Talking Point's #8

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Peggy Orenstein

Reflection:

As I began to read Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein, I began to feel completely guilty because I was that little girl who played with Barbie’s and loved the Disney Princess’s, especially Cinderella, maybe because she was the most popular. I used to use cassette tapes to build the homes of my Barbies, and would ride them around the house in their pink convertible car that my mom had bought me, for them. I always felt really good playing with my Barbie’s because they were so beautiful and perfect to me. I remember thinking that they had the most beautiful eyes. Also, thinking that their make-up was perfect, that their eyebrows were perfect, and that their hair was perfect as well. I remember one day going into my aunt’s room and using her make-up to try and match myself to the Barbie’s look. In addition, because of Cinderella, I also remember also always envisioning myself at a ball and at a wedding, which would soon to be mine, in a long white gown, like the one Cinderella wore on her special night. Although at the time, the idea of being saved by prince charming seemed like an incredible dream, while reading chapters two and three from Cinderella Ate My Daughter, I began to wonder why it was so okay for me to think that in order to get out of horrible situations, we must wait on marriage in order for a man to come and rescue us. It made me think about a band named Play, which I always use to listen to. Play wrote this song called Cinderella, which explained how they did not want to be saved by prince charming anymore; rather they wanted to save themselves. I remember this song being a break through for me because it changed my perspective on the messages that the story of Cinderella was teaching people. It showed me that we do not need a prince charming, a man, as women, to make it through hardships, or just life in general. We just need to be strong for our own sake and be happy making our own dreams come true with hard work and encouragement found within. 
 

Class Discussion:

What do boys learn about girls through princess culture and what do girls learn about themselves through princess culture?

Todays Topic: What does the toy culture teach kids and what can we do about it?

Commercial one: Tonka Toys “Tonka Tough” : 30TV

- There is no limit to what a boy can do according to the Tonka plane commercial

- Boys play outside

             - Intention vs. Implications

- Aggressive voice

- Indicated future: Army, adventure,

- At the end of the commercial the toy was only displayed, they didn’t connect the toy to the kid playing with it, (shows its all external, no emotions)

- They’re active, they move, they see the world

Commercial two: Baby Alive- Toy Commercial – 1990 - Kenner

- All babys are girls

- Soft voice

- Advertised for girls who want to be like their parents who probably have a baby

- Indicated future: Domesticated, stay at home moms

- At the end the toy says “ I love the way she makes me feel” – they connected the baby with the girl playing with the baby, (emotion, kindness, loving, inside, internal)

- The “pretend real” is so important

- Just the “mommy” little girl and the baby alive, not father