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

[alania]

Though I have played an online version of a game like this and it was kind of fun, I'm actually a little surprised at how many of this kind of game is coming out. If it was just this one game you posted it would be no big deal but I went shopping for games the other day and I saw wedding games for all the consoles. I was a little surprised!

[goldfish_totem]

Really? I'll have to start paying attention now to the game section of stores.

[pinkypinky78]

There needs to be a cut-back in marketing to kids. I've played this game and it definitely makes it out to be the wedding is the highlight of a young woman's life and it's all about her and no one else. You pick his groomsmen, his shoes, everything, and just boss him around. It's sending the message that life's about buying stuff with no dolar limit and being in charge and the center of attention, and if this is what girls are supposed to fantasize about, I'll take mine to live in the woods. My cousin has this and it's sickening. It's fun for adults who know better, but bad for litle kids who are learning still. What happened to throwing the table cloth over your head and pretending it was a veil and marrying Mr. Teddy Bear and imagining everything?

[goldfish_totem]

Good point about the materialism aspect of the game. I never cared for games/toys that emphasized that. (For example, I never enjoyed the game Monopoly.)

[satinredemption]

I thought people didn't play monopoly because it is just downright boring. Heh. Atleast for me...And it takes FOREVER!!

[goldfish_totem]

Ha ha! That too. I'll be honest and just admit I'm not really a game person at all. But nobody in my family was ever into games either. We're all mostly the artsy/creative types and games have rules and who really likes to follow rules? I guess some people do, but I find rules boring. But as for Monopoly (aside from it never ending), I swear I must be a Socialist at heart! Anytime someone would start to lose, I'd feel bad for them, break the game rules, and just give them some of my Monopoly money. Then the other people would get mad that I broke the rules and I'd laugh and say, "Who cares?" It probably pissed people off, but in retrospect it's kind of funny. My sister has always referred to games as "organized fun".

[jealousmuch]

I think this is totally relevant - if not in this particular community, definitely in our culture as a whole. I really hope other brides-to-be can see beyond their own Princess phases, and the idyllic ~*~fun~*~ of girly planning and details...and recognize that this is exactly the kind of stuff that keeps us confined to ugly and limited stereotypes.

[goldfish_totem]

Thanks for thinking it's relevant to our culture as a whole.

[jealousmuch]

I get so heated about this stuff...sometimes I need to remember that it's okay to indulge in the glittery aspects of life without feeling like I'm weakly succumbing to gender roles or failing as a feminist.

...but sometimes other people need to recognize the importance of hearing and fully understanding both sides, and the potential ramifications of each :S Thanks for sharing!!

[pepperedmoth]

I understand that this is trying to tap a certain demographic, and I understand that it's 'just a game,' but it bothers me that there's an expectation that girls that age are wanting to plan their weddings. It seems rather like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. Maybe if we STOPPED MARKETING that kind of product, more young women would grow up with stronger senses of self.

Has anyone else read Reviving Ophelia? It's about the terrible lack of self image (forget self-esteem- just a basic sense of self) in young women.

Obviously I don't think planning a wedding means reneging on a sense of self (here I am, after all), but I think a focus on weddings (not marriage, mind you, but weddings) at such a young age is unfortunate, to say the least.

[goldfish_totem]

I own a copy of that book. I enjoyed it, though found it to be a bit depressing.

[halfdoomed]

I donno. As a child, I didn't have video games, but I used to pretend I was a bride with a local neighbor boy and we'd get married weekly in his backyard. I even wore a frily white dress and carried flowers. The week before I'd plan everything (even pluck the flowers and arrange them). This is on a computer, but not much different.

:/ I see the issue you raise but also don't see it as any different that what I did. Except perhaps less torturous as I don't think the neighbor boy enjoyed it as much as I did.