Dora the Explora Makes Me Want to Shoot Myself
I try to avoid movies or t.v. shows that are heavy with marketing and merchandising. My daughter likes to watch Winnie the Pooh, Yo Gabba Gabba and Bambi. Of course, these come with their own set of stuffed animals and clothing, but nothing comes close to the marketing of Disney’s Princesses and Nick’s Dora the Explorer.
My daughter’s friend, a boy, is really into Dora. I mention that he is a boy because Nickelodeon, for some reason, felt it necessary to have a boy, Diego, and girl, Dora, version of the same Latino adventurer character as if one gender could not empathize with another. Anyway, my daughter showed interest, so I went as far as to borrow a DVD of Dora from the library. Do I regret it!
The songs are ridiculous. At least with Yo Gabba Gabba the songs are fun and have lots of lyrics and make sense. In Dora, the songs only apply in context, have three words and get stuck in your head, endlessly. But nothing is worse than Dora’s voice. She is constantly yelling and in this high pitched voice! It drives me nuts. It reminds me of Charo on repeat, as if Dora does not already feed into an ethnic stereotype enough. This is another one of those “educational” shows on t.v. these days that asks kids to participate. Does anyone’s kid actually participate? Other than shouting things out once in a while, my daughter simply stares, entranced by the moving images.
Of course, my daughter loves it, laughs at it and wants to watch it constantly. I lock myself in my room for fear I might hurt myself if I have to hear Dora’s voice one more time. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to bring it back to the library, which, fortunately only allows movies to be out for a week. If my daughter requests it again, I may have to lie and say it is “out.”
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Day in the Life, Uncategorized | admin September 15, 2010
