Monster High

My daughter turned six years old this week, and for her birthday, my mother in law bought her a Monster High doll. I would not have bought her one myself, and her grandmother asked a girl, my daughter's age, which toy she would buy if she had a choice, and the choice was Monster High. For those of you not familiar to Monster High, the dolls are very leggy, and very skinny (skinnier than Barbie) with larger heads, eyes and lips. The faces are not as bad as the Bratz dolls, but the bodies are much skinnier.

Right now, most of my daughter's friends are crazy about My Little Pony. The cartoons are pretty funny (which explains the whole Bronie phenomenon), but as with many cartoons, the humour is above the heads of six year olds. My Little Pony seems to be cashing in in the Monster High craze. They have designed their Equestria Girls dolls to look a lot like the Monster High ones. My Little Pony toys are now fashion dolls. Who would have thought? I liked the idea that they are ponies. Making them leggy girls has taken away some of their innocence.

Bratz dolls have come up with a line called Bratzilla to mimic the monster theme. I have not taken a good look at this product as I am particularly unimpressed by Bratz. When they came up with a line of baby dolls with makeup, and pouty lips, I wanted nothing to do with them.

The Monster High marketing scheme is pretty good. I kind of like all the different kinds of "Monsters" they have created, usually based on a popular culture beastie. My daughter's doll is called Operetta, and she is the daughter of The Phantom of the Opera. They have funny profiles, taking into consideration the history of the monster or its parentage. Aside from the appearance of the dolls, it is a clever concept. I find myself wanting to get Skelita Calaveras because of my year spent in Mexico and my fascination with the Day of the Dead.

The appearance, leggy, skinny dolls in skimpy clothes is a problem for me, especially with my daughter being only six years old. I want her to stay young and innocent for as long as possible. Maybe the look of the dolls is so extreme that kids realize it is make believe. Barbies are more "normal" looking in comparison, but equally unrealistic as far as body shape. They could be more dangerous because girls might try to be like them. I doubt anyone is going to try to be a steam punk robot. (Really, that is kind of a cool character).

So, I let my daughter have her Monster High doll, without judgement. I will just monitor what she consumes as far as related media is concerned. We tend to watch French language only programs, so unless I find a DVD with the French track, she will not get to watch shows like Monster High and My Little Pony. I know there are French versions of these shows available, but I will wait until she is a little older. For now, we will stick with the innocent shows of miniTFO (kind of like French Treehouse), without commercials. It is bad enough that their father is exposing my children to Avengers, in French no less!

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