What makes a children\u2019s toy radical? Exploring what American Girl\u2019s Melody Ellison doll represents, the kind of play she inspires and why that matters.<\/p>\n
This episode is a part four in a series examining the impact of dolls in American history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What makes a children\u2019s toy radical? Exploring what American Girl\u2019s Melody Ellison doll represents, the kind of play she inspires and why that matters. This episode is a part four in a series examining the impact of dolls in American history.","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2018\/06\/Death-and-Numbers-Dolls-Series-Ep-4.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"13.91M","filesize_raw":"14585216","date_recorded":"04-06-2018","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[36,29,30,37],"categories":[],"series":[2],"class_list":{"0":"post-41","1":"podcast","2":"type-podcast","3":"status-publish","5":"tag-american-girl","6":"tag-dolls","7":"tag-history","8":"tag-melody-ellison","9":"series-death-and-numbers","10":"entry"},"acf":{"related_episodes":"","hosts":[{"ID":584,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_content":"\n
Caroline Pinkston is a PhD candidate in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work brings education into conversation with childhood studies and cultural memory. She holds a B.A. in American Studies and English from Northwestern University (2008), an M.S. in English Education from Lehman College (2010), and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Texas (2014). A former high school English teacher, she has taught and worked in public, private, and nonprofit settings in New York City and Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Caroline Pinkston","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"caroline-pinkston","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_modified_gmt":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/?post_type=speaker&p=584","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"guests":"","transcript":"
In the children’s book, No Ordinary Sound. A nine year old girl named Melody Ellison
\nhears her older sister Yvonne described as radical. It’s the year 1964,
\nand Yvonne has come home to Detroit over her holiday break with a new Afro and new ideas about
\ncivil rights. The Von’s Aunt Tish likes her new hairstyle.
\nSome people don’t like natural hair because it looks so different from what we’re used to to said she
\nlooked at a van thoughtfully. I think that style suits your face. I’m going to open a salon here as soon
\nas I find a spot. I wonder if my future Detroit clients would like a style like that.
\nI’m not sure how many young women are as radical as our von mommy said, opening the front door.
\nWhat does radical mean? Melody asked. It means somebody who’s willing to raise her voice
\nof on said, willing to raise her hair to mommy, said as she went inside.
\nIt’s a small but interesting moment and author Denise Lewis Patrick’s book, because Melody is
\ncaught up in a different kind of debate about radicalism to Melody C is not
\njust a character in Patrick’s novels. She’s the newest release in the American Girl Company is B Forever
\nLine of Historical Dolls, which means that she is first and foremost a toy.
\nAnd ever since American Girl first announced their plans to develop the Melody Doll, she has been involved
\nin a conversation about the radicalism of the company itself, sparked by a 2013
\narticle in The Atlantic that accused American Girl of not being radical enough.
\nFor some onlookers, Melody is a response to that accusation. In the summer of
\nmeant that American girl dolls are returning to their radical roots.
\nOn today’s episode of Deafen Numbers, we’ll be exploring that claim. Is Melody a radical children’s
\nstory? What does it mean to think about a doll in those terms? To answer that question, we’ll
\nthink about the history melody represents, the kind of play she inspires and why it matters.
\nFor author Amy Scheller, who wrote the 2013 Atlantic article about American Girl.
\nThe word radical is tied up with political consciousness. Schiller writes that the company’s
\nstores once provided what she describes as a point of entry for girls who would grow
\nup to be, in her words, thoughtful, critical, empowered citizens.
\nAmerican Girl has been around since 1986, and the toy company’s brand was built around its original
\nproduct, a series of dolls, all young girls that each represented a different moment in American
\nhistory. Each doll was accompanied by a series of children’s books, and each
\ncharacter allowed little girls to learn about history through the accessible, relatable lens
\nof a girl their own age. While the approach may have been kid friendly, the issues the
\ncharacters tackled or complex and often difficult Victorian era Samantha struggled against
\nchild labor laws. Civil war era. Addie escaped from slavery. Felicity lived
\nthrough the Revolutionary War. Schiller argues that these books confronted head on some of the
\nmost difficult parts of history through engaging with these stories. Little girls were introduced to
\nissues of privilege, class, consciousness, racism and gender roles. And importantly,
\nthey learned to see themselves as agents of change. In other words, they began to develop a political
\nconsciousness. But Shiller argues that sensibility got lost in 1998
\nwhen toy giant Mattel bought American Girl and took the company in a different direction.
\nThe historical dolls remained, but some of the most beloved characters were eventually archived to make
\nroom for a new product lines which Schiller felt were bland in comparison. Now,
\nshe wrote, the company’s identity feels as smooth, unthreatening and empty as the dolls
\non their shelves.
\nSchiller closes her article with a call for American Girl to get back in touch with its radicalism
\nafter the entry level critiques of capitalism. Samantha, Native American persecution. Kiersten
\nand traditional roles for women. Felicity Perhaps the time has come for a doll who takes her fourth
\ngrade class on a field trip to Occupy Wall Street. OK, so Melody isn’t an Occupy
\nactivist, but American girl’s newest character does seem to be in some ways an answer to Shiller’s
\ncall. Perhaps it was the presence of big name activists like Julian Bond on the advisory
\ncommittee that designed Melody. But before that all was even released, she was being hailed as
\ndepending on your perspective, either a new era for American Girl or a return to the company’s origins.
\nPart of the reason for this reputation is the narrative that Melodee represents set in 1960s
\nDetroit Melody is American Girls First Civil Rights era doll. The choice
\nof her historical moment was intentional 1960s Detroit would allow Melody to represent
\ncivil rights in a new way. To understand the significance of Melody’s story,
\nwe have to think first about the way civil rights history is usually represented. Melody was
\ndebuted in 2016 in a moment when the nation was primed to remember the civil rights
\nmovement. A number of major milestones like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act
\nwere hitting their 50th anniversaries, sparking commemorations and celebrations across the country.
\nEva DuVernay is biopic Selma was released in 2014 and the 2015
\ndeath of Julian Bond prompted further reflection on the legacy of the civil rights era.
\nAll of these anniversaries, public forums, movies and even just conversation about the civil rights movement
\nare part of what scholars call public memory. And while each representation of civil rights
\nhistory has its own nuances. Scholars of civil rights memory argue that there are broad trends
\nin the way we remember the civil rights movement. Taken together, these trends make up what
\nhistorians Lee Raiford and Rene Romano called the consensus memory of the civil rights movement.
\nThat consensus memory tends to focus on the struggle of heroic, larger than life figure as like
\nMartin Luther King to end legalized segregation and gain voting rights in key battlegrounds
\nlike Birmingham and Selma. Here’s how Raeford and Romano sum up this narrative.
\nCharismatic and eloquent leaders let a nonviolent movement of African-Americans in support of whites
\nin a struggle that sought to change legal and social rather than economic barriers to equality.
\nThis outline of civil rights history is accurate enough, but framing the movement in this way has
\nconsequences. It emphasizes individual heroes rather than the grassroots organizing
\nof local communities. It assumes that racism and discrimination were mainly a problem in the South
\nand it focuses our attention on individual prejudice rather than pointing us towards systemic or
\neconomic oppression. These problems are often exacerbated and tax that present
\nthe civil rights movement to children who are often assumed to need a version of history that is
\nsimple, accessible and not too scary. Education scholar Herbert Kohl
\nhas studied the way the civil rights movement is presented to children in literature and curriculum.
\nHe argues that when African-Americans and European-Americans are involved in confrontation and
\nchildren’s literature, the situation is routinely described as a problem between individuals
\nthat can be worked out on a personal basis. It is, one might say, whitewashed.
\nIn addition, the traditions of community solidarity, risk taking and organizing in black communities
\nare passed over in silence. The teachers that Cole interviewed often
\nexpressed fear that presenting more complex versions of history might frighten or disturb or confuse
\nchildren. But as Cole writes, the story is complex and it deserves
\nto be told with appropriate complexity rather than simplified or rendered innocuous.
\nAnd Cole questions the idea that kids can’t handle this kind of history. Rather, he argues,
\nchildren can work through hard and painful questions of history, psychology and culture. If
\nthey are guided by a caring adult and provided with materials that challenge them.
\nIf Denise Lewis Patrick’s books are any indication Melodee was designed to do exactly the kind of
\nwork Cole describes set in Detroit. Melody’s story expands the struggle for civil
\nrights into the north. She grapples with the difference between the legalized segregation her relatives
\nface in the South and the more subtle but equally pervasive discrimination. She and her family
\nencounter in the urban north. Her story also reframes the civil rights struggle to
\ninclude not only personal acts of prejudice, but more systemic oppression as well, like
\nracist real estate practices that keep her family out of certain neighborhoods. Nor does the story
\nshy away from the frightening violence of the civil rights era, when the 1963 bombing
\nin Birmingham, Alabama, kills four young girls close to Melody’s age. She is so horrified
\nthat she is unable to speak for several days. Ultimately, she learns to overcome
\nher fear and keep fighting a reminder that the bravery of all kinds of ordinary people was
\nwhat made the movement so powerful. At the same time, the books provide the reader with a sort
\nof community organizing one to one as Melody learns about different ways that a community might mobilize
\nin response to oppression, she is inspired by the words of Dr. King and the boycotts in the South.
\nBut she’s equally moved by the activism happening on the ground in her hometown. She participates
\nin a local march and she starts a junior block club to help restore her neighborhood playground, a
\nproject which ultimately teaches her how to level the power of public outrage against an apathetic city
\ncouncil. And she experiments with financial activism, too. When her sister is refused
\na job at the local bank because of the color of her skin, Melodie withdraws her money. Her
\nmother approves, saying, you know, your daddy says voting is a way to speak up for what we believe.
\nMoney has a voice to what we do with it says a lot about what we believe.
\nBut before we determine whether or not Melodee is a radical toy, maybe we should also consider the
\nactual doll like other American girl dolls. Melody is an 18 inch doll with
\na soft body, possible’ arms and legs and long hair. She comes wearing what the American
\nGirl catalog describes as an authentic 1964 outfit featuring a bright
\nA-line dress and a headband for her hair. Melody’s other accessories, a felt hat with
\nribbon trim, a patent purse, cattai sunglasses and a civil rights campaign button are available for purchase
\nto. As this description suggests, a lot of the fun of melody,
\nlike most American Girl Dolls, comes from her outfits and accessories. You can buy her fancy floral
\ndress, her Christmas outfit, her play outfit, her story, pajamas and even her pet dog,
\nBo. These accessories and outfits correspond to descriptions of melody
\nfrom the books. In fact, for the right price, girls can bring whole scenes from the novels to life.
\nIn the second book, for example. Melody helps her brother, an aspiring Motown singer, record a song
\nin the studio. Little girls can recreate this whole scene with the purchase of a full recording
\nstudio with headphones, a music stand and even a working microphone.
\nThe scenes of Melody’s activism, though, are largely absent from the Web site and catalog.
\nYou can purchase her equal rights and 63 pen, but that’s about it. No posters
\nfrom the march where Melodee sees Dr. King speak or signs from the picket lines she joins.
\nLikewise, the most challenging scenes from the book don’t translate easily into the language of outfits
\nand accessories. You can’t take the moment when a racist store owner accuses Melodee of shoplifting
\nand boil it down into a series of cute miniatures for purchase. This isn’t just a problem
\nfor Melody. In general, the complex issues tackled in the American Girl books have never been
\nfully represented and the accessories available for purchase. And maybe that’s understandable.
\nMaybe it would trivialize Melody’s activism to turn her protest sign into a trinket to buy on
\npar with a sparkly headband or a set of pajamas. Nevertheless, it means that the dolls
\nencourage a kind of play that is decidedly tamer than the storylines represented in the books.
\nA girl inspired by the melody novels might take her doll and stage a protest, or imagine joining a
\nmarch. But that’s not what the catalog encourages or makes it easy for girls to do.
\nAnd of course, all of this play requires buying the doll in the first place, which will cost you one hundred
\nand fifteen dollars. And that’s just for the doll. Melody’s fancy winter coat is an additional
\n$34. And if you want her travel essentials, a suitcase filled with a towel and toiletries,
\nthat will be 48. That recording studio, a whopping two hundred and fifty dollars.
\nIn 2013, the Huffington Post ran a response to aini Scheller and her critique of American girls
\nlost radicalism. The article points out that the radicalism of American girl dolls
\nhas always been limited, relegated safely to the past, undercut by the company’s
\nemphasis on consumerism and circumscribed by the limited audience that can afford to purchase
\nsuch an expensive toy. I have fond memories of my American girl doll. The author concludes.
\nBut really, how radical is a one hundred and five dollar doll that only brings history alive for the elite?
\nThe price has only gone up since 2013. And the question remains relevant. The
\nirony of debuting such an expensive doll in a city that recently declared bankruptcy is apparently
\nnot lost on American Girl. In 2016, the company announced a donation of one hundred
\nand seventy five thousand dollars and dolls, books and money to Detroit public libraries. They
\nalso announced that a free Melodee book would be available to any girl in Detroit who wanted one.
\nThat’s a big step for the company, but what would be really radical is changing who has access
\nto a doll like Melody to begin with. And that’s exactly the kind of systemic overhaul
\nthat a character like Melody might like fighting for.
\nThis has been Death A numbers, a podcast created and produced by the Humanities Media Project and the College
\nof Liberal Arts at U.T. Austin and Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services.
\nI’m Caroline Pinkston. Notes for the show, including links and photos can be found on our website. Humanity’s
\nmedia project Dawg I Themusic as enthusiast by Tourre’s. Thank you for listening.<\/p>\n"},"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2018\/03\/DeathandNumbers.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/podcast-download\/41\/dolls-radical-dolls.mp3","player_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/podcast-player\/41\/dolls-radical-dolls.mp3","audio_player":"