My complaint about Toy Story 3 doesn’t stem just from a desire to see more diverse characters represented in a box office winner (and quality movie).  Rather, my dissatisfaction has another dimension: merchandising.  We all know how poorly represented people of color are in the mainstream toy market, and Pixar has missed a significant opportunity to address that gap in representation.

Critics of this idea might argue that including a toy of color in the film–and then creating an actual toy from the character–would be a losing proposition for Pixar, as toys of color are less popular than white character toys, even sometimes among children of color.  I argue that Pixar has a large enough media platform and merchandising empire to influence the attitudes of all kinds of children toward multicultural play.

In this age, why must Jessie be a redhead?  Or solely a redhead?  Why can’t she be, say, Latina?  Couldn’t Pixar’s merchandising division offer variations on characters so that children can see themselves represented in their everyday play, if not in the movie?

What are your thoughts?

Dawn Friedman of the Anti-Racist Parent explains why having a multicultural doll ghetto is not enough.

Over at BlogHer, Super Jive asked, Modern Dolls: Slut-Trainers or Empowerment Tools? Is There a Middle Ground?

Also at BlogHer, lmilbrand touches on one of my personal concerns: that American Girl dolls represent only “white-girl history”, even if their manufacturer does offer “ethnic” versions of the dolls as supporting characters.

[Link in this paragraph and blogger's name removed due to blogger's request for privacy on 1/30/2009] Another blogger compared Asian ethnic dolls and recommended the Karito Kids Chinese doll Ling over American Girl’s Chinese American Ivy.

The [now anonymous blogger's] post brings up an interesting question in my mind: Can the American Girl “ethnic” dolls with their European features be useful to multiracial kids who are of European extraction? Please delurk and share your thoughts!

She is still there at midnight, when everyone in the village has long been asleep, but the workers are only just off shift, too tired even to grumble as they wait in line. Sometimes, the girl beside her says, ‘there is no water even to brush your teeth, and the toilet is horrible.’ The water (which, like lavatory paper, Li Mei is charged for) is cold. By 2am she is finally in her lower bunk bed, separated from the hard surface by a straw mat even thinner than the one she uses at home. Next morning she has no breakfast, for it is a meal she has to buy and prepare herself. At 7.30am, in factory uniform of blue blouse with a white collar over trousers with her ID card displayed (she would be fined two days’ wages if it was lost), she follows her guide through passages lined with cardboard boxes. The air in the spraying and colouring department is filled with paint dust and smells sourly of chemicals -acetone, ethylene, trichloride, benzene.

Want to buy the book? Get it at independent bookseller Powell’s Books.

I think the dolls are a step in the right direction, both in terms of appealing to the Latina market and increasing the ethnic diversity of dolls on the shelves. That said, thse dolls still promote an unrealistic body type. Still, I’d rather my child play with these dolls instead of a
traditional blonde Barbie.

“The next generation of dolls have diverse eyes, noses and mouths instead of the traditional “white” dolls whose skin was dyed and whose hair was tinted in a darker shade.”

Competition for this market is fierce. Also from the article:

But the retailer likely faces an uphill battle as it tries to woo shoppers away from heavyweight competitors Wal-Mart and Toys “R” Us, whose large selections of the popular Barbie and Bratz dolls give them an even bigger advantage in appealing to minority shoppers. “I think they’re going down a very tough road,” said toy analyst Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine. “Why would I buy a generic ethnic doll over this major brand that has all these accessories?”