Manufacturing an American Girl's History

yesterday, while cleaning out my closet (feel free not to cue the eminem tune), i stumbled upon some artifacts from my childhood:

i retrieved all of the American Girl Doll clothes i had insisted on having as gifts for about 4 Christmases, Birthdays, and Easters.

the funny thing about American Girl Dolls, is, i think, that they aren't too incredibly special anymore. everyone has one (some special girls even have two). there are so many different varieties, and you can custom design one with whichever hair color and eye color you choose. i know the point is that we are all, of course, American Girls (and therefore can create a doll-like clone). . . but i thought the original point of the dolls was to give young women a little better of an idea what girlhood was like "in other times." a way for us to delve into American history and heritage, if you will. i also thought the point was to con little girls into reading if they didn't enjoy it very much. unless, of course, every non-original American Doll (and by original i mean: Kirsten, Molly, and Samantha) maker is given blank books to fill -- then, i suppose, this creative writing major would be amenable to this create your own doll phenomenon (because, if i was still seven, you better believe i would have sat down and filled every single page). perhaps i was then, or am now, missing the point. . . or perhaps it's just another shameless marketing scheme by corporate america. or, perhaps, i have always been into gender studies and literature. who knows. though i do still refuse to go into the American Girl store right off Michigan Ave. . . . it's vibe is now eerily similar to build-a-bear(multiplicitiously manufactured).

also, notably, a grass skirt (from all those Benet Academy sock hops and KKG bar bashes). . .

[well, there had to be something sans emotional attachment, eh?]



xoxox,

kellieannie