotic, Bratz dolls. But these are worse. Basically they are a bunch of pipe cleaners with hair. I don’t know much about dolls, since my sisters out grew them decades ago. But I do notice the difference.

Barbie has had arguments about her proportions since the feminist movements in the 70’s. They finally changed her figure to more realistic proportions, on the basis that little girls would feel better about their own proportions. How the proportions on a doll can affect anyone I don’t know, but that is the argument. Then came the fact that there were no Black, Asian or Hispanic dolls.

After years, finally Barbie got some friends with color and other dolls were made featuring various cultures as well. That argument I can understand. I remember back when I was a child and my sister threw her doll she got for Christmas because it looked nothing like her and was of zero interest. So I can see that.

But these Hi-Glam dolls are different. Yes they have various races covered. No they don’t represent women as anything more important than objects to be looked at because of how they dress. Yes it’s good they are dressed more substantially than a music video hoochie. But they are all anorexic. Seriously, they are proportioned like twigs.

It has to be an obvious negative if I can see this. These dolls look like a female version of Jack Skeleton. The connection to reality on any level is abysmal. I wonder where are the calls from feminists to get these dolls changed. They just don’t look healthy.

While I think anyone who might be influenced by a doll has self-esteem issues, the fact is they do affect the young girls’ self-image. That coupled with the desire for Hollywood to promote women that are about as curvaceous as adolescent boys and it just can’t be good. Why is it so strange for doll makes to create a doll that looks like a real woman? Why must every doll be a size -2, and supermodels are a size 0. Where is the reality in that? What guy actually likes that?

We should promote dolls and women that look like our mothers, wives and girlfriends. I mean who is on the arm of Jay-Z, or Denzel Washington? Look at virtually all the successful marriages of entertainers, celebrities, politicians, heads of state, and business and you will not find a woman that is under a size 10. I don’t think it’s just me.

As everyone freaks out how heavy our kids are, is it any better to ignore things that emphasize an even less healthy life by being malnourished and barely more than a sack of bones? Can any man truly say they are interested in a woman without curves and barely enough skin to cover her bones? Can any woman say they really think that clothes look better when they drape on them like clothes on a hanger as opposed to a mannequin?

How long will it take before some doll manufacturer realizes the .0002 cents it costs to add a bit more plastic to make a realistic looking doll will be healthier and probably sell better. Or am I just not getting it since I’m a man and older at that?

This is what I think, what do you think?

My inspiration, and dream, for 2007 - 12.27.2006.1

I hope there were a few people watching the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming tonight. Rather than the normal line-up of various programs, each night this week the entire time slots are dedicated to just one program. Yesterday it was the Venture Bros. marathon, tonight it was the Boondocks.

Many should be aware of the Boondocks cartoon, based on a comic strip of the same name that has national syndication. This show is political and Afrocentric and filled with biting sarcasm that hits the mark each time. This one program is probably the best item on television to highlight some of the absurdities that is the Black culture in America today. Had I children I’d tape every episode and make them watch each one at least monthly. Yes, I feel that it makes that much of an impact. No, this isn’t the first time I’ve discussed the program in this blog.

But perhaps the one thing I wish young African Americans (and almost as importantly older Blacks) could see is the episode about Dr. Martin Luther King. It was an episode based on a dream that Dr. King lived (though in a coma for 30 years). Through out the episode Dr. King is just trying to adjust to the world and yet still carry the beliefs he had in the 60’s. But this is not a world based on the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, or the sacrifices of Dr. King, Mr. Malcolm X and thousands if not millions of others.

The most telling part of this episode is when Dr. King finally loses his patience. He rightly addresses a large crowd of Black African Americans, and television media, and says what is really happening. He admonishes the Black culture for the failures that are glorified today, and the common usage of a term that “is the ugliest word in the English language.” He addresses the lunacy of black-oriented television (as it exists on a particular cable network) and so much more.

And amazingly the African Americans of this dream episode reacted, positively. Finally there was unified action. Education became important, athletes lived up to the role-model status they have, laws changed and the revolution that was demanded in the 1960’s finally happened (without bloodshed).

The potential that so many sacrificed for, that so many more waste today, became a reality. It was a dream of course. Even in the cartoon it was acknowledged that this isn’t close to reality in any form. But it’s quite a dream, one worth having or at the least seeing. Just as the Black men and women of the cartoon’s world opened their eyes, so must we all. I think one line from this television program summed it all up in a neatness that is eloquent – The people are waiting for Dr. Martin Luther King to come back, but it’s not going to happen.

Maybe 2007 will be the year this sinks in. Maybe the culture will understand that there is no such thing as “ghettofabulous” and that denigrating friends and family with a hateful and derogatory term is vicious and not loving. Perhaps the youth will understand that without an education there is no foundation to build a better life on. In 2007 we may finally get to see the Black community band together and use the most valuable asset we have that no one can take, but that we can destroy ourselves, our minds.
Maybe I’m dreaming of a 2007 that won’t happen, but it can. And that’s what dreams are for, right?

This is what I think, what do you think?