‘Reimagined for today’: Mattel went and Modern AU’d the American Girl dolls… why?!
"Changes for" indeed...
In a way, this is exactly what folks were worried about when Mattel acquired the Pleasant Company back in 1998 and took over American Girl in 2000. For the 40th anniversary of the legacy brand, the toy company is releasing “modern era” versions of American Girl dolls Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Josephina, Samantha, and Molly that are likely to enrage your local history buff because they are, not to mince words, Barbie-fied AF.
Listen, I love a Modern AU moment in fandom and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. It’s fun to think about what these beloved characters would be like today. It isn’t a bad idea on paper. Plus, the original historical dolls still exist. This is a special edition.
However, short skirts, trendy purses, and tightened waistlines that create unrealistic body proportions are simply not what the American Girls Collection is all about. (I should note that, if I recall correctly, the dolls got a tiny bit smaller when Mattel first took over. It just wasn’t this bad.) Modernize the fashion all you want, but these dolls are still meant to be 9-year-old girls. This is a terrible way to honor their legacy.
As Pleasant T. Rowland, the educator who created the American Girls collection, said herself in a 1992 edition of the American Girl catalogue:
“Now it seems that a whole generation of young girls is being rushed headlong into adolescence. They are overwhelmed by media messages that glamorize ‘growing up’ at the expense of growing. Concerned parents and teachers know there is a price to be paid but find little to offer in the way of appealing, appropriate alternatives.”
American Girl’s historical dolls are about more than just fashion history
This is especially egregious given the sometimes very serious historical context that American Girl books contain. These stories are not frivolous. It’s not my place to question whether it’s appropriate to pull a Pretty in Pink on the dress that Addy, in her accompanying book, received as a gift on the Underground Railroad after she and her mother ran away from the plantation where they were enslaved. But I have my doubts that Mattel put as much thought, research, and care into this design as the Pleasant Company did when they first released Addy’s doll and story back in 1993. That dress in particular has meaning.
Honestly, Addy and Josephina and Felicity should not be part of this atrocity at all. They each debuted after 1986, and therefore this is not their 40th anniversary. I’m really trying not to be judgmental here, but these modern designs are just so… why?! They captured the patterns well, but not the characters. Samantha looks like she’s en route to eat froyo on the Met steps with Dan Humphreys, not use her privilege to campaign for labor rights. Molly looks like she let the Anglophilia win. Her and Kirsten’s outfits and vibes both scream “not like other girls” in the worst way. Neither of them can canonically afford to dress that fashionably. Josephina’s modern update is relatively fine to me, compared to the others, but I welcome criticism. I’m sure there’s something wrong with it that I didn’t notice.
At least they remembered that Felicity had major breeches envy in her books and didn’t put her in a skirt. They took no care to imagine how a young American revolutionary who stood up against her loyalist friends and family members might react to today’s political moment. But at least she has jeans.
(featured image: Mattel)
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