Saw this mentioned in my friend's journal.

[goldfish_totem]

Mods, feel free to delete my post if you don't think it belongs, though it does involve the topic of wedding planning.

My friend (who has a young daughter) posted about a commercial she and her daughter recently saw on t.v. It was a commercial advertising this video game called "My Fantasy Wedding". 

Comments

[maggieplans]

I agree with you-- I really dislike the fetishization of being a bride, especially for little girls. I feel the same way about princesses. It seems to be all about teaching little girls that their big goal in life is to get saved by a man. There's no room for agency or independence.

[lilybelladonna]

But on the other hand, children don't really *take* all the princess stuff that way. When I was a child, I definitely wanted to be a princess when I grew up and wear a poofy dress . . . so all my make-believe games involved me, as a princess, defeating all monsters that crossed my path with wit and agility. All the girls I know who went through a princess phase were the same way -- they liked how pretty the princesses were, but wanted to kill the monsters themselves -- I mean, how boring is make-believe if you can't defeat anything yourself?

Perhaps this game will encourage a whole new generation of twenty-tentacled-squid-monster-fighting brides -- you never know.

[maggieplans]

Ha, that is cool! I guess I didn't go through a big princess phase-- I did dress up as a fairy princess for Halloween one year but that was mainly because I had a really cool wand that I liked to "zap" people with.

[da_shpoon]

I was the same... my friend & I were always princesses in poofy, sparkly ballgowns who hijacked a pirate ship (sometimes we were kidnapped by the pirates first before defeating them & taking over, other times we just got bored with castle life & decided to commandeer a pirate ship for the hell of it) & traveled to strange islands to go fight evil witches & monsters.

Pirates on their own weren't as interesting to us, because why would you wear a plain brown dress when you can wear a sparkly ballgown?

No prince charming ever appeared (actually, I think once, one needed to be rescued, but that was about it), if boys wanted to play too, that was fine, but they either had to be priates fighting with us, or monsters fighting against us.

Then again, my favourite Disney movie has always been Beauty & The Beast... (you know, where the girl rescues her father & saves the prince from the evil enchantment, after turning down repeated offers of marriage from the good looking & popular but not really very nice guy?) followed by Aladdin (where

[goldfish_totem]

"Signed,

Pretentious Academic who went to Grad School and Really Likes Tulle"

Okay, well we may disagree on the issue here, I must say that part of your comment made me laugh my ass off! Aside from the possible pretentious part, that description might describe my cousin's wife. I certainly wouldn't call her pretentious, but she is an academic who went to grad school and obsessed over her wedding to the degree she had her own business as a wedding planner for awhile.

[arsefire23]

THIS. I also played with Barbies and My Little Ponies, and Legos and I love video games. I also love the idea of this Fantasy Wedding game, and almost want it myself, even though its for little kids. Its a game. I just don't understand why people read any more into it than that. Its not violent, like those games that show bullies beating the crap out of people. If a little girl likes princesses, let her play with them or watch the movies.

I just don't get it?

[stacieann15]

There was some sort of wedding planning board game when I was a kid. I can't remember the name of it. I never had it, but one of my friends did (I remember feeling a lot of pressure to pick her as one of my bridesmaids when we did play it, even though I knew I wouldn't really pick her, lol). I was a huge tomboy.

[goldfish_totem]

Sort of unrelated, but that kind of reminds me of how all my friends were IN LOVE with New Kids On The Block when we were kids and I didn't care for them at all (thought they were corny and liked the Beatles, Mozart, Cat Stevens, etc. instead), but I pretended to like Joey so that I could sort of fit in at the slumber parties.

[sleepykelvina]

I spent about a year contracting for the game studio that made this game. The guys at the studio we not approaching this as a way to tell girls that they HAVE to get married when they grow up. They saw the young female audience as a largely untapped demographic with enormous potential. As recently as a few years ago, the majority of video games were targeted towards boys. This is just the product of game studios realizing that young girls play computer games too.

There are bridal dress up sets for young girls, and there are dolls you can buy in bridal outfits. This is simply taking that childish make-believe a step further. These products would not be selling like they do if girls didn't enjoy thinking about their future weddings.

I encourage you to just take it for what it is: a game created for girls who love to make-believe. Kids don't see this as anything more than fun (even if the game itself is super cheesy. XD).

[jealousmuch]

It has nothing to do with perpetuating a myth that women have to get married to feel validated, it's the fact that the market is correct in tapping that obsession for mucho dinero. It's obvious, it's garish, and, honestly, it's offensive. It's not the video game company's fault, or the marketing agencies, or anything - they merely saw an opportunity for exploitation of something limiting and confining, and ran with it. It's a shame that this over other more productive, diverse things is scene as a primary way to profit from young girls.

[sleepykelvina]

You simply can't please everyone. I think the game is fun and cute, but everyone has a different point of view. The game has been quite successful, and I'm guessing that this is because parents want games for their kids that aren't violent or filled with objectionable language and themes. Yes, it may be garish and silly, but that's the point! It's fun!

I mean absolutely no offense by this, but I think a lot of people are reading more into this than necessary. I don't understand how this is "limiting and confining." Girls fantasize about their future weddings all the time. People also fantasize about being master athletes or superheros and there are scores of games out there to cater to those fantasies. Are those also limiting and confining?

Someone said above that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes a video game is just a video game.

[goldfish_totem]

Okay, so there probably is no real harm in fantasizing about your future wedding. (I don't know about "all the time", but I doubt you meant that completely literally. Thinking about anything "all the time" might be a bit unhealthy. LOL!) But, for anyone who obsessed and fussed over her future wedding for years and years and since being a little girl, what happened when the day was finally over? Sure, ideally you end up happy just to be married to "the one" and that itself is wonderful. But then what? What does one then spend countless hours daydreaming about? Future houses? Future babies? Future weddings for those future babies? Future grandbabies? Future retirement homes? I'm honestly asking because I never was the type to obsess over my future wedding. Not like I never thought about it or daydreamed, but it wasn't a common daydream of mine. Or for that matter, what about the girls who obsess and daydream about the future weddings only to never really end up married for whatever reason

[i_go_by_max]

I wouldn't buy this for my daughter, and it makes me sad that people just chalk this up to "make-believe". It actually requires very little imagination; it's all built in for you. I'd rather buy blocks :)

[pinkypinky78]

Yes. Give a girl a Little Mermaid doll and she's going to act out the movie. No imagination. Give her a generic doll and she makes up her own stories. There's really no make-believe anymore, and through make-believe kids learn their problem-solving skills.

[pizza_assassin]

I disagree that a girl is automatically going to act out the movie. I know my sister's favorite "barbie" was her Ariel doll because she had red hair and looked different. She played with her just like any other doll.

[michellyaqua12]

I agree. I had an Ariel doll and I did not act out the movie, as much as I love it. :) I loved dolls and stuffed animals and things like that for that reason, they could be whatever you wanted. What I didn't like (and still don't) are the toys that talk and/or move on their own, and say the same 5 or 6 phrases. There's no imagination required there, in my opinion.