Mattel toy company and Nickelodeon network, facing pressure and petitions from parents who worry a new Dora tween doll (with long hair and legs) will undermine kid-Dora's wholesome image, promises the new, older Dora will be just as annoying (er, sweet, yeah, sweet) as her younger self, according to Reuters.
The companies issued a joint statement this week, saying, "In the nine years she has been on television, Dora has become an important role model to many. The Latina heroine has connected with a generation of young boys and girls all around the world through her courageousness and sense of adventure."
Gomez wonders why Nickelodeon and Mattel feel the need to age Dora at all. No one is aging Tomas the Tank Engine, and he's been around about 100 years. No one's aging Charlie Brown, either. By making Dora grow older, Nickelodeon appears to Gomez to be planning Dora's demise rather than her prosperous future.
Gomez thinks Dora should stay right where she is, and be allowed to sprout new preschool fans, just like every other kiddie character on the block - instead of being aged onto the chopping block.
Nickelodeon and Mattel should let Dora's fans graduate gracefully to the next level of Latina heroine aimed at tween girls. Oh, our bad. That's right - there isn't one - and this likely panics Nickelodeon, whose fan base is increasingly Latino.
How about Nickelodeon comes up with an altogether new Latina character for our tween girls, the way Disney has nurtured Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, rather than playing a shell game with poor little Dora?
Note to Nick: There's room for more than one bilingual Latina hero. Fill it.
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3 comments:
the view suggested that the tween doll be dora's older sister cora...and why not? there is room for more Latina heros!
I don't have a problem with Dora growing up alongside her audience. Why not?! She'll be a tween, a teen, a high shooler, hopefully a college student, a career woman, a bride, a mom, a grandmother. Just like a real person, just like her fans. I think it would make her more "real", and a better role model than what is out there today -- Lyndsay Lohan, Britney Spears. Just too words to those role models...Hell, NO! But hey, were is the new Diego?! He needs to grow up too. Can't leave the boys behind.
Yeah Sir. that' was my first thought too. There is room for two Latina heroines. Actually there is room for many more and I guess we lucky for the one.
Jo Ann Hernandez
http://bronzeword.wordpress.com
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