Dora The Explorer's Makeover

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!”

This entry posted in Fat, fat and more fat, Feminism, sexism, etc, Gender and the Body, In the news. Bookmark the permalink. 

20 Responses to Dora The Explorer's Makeover

  1. 1
    lonespark says:

    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.

  2. 2
    Myca says:

    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 that was so bad
    And that was so disgusting
    And how could they do that
    And and that was so bad

    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

  3. 3
    chingona says:

    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.

  4. 4
    HipChicas.com says:

    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.

  5. 5
    Kevin Moore says:

    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.

  6. 6
    Kevin Moore says:

    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.

  7. 7
    Jake Squid says:

    The band King Missile (the “Detachable Penis”) guys, had a song back in the 90’s called ‘The Sandbox.”

    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.

  8. 8
    Denise says:

    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.

  9. 9
    HipChicas.com says:

    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!

  10. 10
    Aleph says:

    So exploration and simple gender-free fun aren’t as helpful as looking pretty and/or shopping?

    -sigh-

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  12. 11
    al oof says:

    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?

  13. 12
    A twelve year old says:

    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!!!!

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  17. 13
    11 YR OLD says:

    i think the new dora is verry pretty i kno little kids watch it but seriously dora is supposed to b like 13 anyway and wats wrong with shopping??
    its fun and thats wat preteens and teenagers do. I think that some parents just complain about everything like whocares if u dont like ie deal woth it just like video barbie. I think if its such a big deal why not make dora active like play soccer but still like pre teen things like makeup or shopping maybe there wouldnt b complaints if we balanced it out a bit plays soccer and shops :)

  18. 14
    owl lover says:

    i think Dora could have a older character, even my child (4 years old) is very fashion obsessed and sure, Dora’s really sweet, but she’s losing her old touch. its not like my daughter is still rushing to the t.v. at 12 in the morning to see her.
    ;-)

  19. 15
    Vanessa says:

    Urg How dare u small minded people say about the new Dora as u say word from word. Thin like all good people!! We are talking about kids here that are always worrying how they look just to impress other kids. Kids will read into that thin bs like all good people crap saying and then us parents will have to worry y our children aren’t eating. Bc they will think they are not a good person. My daughter is 8 yrs old and eats constantly and very active as well as small but it doesn’t mean she is any diffent then a heavier little boy or girl. Stop trying to teach kids u gotta b a certain weight to b a good person. It’s people like u that feed bullshit and lies into our little kids. And then u will b the first to botch and piss ya self when u hear that a child is in the hospital for not eating. And then blame his or her parents. Put the blame where it goes asshole.

  20. 16
    sarah says:

    you need to keep dora the way she was! she taught me how to cout,learn my colors, how to speak spanish. And she was my favorite cartoon.