Bratz Doll Controversy or a Big Misunderstanding?
The Bratz dolls have gone Hollywood. Have the Star struck dolls gone White too?
Have you ever wondered what happened to Carter Bryant, the creator of the Bratz dolls. He is probably laid up in the hospital somewhere recovering from a heart-attack over the mis characterization and representation of his Bratz dolls. There is Sasha: Black, Yasmin: Black, Jade: Asian, Cloe: White. “The only dolls with a passion for fashion,” dolls with attitudes, the Bratz were created as an alterative to the conventional westernized, standard Black dolls with a peculiar Eurocentric look. These dolls were over weight with thick, stringy hair, long but uncombable, and often very dark skinned.
The ever popular Bratz dolls with their pretty and deeply enriched ethnic and Afrocentric look were created to inspire African American females, many of whom preferred to play with White dolls because Black dolls instilled in them a sense of inferiority due to the doll’s humbling features, have undergone a massive change in appearance. People of the Black community thought they had dolls that most could finally be take pride in. Now these dolls, while still very pretty, are mainly White: Caucasian. Was this change an attempt to attract the popular consumer to buy what the commercial industry deemed a failed plan to promote the Black identity? Perhaps the commercial industry learned that White parents were not allowing their children to play with these dolls.
Or simply, White children were not playing with the dolls. Was this in fact a plan to boost commercial sales? Or, perhaps, was this change in the Bratz’s identity simply Euro-American, mainstream resistance on behalf of the commercial industry not to accept or promote Black unity and identity through the creation of these dolls. Who knows; with the level of technology that we have in America, this is the first time America has had dolls that captured the true nature of the African American identity. And now, the Bratz have gone Hollywood. So, how well are sales for these productive dolls? In 1981, MTV refused to air any music videos played, promoted, or preformed by African Americans.
When Michael Jackson’s Thriller video hit the airway in December 02, 1983, MTV lost music ratings. Warner Brothers and Marvel Comics are in a lawsuit over copyrights to the X-men, a popular comic book strip. Warner Brothers has changed the identity of the cartoon character Storm, a female comic book heroin. She is originally a very dark skinned, dark hair African with the supernatural powers of the almighty Isis. Warner Brother have now perverted her features using a White female with White hair, yet has the sexual endowment of a Black woman. Her true identity is never revealed. The same thing happened to a very young, 14-year-old Pocahanas. She was allowed to keep her ethnic identity but the very petite and slender Pocahanas was recently displayed with a very adult, voluptuous look. Today, she is endowed with an adult look. What’s next? Will she be made to look like a person of mixed descent, tomorrow, Caucasian even? This reminds me of how Hollywood discriminated against Bruce Lee when he played Cato, the loyal sidekick and chauffeur to the Green Hornet, one of Hollywood’s crime fighting heroes. They thought Bruce was too ethnic and “awfully oriental” so writers and producers never allowed him to uncover his mask while filming. Humm!
What’s happening in the media? Is this overt (Blatant), covert (symbolic), or aversive (passive- aggressive) racism, commercialized and institutionalized, or a desperate attempt to save commercial sales and boost television ratings? Whatever problem may exist with the identity of the Bratz dolls and Storm from Marvel comics’ X-Men for that matter, new production of the dolls reflect racial overchures. Commercialized campaigns for the advertisement of the Bratz dolls’ movie did not appear to promote the Black doll personalities Sasha and Yasmin. Perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe I am just out of touch with the promotion and sales of the Bratz doll television and movie industries; who knows? However, it appears to me that if we are to strive for true racial equality in this country then genuine changes in preceding analysis in the popular opinions or attitudes of Americans need to occur, and fast.
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Post CommentSeemone Osinnowo
On July 5, 2008 at 4:35 am
The Bratz is racist and promotes underline racism. My daughter’s Auntie brought her bratz kids, which has three coloured characthers. In the dvd sleep over adventures, all the little girls are telling stories at their new friends sleep over. The little black girl, who looks like my daughter (so naturally the characther my five year old will identify with) is telling her story. Basically she is vain and bossy, she looks in the mirror and she see her evil, mean reflection. At the end of her story the little south american girl says to the white girl, ‘don’t worry its just a spook(y) story’ Now as my daughter has acknowledged that the black girl is mean, and that she is nothing like this characther, the little white girl tells her story. At the beginning of her story she says, ‘that me tell you another spook(y) story’ at this point she has her touch directed at the little black girls face. In her story she is picture pefect, and gets suckered by a dog that starts off with a Mexican accent which quickly turns into a African American accent (killing to birds with one stone there a!). The Black DOG, takes advantage of her and makes her spend all of her savings. But she gets her own back by making him take a bath and wear girly clothes.
Then to top it, my daughter turns to me and tells me that the white girl is the prettiest of all the five girls. I ask her why, ‘because she is nicer’. Showing me the front of the dvd cover, the coloured girls are admiring her. The south american girl is combing her hair, and admiring her face. The little black girl begin painted white. And it go’s on…
I have thrown this dvd away, How can I as a responsible parent allow my daughter to believe that she is vain and mean, and the only way she can be nice and pretty is if she pretends to be white. What sick producer would happily promote such rubbish, do they believe that parents can be that stupid. Or perhaps they hope that the parents that buy this stuff are stupid and don’t monitor what their children are watching. And maybe just maybe they don’t care, as long as little white girls the world over grow up to feel beautiful and nice.
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On November 5, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Wow i don’t think i have heard something this funny in just about all my life. First Yasmin is not black, she is Spanish. which means there is one white girl one Asian girl one black girl and one Spanish girl. is that racist? i don’t think so. the bratz dolls were not created to target African Americans, they were made to target all little girls, hense having so many divers dolls. as for this mother who’s writing about her horrible experience. if you want your daughter to grow up a mature young lady learn how to spell and write, most points you made did not make any sense, and i don’t understand why you would assume the white girl is better because she had a better story. That’s something you need to fix in your own head. just because the African American girl had a attitude or seemed rude does not mean every little black girl is that way, therefor your daughter should not believe she is equivalent to that. do you consider all African American people in the media to be an example of who you are or how your children are?
Amanat
On May 25, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I am so tired of the color issues this society has succomb to. If you look hard enough, you will find some degree of rascism in everything. I am of mixed descent (tan not light nor with Mariah’s hair)and my sister and I are both normal women who do not have inferiority complexes, and have never been confused about who or what we are. Maybe if people of all races would just talk to their children more about their ethnicity instead of trying to blame television and society about racism, we would overcome some of these ludicrous viewpoints about silly things. Doll??? Are you serious? If you want to have better looking ethnic dolls, then stop commenting on the ideas of others and develop your own!
Layal
On June 25, 2009 at 1:38 pm
This is to #2:
Spanish IS white, dumbass. Yasmin is either Mexican or Israeli, which, I guess could be Asian or white.
erna
On January 16, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Ugh, I hate it when people confuse Yasmin as a black shes either Mexican or maybe she used to be white and she just got a tan lol I am white and i have a tan which never came off
FLKiiTA
On March 8, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Yasmin is HISPANIC:)
She is a LATINA
Which means she can be Mexican, Pueto Rican, Boricua, or any of those qewd thinqs:D
Nd they’re not racist at all
ii like their urban wear, it makes them modern
I’ll admitt, some of they’re skirts are too short nd some
shirts too reveilinq, but they overall idea was to create dolls of what is now the 21st century
marais
On July 27, 2010 at 2:16 am
Barbie has ALWAYS been a racist doll made by racist and aimed at racists. always makes me laugh when white people explain racism, especially racism as far as dolls are concerned and then they try in their most sociological voices to explain how black kids never liked black dolls because these dolls fostered inferiority because these white sociology students never bothered to actually INTERVIEW a black child as to why they were choosing the white doll in the first place. when asked, black children (ages 4 and up) always said that they preferred the white dolls because they COULD COMB THE HAIR. black dolls, mostly made by whites tried to overdo their liberality by making the hair tightly, in fact, too tightly curled, even afro-like but little black girls wanted hair that they could actually COMB !! white people LOVE to say that [1] they are NOT racist, not now and nor have they ever been [ask hitler or ann coulter] [2] they also seem to believe wholeheartedly that every single non white person in the WORLD sits around all day just thinking about and dreaming of nothing but being white !! Bratz was made my a middle easterner and his dolls immediately appealed to everyone who was not white: hispanics, blacks, asians and middle easterners. so barbie sued because more people were suddenly buying bratz dolls and barbie was suddenly worried that they were on the way out, what with all lthis new ethnic study thing going on where white people suddenly began to feel threatened. so since the creator of the bratz dolls had ONCE WORKED FOR BARBIE, barbie suedhim for tons of money and won. the verdict, in barbie\’s favor, said basically that since the creator of the bratz was in the employ of barbie at the time that he came up with the idea for bratz, everything that was stamped BRATZ now belongs to barbie even though this man had GONE TO THE BARBIE EXECUTIVES asking them to manufacture his [new] designs. barbie said no, but basically stole his idea, his dolls, his everything. if you don\’t believe this, then you probably won\’t believe that indian lands were stolen from them and that not one treaty was ever acknowledged by the very people who had written the treaty in the first place. the old saying that when whites would enter the land of the heathen, they would leave with the land while the heathens were left with the Bible. same thing to the bratz creator. went to toys r us today to get a bratz doll and was told that there were none in the store. you cannot fight city hall. mattel is much too powerful for this.