Interesting non-Kenya related aside (getting back to my Opinion-writing roots):
There have been a number of articles recently about two ethnically diverse representations targeted at kids: American Girl's tenement-dwelling Rebecca Rubin, and Disney's black princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog.
It's very interesting to see how American Girl is lavishly praised for the research that they put into getting Rebecca "right," while Disney is criticized for the many questions surrounding it's first black heroine - was New Orleans the right setting? Why does she spend so much time as a frog? Are the skin tones right?
The NYT article on Rebecca features many Jewish leaders lauding the work put into fleshing out every aspect of her background. However, noone seems to be asking the fundamental questions that underlay the NYT article about Tiana - namely, is this the right setting and representation of a culture? Just like the African-American experience, the Jewish-American experience is not universal, and is made up of many individual stories. When these experiences are condensed down so that little girls can play dress up, something is lost in translation.
Autumn in the Midwest
11 years ago
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