Reflection on Visual Culture Show and Tell

In our classroom show and tell, there were some toys that were interesting to hear about. Shana had brought in some toys that were visually appeared to be bulky over muscular super-heroes, but they were super people doing regular jobs. There was a city worker character, a fire fighter, a police man, etc. Each character has an accessory, but instead of being a gun or weapon the characters had a fire hose or jack hammer. It's funny because I could tell that it was a selling point that these characters were "everyday" common people, instead of Superman or Batman, but they had a very similar visual aesthetic to the traditional Marvel superhero. They were overly masculine and culturally stereotype each character. I thought it was also interesting that each character doesn't have a weapon, but each tool they had resembled a weapon. The city worker character came with a jack-hammer. I couldn't help to think that a jack-hammer is just a more urban weapon or DIY weapon. It appears very similar to a weapon and that may be why the children like it.

When the class asked if these toys followed a movie series or did they exist on their own, Shana said that there is a narrative behind these characters, but she doesn't let her children watch it because they're too young. In her case her children were creating the stories to guide their playing, but in most other cases the pre-existing story instilled the characters are guiding the kids interactions.

Suzy also brought in some toys that her children play with. These toys were quite different than Shana's toys. Suzy said that she buys her toys at a children's store in Brooklyn that makes toys designed by local artists. I thought this was a pretty cool idea. These toys weren't created by some large corporation like Mattel. All of the characters were more of a Japanese style. Each toy's sexuality was ambiguous and the toys weren't super heros or villians. They also didn't follow a character stereotype. Ultimately these toys didn't have a whole lot of personal baggage that went along with them so when played with, children could invent their own character and story. I thought that this was a good way to let children imagine and be creative in playing with their toys instead of buying transformers and having the pre-existing narrative guide the children's interaction with the toys.

I thought Suzy's toys were a good choice if you wanted to raise your children (as much as you can) without super-heros and instilling cultural stereotypes. I also thought that her toys really inspired creativity and imagination. This is important so that the children can choose what they want their toy to do and how they want to perceive it.