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| A few of my granddaughter's Monster High dolls with a couple of friends. |
I became aware of Monster High last summer when my 9 year
old granddaughter came to visit for a couple of weeks. Living several hundred
miles away and only seeing her once a year if I’m lucky, I wanted to learn
about her interests and, hopefully, find some common interests that we could
share. She pulled several Monster High dolls out of her suitcase, so I had her
introduce me to, what I learned was, the Monster High marketing franchise. She
enthusiastically told me their names and explained that she follows them
on YouTube. Having disconnected my satellite TV the year before I was
no longer subject to the constant barrage of advertisements and TV shows that
were themselves 30 minute advertisements, that have become much more common and aggressively
marketed since the 60s when I was a kid.
Having had a love of gothic horror since childhood, running
home from school each weekday to watch Dark Shadows and catching Creature
Feature over the weekend, I was intrigued and hopeful to hear that there’s a
cartoon about the offspring of all the classic horror monsters I’d grown up
watching. How cool is that! Whoever dreamed up this concept is a genius! Imagine
the possibilities for adventure, mystery and magic! Could it be better than
Eddie Munster, Wednesday and Pugsley Addams, Ratso and Bratso from the Groovy
Ghoulies? I imagined the daughter of Dracula being hunted by and confounding
the daughter of Van Helsing with some help from the daughters of Frankenstein,
the Invisible Man and the Mummy!
Alas, after watching the movie, Frights, Camera, Action, I was
disappointed to learn that not a drop of genius was used in dreaming up Monster
High unless the marketing angle is considered. The inventors simply put a new
twist on classic characters and borrowed the school for ghouls idea from HarryPotter and merged it with high school from a 50s movie with a fashion upgrade.
I was appalled that the marketing leaders in our country are forcing
adolescents back into the oppressive 50s’ gender roles where boys are free to
pursue whatever activities and adventures they want while the girls limit
themselves to groups who define their interests within the realm of competition
over appearance, fashion and nurturing their “mansters.”
Even though there are a few women in congress and a few
women CEOs in our country, our little girls are being brainwashed to return and
confine and limit themselves to return home to the kitchens of Donna Reed and
June Cleever by way of Lily Munster and Morticia Addams. The Monster High girls neither rebel against the restrictions and limitations of traditional 50s double
standards for boys and girls by partying and competing in games side-by-side with
the boys like in the movie about teens in the 70s, Dazed and Confused, or teens
breaking through the conventions of accepted behavior and social class restrictions in
the movie The Breakfast Club. No, they quietly look pretty and well-dressed while
the boys fulfill themselves and enjoy personal growth with games, magical
powers and competitions.
One of the series’ mottos found on the Monster High website
is to “celebrate your freaky flaws.” I couldn’t find any freaky flaws on any of
the glamorous financially privileged students unless it refers to their “genetic”
physical attributes common to their particular monster lineage. Only in
superficial materialistic capitalist societies like ours would naturally inherited
physical traits be considered flaws. I’m sure it won’t be long before my
beautiful granddaughter starts hating at least one of her natural features just
as her mother, grandmother, great grandmother and her other female ancestors
did.
Admittedly, Monster High does promote some good moral values
like loyalty, friendship and compassion for all living things; however, it
confines girls to antiquated stereotypes defining them as materialistic,
superficial eye candy who compete for the ultimate reward of attention and admiration
from the boys.
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