Cinderella Dolls & the Disney Industrial Complex

All my daughter wanted for Christmas from Santa Claus was a Cinderella princess doll.

I have to admit that, for quite a long time, I contemplated not getting one for her. As a modern dad who considers himself fairly progressive when it comes to parenting, I don't like subscribing to outdated notions of gender stereotyping.

Besides, I felt conflicted about buying into the whole "Disney Industrial Complex." If I succumbed and got my daughter a Disney doll, was I enabling her lifelong entry into a global cult of materialistic fantasy aimed at the perpetual separation of me from my hard-earned dollars?

Sure one day, it's a princess doll. But the next thing you know, I'm on an overpriced Disney cruise ship throwing down martinis with Donald Duck at Club Mulan while my daughter plays shuffle puck with Bambi. Screw that!

Now, most of you know I don't get too riled up over the various parenting "controversies" that seem to divide people and cause heated exchanges on parenting boards, mothering forums, or PTA conferences. I'm generally a "whatever floats your boat" kind of guy.

Want to home-school your kid, breastfeed him until he's six, and raise him as a vegan? Go right ahead, MoonUnit. Let me be the first to stand out of your way.

Think your toddler is the next Stephen Hawking and needs to learn 4 languages, play three instruments, and memorize the Fibonacci sequence so he can get into Harvard? Go for it, dude. I'll be over here teaching my daughter the finer points of how to properly fart on the dog.

So if I'm so nonplussed about what my buddy James likes to call "high-class problems," why did I find myself tormented about buying my daughter a Cinderella doll?

Because I discovered that giving your child anything Disney or Princess-related can be somewhat conflicting and surprisingly touches on our individual beliefs more than one might imagine.

Anyway, free-thinking father of the new millennium that I am (warning: sarcasm alert,) here were some of the concerns that rattled around in my pea-brained head while I debated whether to buy her a princess doll or not...

1. Disney Princesses are terrible role models.

This was, by far, my biggest issue with the princess dolls. Look, I know that it's absurd to think of a plastic piece of crap as being a role model for my daughter but the fact is that, in Disney's case, the doll is a representation of a character. So let's take a look at those characters.

Most of them spend half their time in captivity or in a coma, waking up only when a prince comes along and kisses them. The only ones who are exceptions to this are Mulan and Pocahontas. Hell, Mulan has to dress up as a boy to fight in the army and Pocahantas lacks full princess status.

Also, many of the princess tales celebrate the ugly duckling scenario of overnight transformation. That, in and of itself, would not be that big of a deal. The problem is that none of the princesses actually "work" to achieve their transformations.

Sleeping Beauty is a victim. Snow White's greatest feat of courage was dusting. And as someone once said, Cinderella essentially gains all her power through the good will of a magical floating Angela Lansbury look-alike.

Now, I'm no feminist but it's pretty clear to me that Disney princesses tend to belittle the efforts that women have made in terms of achieving gender equality on their own terms and with their own efforts.

2. The Princesses create unrealistic body images for young girls.

The princesses are invariably tall, thin, and buxom with perfectly coiffed hair and impeccably plucked eyebrows. Whereas the average American woman is 5' 4", weighs 145 lbs., and wears between a size 11-14, if Cinderella were a real person, she'd be 6' 0", weigh 100 lbs., and wear a size 4. Her measurements would be an incredible 39-19-33.

This argument really didn't resonate with me. I have a hard time thinking that giving my daughter a Cinderella doll would produce unrealistic body images for her and lead her down a lifetime of anorexia and bulimia.

After all, that's what the media, the advertising industry, her peers, and women's magazines are for!

3. Girls shouldn't be forced to play with dolls. Boys shouldn't be forced to play with trucks.

We have never bought the Peanut a doll so I honestly don't know where she got the idea that she absolutely needed to have a Cinderella princess doll. I'm guessing that it came from one of her friends at school, probably the same one who taught her how to say "fuck" and whom I imagine will be approaching her in a few years, asking whether she wants to try stripping for crack money.

The reality is that we never know where or how our kids pick up their various influences. Just as we never bought the Peanut a doll, we also stubbornly refused to dress her in anything pink. Shit, she's a New Yorker! If she wants to fit in here, she's going to have to learn that, aside from black, the only acceptable wardrobe colors are grey and white. Besides, I didn't want my daughter walking around looking like a bowl of cotton candy.

Needless to say, despite my best efforts, my daughter can't get enough pink in her life.

4. Disney is an EVIL EMPIRE.

Despite the fact that we live in a free-market capitalist democracy, I dig the fact that people feel threatened by any massive consumer company with the power to dictate our social mores and limit our freedom of choices.

On the one hand, I like to think that we're all free to make our own decisions, right? Nobody's holding a gun to our head. You don't like Wal-Mart? Fine, don't shop there. Despise ExxonMobil? Ride your bike to work. Nobody's forcing anybody to do anything they don't want.

On the other hand, Disney's sheer size and the influence they exert over children today should be a concern. The business of princesses is a HUGE business. Sales at Disney Consumer Products, which started the princess craze six years ago by packaging its female characters under one royal rubric, have shot up to $3 billion this year, from $300 million in 2001. There are now more than 25,000 Disney Princess items. “Princess,” as some Disney execs call it, is not only the fastest-growing brand the company has ever created but also well on its way to becoming the largest girls’ franchise on the planet.

Little scary, isn't it? Where does it all end? Seriously, I'm waiting for the day when I go to Home Depot and see that they're selling $6,000 John Deere Cinderella tractors.

5. Disney is RACIST.

BossLady and I often cringe when we watch old Disney movies. The jive-talking crows from Dumbo? The gibberish-speaking monkeys from The Jungle Book? The Native-Americans in Peter-Pan? The Siamese twin cats from Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers?

Man, no matter how you look at it, that is some seriously straight-up racist stereotyping.

Now, I'm firmly opposed to political correctness. And there is a part of me that wishes that Disney's poor history on racial characterizations could be attributed to an earlier time in our nation's history that predated a sensitivity to dealing with various ethnic characters.

Sadly, I think Disney's modern characters are just as racist and insulting as they were in the past.

Did you know that the opening musical sequence in Aladdin had to be re-edited due to protest from Arab-American groups for implying that the Middle East was a barren wasteland where the justice system was based solely on limb-removal? A place where people get their "faces torn off?"

Meanwhile, in The Little Mermaid, a Jamaican crab teaches Ariel that life is better "Under the Sea," because underwater you don't have to get a job. (Up on the shore they work all day. Out in the sun they slave away. While we devotin'  Full time to floatin' Under the sea!) Why the lazy man got to be Jamaican, mon?

And what about Mulan and Pocahontas? As I said earlier, Mulan has to dress up as a boy to fight in the army and Pocahantas lacks full princess status. Heck, I can barely watch Mulan because of all the ching-chong fortune cookie prose and revisionist history bullshit. Meanwhile, Pocahontas looks African-American and is dressed like a Disney-style sexpot.

Clearly, Disney still has far to go when it comes to being racially and ethnically sensitive.

AT THE END OF THE DAY...

It was clear that I was over-thinking the whole issue. After all, at the end of the day, it's just a fucking toy.

Look, we live in an age where a child can be left unsupervised in a trailer with "American Gladiators" on the TV and a book of matches within easy reach. I'm not saying that we shouldn't think about all the things that influence our kids. However, I am saying that maybe we don't need to get our panties (or boxers) in a twist over each and every single thing. Some battles are worth fighting. Some aren't.

My daughter is a wonderful kid. She's courteous, polite, empathetic, and treats everyone with a huge amount of respect. She doesn't beg me to buy her useless shit and few things in life make her happier than simply being with her friends and family.

BossLady and I promised ourselves that we would never spoil her and agreed that, for Christmas, we were only going to buy her a single gift from "Santa."  Ultimately, after all that internal sturm und drang, we decided that if the Peanut wanted a Cinderella doll, that's what we were going to get her.

You should have seen her face light up when she unwrapped her Cinderella doll on Christmas morning. Hell, had I known she would have been so completely overwhelmed with happiness, I would have bought her a thousand Cinderella dolls. At that precise moment, all my yuppie concerns about giving her that doll disappeared in a nanosecond.

Want to hear the funny thing?

Four weeks later, we have no idea where the Cinderella doll is. However, my daughter is still having a hell of a fun time playing with the box!

Oh well, at least it wasn't Barney.

Comments

[purple ugg boots]

bailey 2 button uggs canada goose beige ugg classic tall bomber red ugg boots classic short canada goose women botte type ugg chaussures ugg a paris ugg erin ruby red ugg boots adresse magasin canada goose montreal ugg turn cuff gloves black ugg classic tall purple ugg boots sale uk classic short red uggs navy short ugg boots canada goose paris ugg adirondack otter boots ugg classic brown ugg bailey button stingray ugg sheepskin cuff boot black ugg ultra tall acheter canada goose en ligne parka langford canada goose soldes paris bailey button ugg sale fausse couche nettoyer chaussures ugg ugg australia classic mini black ugg igloo gloves black canada goose expedition parka prix ugg botte paris black ugg boots grossiste botte ugg imitation ugg moccasins navy classic short ugg boots doudoune parka canada goose chilliwack manteau canada goose pas cher canadian goose paris vente privée canada goose ugg boots roslynn chestnut.
purple ugg boots http://www.weddingsinnottingham.co.uk/images/news/index.php?/purple-ugg-boots-ugg-sandals-clearance-blue-ugg-bailey-button/

[canon t4i user manual]

944 Read the Full Write-up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6raitK_GetI stqzdzj2nn, 6070 garcinia cambogia extract garcinia cambogia bean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdF2V6GSV7Q onsssagok, 4085 canon t3i http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZcB9tAJCHA jozxr2f5u, 233 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjCsmnjfajw canon t5i canon t5i canon t4i canon eos rebel t4i inx14ow0kf, raspberry ketones raspberry ketones chews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU4_bQ9zBAU.

[nikon d5100 how to]

ie2ber49aweoo, 110 biohealth garcinia cambogia higxnalj, garcinia cambogia research garcinia cambogia reviews just click the next article c0rpfskalxi, 7010 pure garcinia cambogia pure garcinia cambogia 8387 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSU7gHgI1W4 cjjct3jd, This Webpage.

[gailoe16]

Latin shemales
http://asianladyboy.erolove.in/?profile-jaquelin
taranny sex tranies.com p or n sex free shemal sex free videos pron.com

[ugg adirondack ebay]

ugg youth bailey button uggs sale clearance kids red ugg boots blue bailey button uggs ugg kensington boot black red bailey button triplet uggs ugg classic short chestnut parka canada goose homme doudoune canada goose neuf ugg boots bloomingdales canada goose bleu canada goose alberta vest canada goose calgary jacket ugg classic cardy boots 5819 grey canada goose yukon bomber brown thomas ugg boots canada jacket imitation ugg slippers kids navy blue ugg boots canada goose chilliwack avis canada goose lyon canada goos ugg classic short sparkles brown ugg classic short grey canada goose ebay red sparkle ugg boots ugg bailey button red parka canada goose femme kensington black ugg boots pink ugg classic short baby leopard print ugg boots ugg bailey bling short boots black ugg black knit boots ugg adirondack sale ugg sand bailey button electric blue ugg boots canada goose vendre canada goose kids ugg classic tall boots black 5815 size 6 ugg boots.
ugg adirondack ebay http://www.weddingsinnottingham.co.uk/images/news/index.php?/ugg-adirondack-ebay-ugg-style-boots-uk-ugg-classic-cardy-pink/

[appliance light bulbs]

Piece of writing writing is also a excitement, if you know after that you can write otherwise it is
complex to write.

[canada goose sale toronto cheap]

calgary shop canada goose jackets canada goose camrose parka tan candada goose langford parka caribou goose women canada goose pullover jacket canada goose sale toronto store canada goose company canada goose arctic parka canada goose cheap jackets canada goose jackets cheap online navy parka with hood canada goose jakke victoria canada geese food canada goose or north face kensington parka canada goose price canada goose halifax parkas med pels womens canada goose parka canada goose lodge hoody canada goose style 4565mr north face vs canada goose jackets canada goose coats nyc canada goose store toronto location canada goose apparel canada goose montebello green canada goose jackets website canada jakke canadagoose price canada goose original cannadian goose canadian goose sale sverige canada goose canada goose on sale montreal canada goose chilliwak canada goose toronto outlet candain goose how much are canada goose jackets arctic expedition coats down coats canada.
canada goose sale toronto cheap http://avantigas.com/images/canada/index.php?p=2418

[canada goose original website]

buy on sale canada goose jacket canada goose boxing day canada goose jacket facts canada goose jackets men canadian goose migration map canada goose jacket on sale canada goose outlet toronto canadian icon canada goose baby snowsuits in canada manteau canada goose montreal where to buy canada goose online mens parkas sale toronto ssense canada goose canadian goose women canadian goose jacket prices canada goose mantra fake borden bomber canada goose jacket retailers canada goose retailers online buy canada goose jacket online solaris canada goose canada goose women s parkas canada gooses www canadagoose canada goose mountaineer toronto jacket sale buy canada goose jacket usa canada goose borden bomber canada goose kensington navy canada goose cheap jackets canada goose jacket fleece hood canadian goose online buy canada goose jacket cheap jakets wallpaper arctic rigger coverall canada goose canada goose red men canada goose black chilliwack livigno parka canada goose jackets toronto cheap canada goose vest.
canada goose original website http://avantigas.com/images/canada/index.php?p=4042

[モンブラン万年筆]

楽天市場×ダイエットクラブ-「モンブラン ボールペン」検索結果です。楽天市場× ダイエットクラブは、インターネット通販サイト・オンラインショッピングコミュニティです。( 標準順 写真付き一覧)
モンブラン万年筆 http://www.losarrudos.com/モンブラン万年筆.html

[Uggs UK]

MetroDad: Cinderella Dolls & the Disney Industrial Complex ugg bailey bow women zzfjppz Girls Ugg Boots ktnfmdkpc UGGs Belgie fcbfpkwt longchamp pas cher gfmuaiuy soldes Ugg ycfmiigy ugg autumn sparkle kaqpzsmxg Moncler Piumini
Uggs UK http://www.thefutureofbellydance.com/En/UGG/UggsUK/

[jessiemp2]

Inviting mirror shots
http://bbwlesbians.xblog.in/?special.annabelle
erotic photographic art adult movies erotic litterature wallpapers erotic

[etlzjt]

17cHzl nukyfsifftwm, [url=http://rkiwbaacegma.com/]rkiwbaacegma[/url], [link=http://wbfjcbwznuah.com/]wbfjcbwznuah[/link], http://hljpldlhdbmv.com/

[Ugg Leather Boots]

Hurrah! MetroDad: Cinderella Dolls & the Disney Industrial Complex Its also fastidious post about JavaScript, I am genuinely keen of learning JavaScript. thanks admin
Ugg Leather Boots http://www.thefutureofbellydance.com/En/UGG/GirlsUggBoots/