Katniss Everdeen action figure is here!

I love this. She looks like Artemis, the Greek goddess.

Ok, technically this is a Barbie, but I’ve written quite a bit before how toys for girls and called “dolls” while toys for boys are called “action figures.” Part of the fun of blogs is that you make up your own damn headline, and obviously, this womangirl is all about action.

Just looking at this figure makes me want to make up stories. Katniss Everdeen personifies what Reel Girl is all about. We are stuck in the same old bullshit narratives and we recycle and recycle and recycle them through toys, images, movies, TV, books, advertisements, and art.

Here is something new, someone new. Or maybe she is someone ancient finally reborn. Let her inspire you. Make up some new stories, people! Or retell some long lost, forgotten ones. Too many of our kids are playing to a sexist script. Their imaginations are being colonized. Do what you can to protect you kids’ imaginations!

12 thoughts on “Katniss Everdeen action figure is here!

  1. I finally got around to seeing The Hunger Games this weekend. I kind of want this doll for myself! Katniss is a great role model for girls.

  2. So you want a doll based on a character who is armed to kill other people? This doll is for your child to play with? Are you all nuts! First, the movie should be rated R not PG13. And I certainly don’t want my children acting out any scenes from the movie. Give me Vet or Dr. Barbie any day. Taking care of animals and people is a much higher calling than killing people.

    • Hi Judy,

      Literally thousands of action figures are armed to kill people. Why are you picking on Katniss?

      My kids are too young for the Hunger Games. When I give them the doll, I plan on telling them she’s a version of Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the hunt.

      Violence in kids’ narratives (and adult narratives, too) is a metaphor. We will talk about a “David and Goliath” story when a heroine like Erin Brokavitch goes after a huge company. Violence is a way to visualize and depict emotions. Kids’s emotions (all peoples emotions) can be intense and overwhelming. A kid may feel like her world is caving in. A fantasy movie shows that happening. Conflict is depicted in a battle scene. Or the feeling that the whole world is against me, I’m fighting for my life. Or “I got the wind knocked out of me.” Images are a way to visualize feelings so that we can understand them, experience them, and release them. That’s healthy, not sick.

      MM

  3. A vast improvement on most other dolls, perhaps because of her point of inspiration or her costume (i.e. she actually has some clothes on and shoes a person could walk in). However, the rest of her still looks like a porno-fantasy girl with impossible proportions and giant doe eyes and plumped up lips.

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