During Thanksgiving break, I went down to Tampa Florida with
my parents to spend the holiday with family we have down there. On the Tuesday
before Thanksgiving, my cousins and I took a trip to Orlando and went to
Universal Studios. After you exit each
ride, you end up in a souvenir/gift shop and they are usually themed according
to the ride. The
one gift shop that surprised me was the Spiderman one. While I was waiting in
line for this ride, I noticed boys and girls of different ages waiting in line
as well. When the ride ended and we all
poured into the gift shop, I came across a tower of glass mugs each with names
across the bottom. What shocked me was the fact that only BOYS names were
written on the mugs and there were no girls’ names to be found. This held true
throughout the whole Spiderman gift shop.
Key chains as well also only had male names on them. When I walked out of the shop, I looked at my
cousins and said “What if I wanted a mug? I wouldn’t even be able to get one. Assholes”. They laughed and carried on but I was still
baffled over what I had seen. I thought back to some readings we had discussed
throughout the semester and related it to three that we have done.
In the
article Media and Ideology, Croteau discusses how Media influences society and
how it sets the “ideals” and “standards”. Media portrays a message to young
boys about being tough, brave and strong. Superheros are meant to attract the
young male population and influence the way they think or act. Never do I see a
female superhero, and if there are some out there, they aren’t nearly as
hyped up as Batman, Spiderman or Superman.
Clearly the Spiderman gift shop at Universal was targeting young boys
and completely left out the girls and I thought that was interesting since
young girls were also going on the ride and walking into the gift shop when it
was over. So is the gift shop suggesting
girls don’t like Spiderman or “aren’t supposed” to like Spiderman? What if a girl wanted a key chain or mug with
her name on it? One quote that I took from this article that I thought fit well
was "Media sells both products
and ideas, both personalities and worldviews; the notion that
mass media products and cultural views are fundamentally intertwined has gained
broad public acceptance”. I wish I could
go back in time and approach one of the workers in the gift shop and ask why
there weren’t any girl’s names anywhere in the store. By walking out not acknowledging
what I had seen, it relayed the message that I accepted what the shop had inside of
it and was okay by it. By every person walking out of that gift shop without
saying anything, it shows they accepted it as well.
In Kimmel’s “What Are Little
Boys Made Of?” article, he talks about how boys are taught to be tough, daring
and adventurous from a young age. Isn’t this exactly what Superhero’s are
portrayed as? Why aren’t girls taught the same thing? This leads me to the”
Cinderella Ate my Daughter” article by Orenstein. Instead of liking superhero’s, they are taught to
like princesses and want to live a princess lifestyle. I also noticed there was a gift shop aimed at
young girls and it was pink and sparkly and pretty. I’m sure if I were to have
walked in there, I wouldn’t have seen one thing meant for a boy. All of these articles went hand in hand since
they all have an underlying message of how society sets the standards for girls
and boys at such a young age.
I searched Spiderman
commercials and came across this one. Notice how there are only two little boys
and no girls playing with the toy. Also the voice over is quite “manly”.
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