Sunday, June 3, 2007

They did NOT just do that...

I guess it was bound to happen, sooner or later. Brace yourselves folks, because there's apparently a Bratz movie coming up.

From the trailer, it looks and sounds pretty daunting. Four "best friends" who are separated by an evil classmate and equally evil high school cliques, but who ultimately get (1) revenge over their bitchy classmates and (2) the guy.

I mean, the trailer contains spoilers. Talk about an intellectually challenging films for girls...



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For those who have been living on another, non-oversexed planet for the past fews years, the Bratz in question are a line of raunchy dolls, who wear too much make uk, strike porn-inspired poses, dress up as hookers, and yet are - du-uh! - marketed at grade-school girls.

Why the shock and outrage? After all, dolls have been used to dumb down little girls for ages and to indoctrinate them into accepting patriarchal norms of female sexual behaviour. (After all, Barbie's ancestor Lili was a pin-up cartoon character/sex toy.

But the Bratz go way beyond that. We live in a world where we are just starting to realize the adverse effect of an oversexed culture on children and teenagers - and particularly, girls. Yet, Bratz maker MGA Entertainment somehow figured that it was cool and advisable to sell, pornified toys to little girls, like say, a thong-wearing baby, or a doll sold with a "secret date", glasses and a bottle of champagne.

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1 comment:

HolyChit said...

Im glad were on the same page here. I hate these stupid dolls. I have a blog running about it and I am writing an ethics based paper for a business class on the impact of marketing to kids. Basically though, Isaac Larian, the maker of Bratz, is an inconsiderate jerk. He clearly states that he isnt selling these dolls expecting parental improvement. He wants kids to throw a fit for these dolls and take them home. He even has his own kids and he still doesnt question whether or not these dolls are unethical. I dont understand how a parent could be so careless about his child's well being, as well as kids throughout the world.