Over the long weekend I rewatched some of my all time favorite movies. I have what I would call an advanced taste in films, some of my favorites include “10 Things I Hate About You,” “The Princess Diaries,” “Ella Enchanted,” “Flipped,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” and of course, the American Girl Doll movies. Yes I said it, I LOVE the American Girl Doll movies and I have ever since I started watching them when I was six. While most kids grew out of their American Girl Doll phase and moved on to “better” and “more age appropriate” movies, I have continued to watch and rewatch these movies throughout this year. While most people would consider the series to be childish, I would argue that American Girl Dolls taught me several important lessons that have impacted my life as I know it. 

American Girl Dolls taught me to embrace uniqueness and to be myself from a young age. They were a positive influence on me, teaching lessons about kindness and compassion. Additionally, the dolls were never sexualized, something I don’t see in a lot of current media. They were often simply normal kids growing up just like I was, going through friendship and school problems, just like I was. Because I could relate to Chrissa’s friendship troubles and Mackenzie’s struggle with math, I could better understand the lessons that the movies were trying to teach. 

American Girl Dolls also offered the opportunity to learn about other cultures and history from a young age. While other doll brands and media outlets only showed characters that looked and lived like me, American Girl Dolls embraced other cultures and lifestyles. compared to other popular brands like Barbie, who only recently started to diversify their products after public backlash, American Girl did a much better job of offering diversity in their dolls without making it seem like they were doing it to be socially correct, although I do think there is still improvement needed. I learned about topics like the American Revolution from Felicity, World War Two from Molly, and child labor from Samantha. I was exposed to wide-ranging historical subjects in an age-appropriate fashion that I probably wouldn’t have been exposed to until much later without the movies. 

As much as I would like to say that the American Girl brand is flawless, it isn’t. The dolls’

popularity means they’re sold at crazy prices, with current dolls costing upwards of $150 dollars, not including the $100+ collection of “must have” wardrobe and accessories that come with every doll. The price limits who buys the dolls and as a result, who watches the movies and reads the books. Most people don’t watch the American Girl Doll movies unless they have the physical doll, and the price significantly lessens the amount of people that are learning the lessons that I found to be so important growing up. I was lucky enough to have several dolls and watch countless movies, but many people aren’t. I think the lessons taught from American Girl Dolls are good ones and it was amazing to have inspiring, hardworking role models to look up to from a young age, but I think the American Girl Doll brand could be so much more beneficial by marketing their products to a larger economic demographic.

I’m a geek for American Girl Dolls, and could probably tell you the backstory of every doll made pre-2012 along with a detailed ranking of the collection. While I hope to see a future with more affordable dolls and a larger audience, I do think there is something to be said about the work of the brand making role models for young kids for over 30 years. American Girl Doll is a brand that we can look up to as a target for what doll brands can be – educational, informative, and influential.