getmygoat

Yesterday I opened the local paper to see a full-color spread about Dora the Explorer’s make-over. Apparently there will be a new show (I don’t know if it’s in addition to or in place of the original) to go along with a new line of toys from Mattel. It frustrates me when large companies decide to completely retool their products and market themselves to prey on children, but I know that’s how business works. I didn’t like it when Mattel decided to make a more “realistic” Barbie doll because I suspected that the gesture was less about giving little girls healthy body images and more about forcing us to buy an entire new wardrobe for the blond bombshell. But I decided to read the article and see what Dora is up to now that she’s growing up.

The new Dora is a pre-teen living in the city, and her show will be more about fashion and other “big girl” things than the current Dora’s adventures. I think this is sad, because I like little Dora and her outdoorsy fun. Then I read the response from concerned parents. Many mothers are worried that this new Dora will be like the Bratz dolls that were so popular for a few years and encourage their 7-year-olds to ask for lip gloss and mini skirts. There is an online petition asking Mattel to cancel the new product line.  A silhouette of the character with long hair and a “short” skirt (some versions are at the knee, some slightly above - it’s kind of hard to tell based on the shadow design) is the source of assumptions that Dora is growing up to be a tramp.

While I certainly prefer the old Dora to the idea of a newer, trendier character, my reaction is not one of horror at her threat to the innocence of American children. To be honest, I think the whole thing is kind of dumb. Mattel is trying to market this new Dora to “tweens” who are most likely too old to enjoy a spin-off cartoon based on a show for pre-schoolers. Despite their target audience, the children watching the show will be prissy little girls between the ages of 7 and 9. Somehow I doubt that the new Dora, while she is less interesting than her younger counterpart, will really be a trashy role model to kids. And if she is, the parents can certainly talk to their kids about appropriate dress and behavior, decline their daughters’ requests for make-up and provocative clothing, and, if necessary, not allow their children to watch the new show. I can’t recall ever having made life-altering decisions based on a television show, but I did watch children’s television in a different age; perhaps these new super-characters will drive our children into vice and despair. Somehow I doubt that Dora the Explorer will become the pre-teen Sex and the City.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS