The Historical Characters of American Girl dolls: Spectacle and Visual Culture as Agents of Consumerism
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20 décembre 2018
- doi: 10.4000/inmedia.1055
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info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2259-4728
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ , info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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DARPA Internet Internet (Computer network) Spectacle Products, Manufactured Manufactured goods Products Manufactured products Cultural sociology Culture--Social aspects Sociology of cultureCiter ce document
Anne Lesme, « The Historical Characters of American Girl dolls: Spectacle and Visual Culture as Agents of Consumerism », InMedia, ID : 10.4000/inmedia.1055
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Résumé
This article aims to critically explore the visual artifacts used in the marketing strategy of American Girl dolls—founded by Pleasant T. Rowland (1987), then bought by Mattel (1998)—to create a product most appealing to little girls. Photography, fashion, accessories, advertising, and increasingly the Internet are at the same time part of the products sold and the tools of visual and material culture used to promote and display the products. Focusing on the Progressive aristocrat Samantha, the groovy seventies Julie and the Civil War Addy dolls, I argue that American History is used as a (pre)text to consume more and more merchandise, up to the point that the initial text (the books) paves the way for a new, imaginary world, entirely centered on the visual desire of the little girl, making spectacle what Guy Debord calls a real “driving force”.