Post by Sweet City Girl on Oct 4, 2007 10:26:57 GMT -5
The thread on Mallory's glasses got me thinking about the way certain appearences are portrayed in general in the BSC.
There’s something I noticed that annoys me a little- Ann’s apparent obsession with blondes and the lack of variety in certain appearances. I guess I just noticed that the most beautiful and fashionable members of the club- with the exception of Claudia- have blonde hair and blue eyes. All this gushing over blondes bugs the heck out of me. Maybe in part this is because I used to desperately want to be one ;D When I was eight, I actually talked my mother into putting highlights in my hair, which resulted in one big skunk-like streak that I loved despite her horror, and I wanted her to dye my whole hair after seeing it (my mother, much to my dismay, tried to hide it). She didn’t let me have any blonde hair again until I was seventeen. I’m not so obsessed with that now (I like dark hair just as much now), but, seriously. I think our culture is much to blame for that, with beauty so often being portrayed as blonde. Or maybe it’s also the fact that people tend to be drawn to “light” colors.
Anyway, in the Baby-sitters Club books, while the blondes are sophisticated and gorgeous, the mousy, sporty, or shy girls have brown or red hair. It would be appealing to me, for some reason, to see “short” Kristy as a girl with plainly styled blonde hair in sporty attire, and to see another girl with brunette hair to be described as stylish, sophisticated, and gorgeous like Stacey for a change. Why does beautiful and cool have to mean tall and blonde so often? And of course, Dawn was blonde because she came from California, and Mallory had this notion that she couldn’t be a “California girl” unless she dyed her hair blonde. And what’s with all of Dawn’s California friends having blonde hair also? That’s one stereotype I would like to change.
Also, why do the members of the club only have either blue or brown eyes? Where’s variety? What about green or hazel? And why did all the blondes in the club (Stacey, Dawn, Shannon) have blue eyes? They could have at least made that different- for some reason I could see Dawn with brown eyes. Oh well, at least there was some diversity overall. Still, though, I think it was a little odd to have almost all the club members look like models, and poor Mallory was the only average, realistic kid, therefore making her seem worse in appearance than she really was. They made it sound like red hair and freckles and glasses were pitiful a lot of the time (except for Stacey, who, oddly, was more complimentary on her looks than all the sitters combined). Even Kristy and Mary Anne seemed to get more compliments looks-wise, and Abby and Anna were once described as “glamorous.”
I really think the books should have celebrated beauty of all kinds and stayed away from stereotypes, as well as made the group more realistic and diverse in appearance. Not that any of this really maters at all, but it was just a thought. Maybe these things made some kids feel weird, especially if they looked like Mallory.
Gosh, I sure rambled on here, didn't I ?
There’s something I noticed that annoys me a little- Ann’s apparent obsession with blondes and the lack of variety in certain appearances. I guess I just noticed that the most beautiful and fashionable members of the club- with the exception of Claudia- have blonde hair and blue eyes. All this gushing over blondes bugs the heck out of me. Maybe in part this is because I used to desperately want to be one ;D When I was eight, I actually talked my mother into putting highlights in my hair, which resulted in one big skunk-like streak that I loved despite her horror, and I wanted her to dye my whole hair after seeing it (my mother, much to my dismay, tried to hide it). She didn’t let me have any blonde hair again until I was seventeen. I’m not so obsessed with that now (I like dark hair just as much now), but, seriously. I think our culture is much to blame for that, with beauty so often being portrayed as blonde. Or maybe it’s also the fact that people tend to be drawn to “light” colors.
Anyway, in the Baby-sitters Club books, while the blondes are sophisticated and gorgeous, the mousy, sporty, or shy girls have brown or red hair. It would be appealing to me, for some reason, to see “short” Kristy as a girl with plainly styled blonde hair in sporty attire, and to see another girl with brunette hair to be described as stylish, sophisticated, and gorgeous like Stacey for a change. Why does beautiful and cool have to mean tall and blonde so often? And of course, Dawn was blonde because she came from California, and Mallory had this notion that she couldn’t be a “California girl” unless she dyed her hair blonde. And what’s with all of Dawn’s California friends having blonde hair also? That’s one stereotype I would like to change.
Also, why do the members of the club only have either blue or brown eyes? Where’s variety? What about green or hazel? And why did all the blondes in the club (Stacey, Dawn, Shannon) have blue eyes? They could have at least made that different- for some reason I could see Dawn with brown eyes. Oh well, at least there was some diversity overall. Still, though, I think it was a little odd to have almost all the club members look like models, and poor Mallory was the only average, realistic kid, therefore making her seem worse in appearance than she really was. They made it sound like red hair and freckles and glasses were pitiful a lot of the time (except for Stacey, who, oddly, was more complimentary on her looks than all the sitters combined). Even Kristy and Mary Anne seemed to get more compliments looks-wise, and Abby and Anna were once described as “glamorous.”
I really think the books should have celebrated beauty of all kinds and stayed away from stereotypes, as well as made the group more realistic and diverse in appearance. Not that any of this really maters at all, but it was just a thought. Maybe these things made some kids feel weird, especially if they looked like Mallory.
Gosh, I sure rambled on here, didn't I ?