It has become very clear that every aspect of our lives are affected by mainstream ideologies pushed onto us by the “establishment”. The powerful do this by making certain aspects of society seem normal, they become so normalized that we don’t even realize, or think about these aspects of our lives.
The fact that men are considered naturally more domineering, or whiteness has become the norm to compare all else are two examples of how we have become blind to the corruption in society because these issues become natural.
This is exactly how the powerful rule with consent in the hegemonic structure. With just a little education one can easily learn to critically analyze the media and its never-ending issues. What I have found most interesting are the critiques on child products. In Disney films, dolls, or toys in general they all are advertised to children and parents in a way, which encourage a strict division between girls and boys. Or products that continue to treat minorities as others, not the same as whites but exotic creatures to study.
Meeting with my group last week we started on the subject of kid’s items. It was interesting how we could find all these flaws with items, which appeared to be innocent. I remember loving the American Girl Dolls. The first one I ever received was Addie, the African American girl whose family was enslaved. Then I was given Josephine, the girl from Mexico. Then the there was Samantha the upper class Caucasian American girl, who was spoiled and bratty but somehow, grows and learns to be a young lady. All of this you could learn about within the American doll books, but as a young child, all that mattered was whether they had hair long enough to braid or clothing cute enough to change the dolls. I always wanted Samantha, but my parents made me believe that Samantha was boring and Addie and these other dolls of other ethnicities were more interesting and pretty.
Yes, they had good intentions because they encouraged me at a young age to be open to people who are different then I am. The problem was that all of these dolls represented the stereotypical representations of other ethnicities. Josephine has a native shall, and a fan attached to her wrist. She had a bun in her hair and white lace smock type shirt. Her outfit was traditional and in away she became more of a spectacle rather then someone just like me. Did I realize this as a young girl? Of course I didn’t critically analyze my dolls, but I do believe I saw them more as girls from these strange unknown worlds. These dolls show stereotypical representations of women/girls from other countries.
Why wasn’t Samantha portrayed as being poor? Through books you could learn about the dolls lives and all of the white dolls were wealthy, while all the minorities lived in the primitive and usually poverty stricken state. The non-white dolls were treated more as exotic characters rather then girls just like the ones playing with them.
So who are buying these dolls? Mainly people who have enough money to spend 100 dollars for a doll and another 100 for clothing. This means middle to upper class girls are playing with dolls that are just like them or exotic dolls from another planet. Why not make a white doll that is poor? Or a Mexican doll that is rich? The white wealthy upper class rule America and this is one way it is reflected in our society. This company sold to parents the idea that kids could learn about other ethnicities, yet they still promoted mainstream ideologies. It may seem insignificant, but at that age we absorb things like a sponge. I liked Samantha, because she had the nicest clothing, the prettiest hair, the best accessories and this starts to demonstrate the divisions between races and classes. Of course I have learned to not fallow these beliefs, but many girls don’t become exposed to the same cultural experiences; opportunities I was fortunate to have.
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