Monday, December 6, 2010

...No Service

I ran across this at Target a few months ago...



Yep, Twilight Barbies.  I wasn't really surprised, I suppose many young girls would like to recreate the domestic abuse type relationships, low self-esteem, and pedophilia that the books and movies seem to advocate.  I guess if I was going for cool doll gifts, I would probably go with the Monster High Dolls...they are at least slightly (very slightly) more original.

I was however, disturbed by the Jake doll.  He comes with shorts and shoes.  I heard he doesn't wear his shirt too much in the newest movie and that they want to show off his wash-board abs...but couldn't they at least throw a shirt in the box?  Everyone else has a shirt AND a jacket.  Does he always have to walk around Barbie land half clothed?  He can't go out to eat with the other Barbies, he can't go to the store.  Poor Jake, always left out for want of a shirt.

One great thing I did find was the selling points on Amazon.com for Jake:


Product Features

  • Based on the #1 New York Times Best Selling book series Twilight
  • Inspired by the character from the New Twilight film, New Moon
  • Jacob Black as a werewolf
  • Girls won't wait to get their hands on Jacob
  • For the adult collector


Not only is it funny, but wouldn't you want to use "can't" instead of "won't".  It just sounds strange.

But maybe Mattel was actually trying to prove a point about how U.S. policies over the past 150 years have left the majority of native Americans well below the poverty level.  It is not that Jake doesn't want a shirt...but he can't afford one.  He is stuck on the reservation, jobless and penniless.  OK, maybe not.

2 comments:

jessov said...

There is something creepy about "girls won't wait to get their hands on Jacob" followed by "for the adult collector."

Michael said...

That is pretty creepy but actually fits very well in what I think about the tone of the books - prepping young girls to be abused by older men.