What Does Your American Girl Doll Say About You?
Is this doll a clue to her owner's future?
Before I had a daughter, I was in denial about the overwhelming power of the American Girl franchise. When my daughter got one as a gift, I experienced a brief and mild mourning period for my ability to stem the tide. Then I discovered that American Girl is not just a doll. She is, for better or worse (definitely worse for the wallet) the cultural currency of the female 4-8 set. I’ve seen the relief on girls faces when they discover their mutual bond: You have one. You get it. You’re one of us. As skeptical as I am about “must-have” marketing pressure and the idea of commodities having emotional value, I have to admit I see the good side of this much more clearly than I thought I would.
With their characters and stories, American Girl dolls have meaning beyond the generic doll. They also lend themselves to that taxonomy thing girls like to do, the one that’s at the root of all those women’s magazine quizzes: Which type are you?
The Hairpin did a brilliant anthropological analysis of the various American Girls of their youth, attributing various slightly tongue-in-cheek personality traits to each:
Samantha Parkington
Did you know, when you picked her out, that Samantha was the cool one? Or were you simply drawn to her glossy brown hair, sophisticated accessories (she had a fur muff!) and rich demographic? Either way, every girl wanted a Samantha. If you owned her, you quickly learned the value of cachet.
By virtue of acquiring a status symbol early on (a Samantha doll was the designer jeans of third grade), you never quite had to worry about things the way other girls did. You therefore grew up to be confidant, capable, and nonplussed. You’ve always been well liked. You aren’t the funniest in your group, but you’ve never really noticed or cared. If you thought about it, you could probably recognize other women who had Samanthas. But that’s not that impressive: everybody can.
Felicity Merriman
You had Felicity because of one or more of the following reasons:
A) you had red hair
B) You thought she had the prettiest clothes and accessories.
C) Fewer people had Felicity, and you wanted to be unique.
D) You actually wanted Samantha but your mom thought Samantha’s dress looked like the top of a peanut butter jar so you got Felicity instead. (Just me? OK.)You grew up to have an affinity for lovely things, a possibly inflated sense of your own uniqueness, a teensy hint of self-righteousness (remember how she refused tea when they raised the tea tax? “Thank you, I shall take no tea!”), and a latent familiarity with Colonial Williamsburg.
Inspired by this hybrid of cultural anthropology and comic genius, I decided to apply the same analytical sensibility to the American Girl Dolls of today. What does your daughter’s American Girl Doll say about her future? I can’t even begin to imagine. Well, Ok, I’ll try:
Kit
It’s hard to be a kid in the Great Recession! When you complain to Kit about how your parents can’t afford to buy you any more American Girl products, she understands. And then she tells you how she ate boiled socks for a week once, and you feel like a jerk for complaining. You will grow up understanding the beauty in small, inexpensive things, and refuse to throw any of them away.
Julie
You might love this doll because of her flawless curtain of long blond hair. But your parents secretly love her because her hippie style makes them like they’re still a tiny bit cool even though they’re buying into the American Girl monopoly. Check out that Bargello miniskirt! Do you think Julie went to Monterey Pop? You will spend your life showing your parents how uncool they truly are.
Kaya
You feel a connection to indigenous cultures and want to honor America’s past. You were traumatized by the way Native Americans were treated in the Little House books. Or, you like the feeling of Suede. I see you majoring in something obscure at a small liberal arts college, or selling handcrafted jewelry at a flea market.
Rebecca
You are Jewish, and for once there is a Jewish doll! How can you turn your back on her for all those blonde goddesses? Imagine the guilt!! Your respect for your culture and personal identity is admirable. But there is the possibility of future backlash. Intermarriage?
My American Girl
You are either too young or too self-involved to bother with the historical angle. Why read someone else’s story when you can write your own? There may be reality TV in your future.
Is your doll not represented? This might be a good thing… But check out the rest of The Hairpin’s hilarious list here—including what not having an American Girl doll says about you.
photo: hannah.rosen/flickr
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As the mother of an African American daughter, I could never bring myself to purchase and American Girl doll. The only black character they produced was a slave. Really American Girl? With all the rich African American history at your disposal, you had to go with a slave? My daughter has some lovely 18 inch dress up dolls and she loves then, although it was hard to explain to a 6 year old why I wouldn’t purchase a real American Girl doll for her. However, that point was made for me when she was playing with her friends, who all had American Girl dolls, and one little girl turned to her and said, “You be the slave.”
I’m sorry, but American Girl dolls are not as “must-have” for those of us in lower tax brackets. I’ve not heard a single word about them from my 7-year-old. And thank goodness: there’s no way she’s getting a $100 doll!
Yes, it’s regrettable that the only historical African American AG doll is a slave, but AG has beautiful African American dolls with varied skin tones and hair textures in their My American Girl line. (These are the ‘modern’ ones that are often selected based on similarity to their owners’ looks.) AG also has the adorable round-faced Bitty Twins in different ethnicities, and I just bought the sweetest African American girl twin. AG seems to be marketing their modern dolls more aggressively than the historical ones, but they’re all very good quality with lovely faces and hair.