1 of 12

No

Write now Article Tools

Page 3 of 3

to be fresh little girls.

Since they weren't like the sweet-faced dolls we were used to, we didn't quite know how to play with these unconventional dolls. For the most part we didn't play with them until one night, during a sleepover, my cousin and I got the idea of putting the "fresh" dolls in a blanket, stretching the blanket between the two beds in the room, and tossing them up so they would crash into the ceiling. Ordinarily very kind and sensitive little girls (believe it or not), my cousin and I couldn't stop laughing, as the "mean-faced" dolls crashed into the ceiling and then onto the floor. I was a little girl who never mistreated dolls or stuffed animals. I was the kind who always kept them dressed, always put coats or blankets on them if I took them out in cold weather, and never left any of them lying face-down anywhere. To this day, I'm still the kind of person who picks up stuffed animals from store floors. The only time in my life when I found joy in being rough with a doll was that time when my cousin and I saw no reason to be nice to the mean-faced dolls.

My point is if a child like I was could be "inspired" to treat that "fresh" doll differently, chances are that Bratz dolls (maybe to a lesser extent) have a similar effect on the way today's girls play with them (and think while they are playing with them).

Not long ago a lost picture of Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan was discovered. It is believed to be the earliest picture found of Helen to date. In it she is eight years old. In the picture Helen looks like a classic Victorian girl, as she holds on her lap the doll made famous in the story, "The Miracle Worker." The doll Helen treasured - like Helen - is dressed in classic Victorian clothing. Even a child who cannot see or hear can form that fundamental attachment of, and interest in, a treasured doll. That much is in the nature of both girls and dolls.

Dolls, their hairstyles, and their clothing have changed over the course of time. Today most Victorian dolls remain collectors' dolls, while little girls play with dolls that more resemble the style of today's little girls. As we often ask if life imitates art or art imitates life, we could ask if dolls imitate life or life imitates dolls. Over the decades since I played with little-girl dolls, doll fashions have changed but their image of being a sweet baby or nice little girl has not - not until Bratz showed up.

Bratz dolls came along as new and different and a little edgy. "Edgy" is fine in art, but it may not be the best thing in dolls. Bratz kids have come along, which means that the littlest of girls need not be left out. Bratz dolls - in all their contemporary "coolness" - aren't like plain, old, dolls of the past. It may not matter whether dolls imitate life or life imitates dolls. Either way, the Bratz phenomenon is probably not a positive one. Bratz Kids just mean there's more Bratz for more and younger kids, and more of anything that moves young children away from the positive things conventional dolls have always offered is not a good thing.

Learn more about this author, Lisa H Warren.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3

Add your voice

Know something about Are Bratz Kidz dolls more appropriate for young girls than Bratz dolls??
We want to hear your view. Write now!