Dora The Explorer’s Makeover
| April 29th, 2009
From an Associated Press story, reporting on the widespread objections among mom-bloggers to the “new Dora” doll planned for October:
Mattel and Nickelodeon both say there are two major misconceptions about the new Dora, which is not replacing the “Dora the Explorer” cartoon, but will be a new interactive doll aimed at the five-to eight-year-old, or tween market.
“People care so deeply about this brand and this character,” Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products, says. “The Dora that we all know and love is not going away.”
“I think there was just a misconception in terms of where we were going with this,” Gina Sirard, vice president of marketing at Mattel, says. “Pretty much the moms who are petitioning aging Dora up certainly don’t understand. . . . I think they’re going to be pleasantly happy once this is available in October, and once they understand this certainly isn’t what they are conjuring up.”
Part of the confusion stemmed from the silhouette that was released, which made Dora look more like a Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan than a young girl. For the record, the doll does not wear a short dress, but a tunic and leggings. And while she looks older (she’s supposed to be about 10), with longer jewelry and longer hair, she doesn’t have makeup and seems pretty much like a 10-year-old girl.
Nickelodeon and Mattel say that as part of unrelated research, they found parents wanted a way to keep Dora in their children’s lives and have their daughters move on to a toy that was age appropriate.
“The idea is Dora for more girls,” Brodsky says. “The whole point was this was created because moms said help us.”
Oh, those silly, silly moms! When will they realize that Nickelodeon and Mattel only want to help?
But then again… compare and contrast:
(Also, it looks to me like maybe the image on the left is wearing a dress, which cuts off at knee-level, as opposed to the tunic on the right which cuts off much higher and is worn with leggings. Silhouette found here and here.)
Confusingly, there’s another silhouette illustration of the New Dora I’ve seen, which is just the non-silhouette illustration with the details blacked out. As far as I can tell, Mattel released two different teaser silhouette drawings, but I’m not sure of the timing.
Honestly, assuming the newer illustration reflects what the doll will look like, things could be much worse. The original Dora will still be on TV. Dora’s new outfit is funky and fashionable, without being overly sexualized as the Bratz outfits are. And I’m always happy to see a mainstream doll that’s not white. There’s still a ton wrong, but there are way worse dolls on the market.
But still — the original Dora was ever so much cooler.
More blogging about “New Dora”:
Womanist Musings: Dora The Explorer Matters To Boys
Sociological Images: Seeing Is Believing
Viva La Feminista: Why Mattel and Nick Have It Wrong (Highly recommended. Check out her Dora tag as well, for more Dora-themed posts.)
The Hand Mirror: Dora’s new silhouette announced
Embrace Your Age: Keep Dora Exploring!
The Mommy Files: Dora The New Sexy Explorer
Feministing: The New Dora
Shakesville: Sooo
Finally, let me link to my own post from 2007, to make the point that this isn’t the first time Dora’s owners have thought “boy, if we could only sell a thinner, more girly Dora doll, we’d make a killing!”
April 29th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Gaaaah! I don’t like what they’re doing.
My son adores Dora. I know he’ll age out of that same as Ni-Hao Kai-Lan and Little Bear and whatever else, but he’s not even 3 yet. Dora was targeted to preschoolers and that’s who loves her best.
What I really, really don’t get is, why mess with Dora rather than 1. Creating an older friend for Dora to tie in to products for older kids, or 2. Using the already existing older female character of Alicia (Diego’s sister). I think it would make way more sense for Alicia to develop a more diverse wardrobe and more rounded life than for Dora to be simultaneously 4 and 12 or whatever.
This comment was written by lonespark.Report this comment to the moderators
April 29th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
The band King Missile (the “Detachable Penis”) guys, had a song back in the 90’s called ‘The Sandbox.”
The gist of this song is that it was sung from the perspective of a kid who goes to his favorite sandbox and finds that while he was gone, someone took a crap in it. Lyrics include:
And it ends with the forlorn kid yelling, “And I hate everybody!”
That’s how I feel about this. They took a shit on something nice, and it was so bad, and how could they do that, and I HATE EVERYBODY!
Goddammit.
—Myca
This comment was written by Myca.Report this comment to the moderators
April 29th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Just wanted to add my chorus of hisses and boos to this development. It’s true that the new Dora is not as bad as she could be, but when the standard we’re using is “at least she doesn’t look like a Bratz doll,” we’re in a sad place.
This comment was written by chingona.Report this comment to the moderators
April 29th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
We have been building a bilingual follow up for tweens called the Hip Chicas at HipChicas.com, a virtual world where they “Help Improve the Planet”, just so that we could provide our daughters with an option other than Bratz or Barbie - something more like them - where it was not all shopping and bling bling.
Everyone is so focused on the look of this new Dora, but many are forgetting that they are also changing her interests and her adventures. She will be in the mall and shopping with her other friends. This is a shame.
Girls need content that is hip and fun, but that does not reduce them to simply being consumers.
Check it out.
This comment was written by HipChicas.com.Report this comment to the moderators
April 30th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Being “totally fashionable” isn’t a problem, as ten-year-old girls (the ones I know, anyway) get more concerned about fashion; and fashion can be a form of self-exploration and gender expression for men, women and trans folks realizing their identities.
Brushable hair falls relatively into the same category. I think it would be interesting to see what boys would do with brushable hair on the dolls (sorry, “action figures”) marketed to them.
The problem is that the new version doesn’t have a backpack or a map. Every schoolkid, male or female, has a backpack just to lug around books, papers and assorted contraband brought undetected into school to impress their peers. The backpack for Dora is essential, because it’s like Bat-Man’s utility belt: It’s got all the cool shit she needs to go adventuring. The map helps her navigate her way through unknown terrain. Both attributes enable her to seek, learn and act.
A question about the original Dora’s chubbiness — isn’t that because she is younger? Body types vary at any age, but kids tend to stretch and fill as they grow. At about, say, 6 or 7, Dora could be expected to retain “baby fat.” Note also that the older Dora’s head is smaller, mostly because cartoon convention holds that little kids have giant heads (somewhat true: infant and toddler head sizes take up a greater proportion of body size). I wonder if the “leaner” limbs are meant to indicate that the older Dora is stretching up as she grows.
This comment was written by Kevin Moore.Report this comment to the moderators
April 30th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Oh, and: I agree with HipChicas — turning Dora into a mall rat is sad and wrong. If Dora isn’t climbing a volcano, or fending off Swiper, then she’s not Dora.
This comment was written by Kevin Moore.Report this comment to the moderators
April 30th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Love, love, LOVE that band. “Mystical Shit” is definitely their best & “The Sandbox” is awesome. John Hall says it was about environmentalism and that the sandbox was a metaphor for the Earth. Note that instead of bass guitar that they use tuba instead on that song. You may also remember King Missile from the songs “Jesus Was Way Cool” and “Cheesecake Truck”. The lesser known “Gary & Melissa” is also great.
John Hall was actually a nice guy when I knew him, so buy their stuff.
Thus ends my short plug for King Missile.
This comment was written by Jake Squid.Report this comment to the moderators
April 30th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Ballet flats and ribbons on dresses, while cute, are not very practical for doing much of anything. Also, I wouldn’t allow my 10 year old daughter to bleach her hair, so I don’t know why Dora’s hair is now a light brown.
This comment was written by Denise.Report this comment to the moderators
April 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
We created HipChicas.com because there is a desperate need for tween content that allows them to be kids yet is cool.
Just look at this study that I was sent today by one of our user’s mom… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1174626/Rise-child-women-The-new-breed-girls-young-dream-manicures-diets-breast-implants.html
It’s crazy what they are trying to turn our girls into. I have 6, 9 & 15 year old girls.
By the way, we are talking about Dora. But don’t think that Barbie is so innocent. Look at what Barbie if up to… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1175039/Chav-Barbie-gets-tattoos-mimic-high-profile-celebs-like-Amy-Winehouse.html
Check us out the Hip Chicas. It’s hip!
This comment was written by HipChicas.com.Report this comment to the moderators
May 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 am
So exploration and simple gender-free fun aren’t as helpful as looking pretty and/or shopping?
-sigh-
This comment was written by Aleph.Report this comment to the moderators
May 7th, 2009 at 8:10 am
[...] *Alas on Dora the Explorer’s makeover. [...]
This comment was written by links of interest « you’re reading too much into it.Report this comment to the moderators
May 7th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
whoa! a - whoa on dora’s redo. b - when did ‘tweens’ become 5-9 year olds? what are they between? i swear the first time i heard ‘tween’ (it was in a class about marketing to kids) they were 9-12. and c - why wouldn’t 9 year olds want to play with a doll that looked 9, which the original dora does?
This comment was written by al oof.Report this comment to the moderators
May 17th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Okkkaaayyyy. One thing…I hate it. Dora (the original on) is fun and cool. Just leave it alone. It’s like ben ten or the powerpuffgirls. THey all when trough makeovers. Well, there are younger kids you know. Nicklodion and Mattel don’t always need to go with the flow. We teens don’t even watch it anymore! I mean i’m 12, i sometimes watch it with my brother. It’s boring but cool. my brother likes it! The new one is all girly, boys won’t like it. DOn’t you want so many kids to watch it anymore? Think about it! Finished thinking? Think again! Don’t stop! Think, brains, work and think, think, THINK!!!!
This comment was written by A twelve year old.Report this comment to the moderators
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:42 am
[...] on the Nintendo DS, which featured a wide variety of comics from Shounen Jump. In these days of Dora the Explorer getting a slimming makeover and government-funded programs practically teaching kids to ostracize the fat kids, it’s [...]
This comment was written by Body Image Fail and Win « Cicadas in May.Report this comment to the moderators
September 28th, 2009 at 8:05 am
[...] the Explorer’s new “tween” look has caused quite a stir. The new Dora seems to be telling little girls that looks are, in fact, very important. She is also [...]
This comment was written by A B O U T – F A C E — blog » Tween Dora inspires girls to explore…the mall.Report this comment to the moderators
November 16th, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] Dora the Explorer got her much reviled makeover earlier this year, it sparked a storm of protest from concerned parents. But what nobody seemed to [...]
This comment was written by The Inappropriate Mothers of Little Girls « IndieQuill.Report this comment to the moderators