Jill Calderon, an 11-year-old sixth grader in Atlanta, is so enamored of Katniss that she and her friends play “Hunger Games” at recess, authentically reconstructed with a make-believe cornucopia and a presiding “game maker.” Her grandparents were horrified by her interest in a story that revolves around children battling one another to death in a dystopian world, but her mother is fine with it. Zing, whose sales doubled during the two weeks that it advertised on 3,600 movie screens playing “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” last fall, plans to advertise on twice as many screens for the first installment of the series’s two-part finale, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,” which is due in November. “That’s who she is - girly and sparkles and loves to sneak my makeup, but loves the hero and being in charge,” she said.Īt Zing, which started out making toys marketed only to boys, the idea for its Air Huntress line bubbled up from customers on sites like Facebook and Amazon - as well as employees who had read “The Hunger Games.”įor many girls, things changed with the arrival of Katniss. Do they have to be in pink? Why can’t they be rebels and have to be re-BELLES? Why do they need to look sexy when aggressing, defending the weak or fighting off bad guys?”Ĭarmen Wong Ulrich, whose 7-year-old daughter has two bows - a Merida one from Disney and a Rebelle - doesn’t mind the glamour. “I don’t see this as making girls more aggressive, but instead as letting girls know that their aggressive impulses are acceptable and they should be able to play them out,” she said.īut, she added, “What I don’t like is the stereotyped girlifying of this. The Rebelle line was introduced last summer, and a dozen more of the toys are on the way this year. “Basically, I’m a total hypocrite because it’s a weapon and it’s pink, but they really enjoy it and it’s something they play together,” said Robin Chwatko, whose 3-year-old daughter got a Nerf Rebelle a few months ago after coveting her 5-year-old brother’s Zing bow. While the segregation of girls’ and boys’ toys in aisles divided between pink and camouflage remains an irritant, some also now wonder whether their daughters should adopt the same war games that they tolerate rather uneasily among their sons. A Tris Barbie doll, complete with her signature three-raven tattoo, is already for sale on Amazon.Īll of this is enough to make parents’ - particularly mothers’ - heads spin, even as they reach for their wallets. The premier of the movie “Divergent” this weekend is only adding to the marketing frenzy around weapon-wielding girls. And Stella, a female Angry Bird, will soon get her own mobile app and accessories, so she can be dressed up and launched into the air to destroy pig fortresses. Toy makers have begun marketing a more aggressive line of playthings and weaponry for girls - inspired by a succession of female warrior heroes like Katniss, the Black Widow of “The Avengers,” Merida of “Brave” and now, Tris of the book and new movie “Divergent” - even as the industry still clings to every shade of pink.Īctivision’s latest Skylanders game, Swap Force, includes Stealth Elf, Roller Brawl and Smolderdash, all of whom are on an equal footing with their male counterparts. Heroines for young girls are rapidly changing, and the toy industry - long adept at capitalizing on gender stereotypes - is scrambling to catch up. Grace’s new role model is Katniss Everdeen, the (also beautiful) huntress/survivor in the “Hunger Games” trilogy of books and movies. Forget Ariel, the beautiful mermaid princess. That would be her Nerf Rebelle Heartbreaker Exclusive Golden Edge Bow by Hasbro, a petunia-colored weapon with gold and white trim that shoots colorful foam darts. The only pink left is her new bow and arrow. Once upon a time, Grace Maher twirled around the house in Disney princess costumes, a vision of sequins, tiaras and pink.
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