Cultural Studies Analysis: Minnie's Happy Helper Van and Transforming Hot Rod Mickey

Wohlwend states, “Identity messages circulate through merchandise that surrounds young consumers… that invite identification with familiar media characters and communicate gendered expectations about what children should buy, how they should play, and who they should be” (pg. 57). In December 2016, Fisher-Price released two ‘familiar media character’ toys, Mickey and Minnie, with their own vehicles. From a cultural studies lens, both these toys communicate gendered expectations about who the user should be and how they should use their imagination. First, Minnie’s Happy Helper Van commercial focuses on the nurturing and accessory aspect of play. For example, the commercial shows how girls are using the van as a mobile office to help Minnie’s friends. Also, Minnie has a mirror, a desk and a chair to use. The toy is not focused on driving the vehicle or the power of the van, unlike Mickey’s race car commercial. Consequently, Minnie’s toy is communicating to girls that they should be interested in stereotypical feminine behaviour, like helping others in a gentle way and being concerned about appearances, (the mirror accessory). Wohlwend argues, “interest also includes the indexed histories of identities, practices, and dispositions that have been sedimented into the artifact during its production.” (pg. 61) The history of Minnie’s ‘identities’ in shows and toys have usually revolved around fashion, nurturing behaviour towards Mickey and being a ‘helper’ to her friends. Therefore, Minnie’s toy wants the user to focus their imagination on the passive actions of waiting for others to come to you for help. The user can put Minnie in the van and the vehicle can move around, but the figure can only be bent to sit and her arms do not bend to hold a steering wheel, in fact there is only a sticker of a steering wheel on the toy, further demonstrating Minnie’s passive behaviour. Although, the commercial does leave it open to the user how they will help Minnie’s friends, using phrases like “choose your mission” and “pack up and go on another adventure”. Ultimately, the toy focuses on pushing girls to use the van for gender expected behaviour but the users themselves can still create their own narratives for how they will use Minnie’s van.

The Transforming Hot Rod Mickey commercial narrows the user’s imagination more than Minnie’s toy, by focusing only on power of the car. Varney argues, "At the symbolic summit was technological Man himself," giving evidence of the proximity between males and technology and also the gendering of technology.” (Varney, pg. 159). Mickey has a close proximity to the toy’s technology, as he is literally a part of the car and the user cannot remove him from it. Consequently, the advertisement focuses on the technology of the car and how boys can use the technology to help Mickey become a better racer. The commercial targets boys and encourages stereotypical masculine behaviour through the powerful sounds the car makes and how the car can transform. The physical aspects of the toy display the ideology that the male gender wants to overcome the flaws of being human, to become a perfect machine. As Varney discusses, “The toys represent an accommodation of the technological into the character, similar to that seen in the human male/machine mixture in Centurions, in an attempt to rise above perceived human weakness.” (Varney, pg. 163) Mickey is a skilled racer because of the technology his car is capable of, not because of his driving skills; he is instantly the “best” because of the machinery he is attached to. However, the toy also has Mickey saying “silly phrases”, which diverges from stereotypical masculinity, in the sense that men are often displayed as the “logical” and “rational” gender. Again, the users still have autonomy about the stories they will tell while playing with Mickey’s toy, however, both toys encourage users how to play based on rigid gender roles. Varney believes toy companies, “are confident that, at least during childhood years, their customers' tastes are being developed fairly predictably along the routes these very interests carve out for the youngsters” (Varney, pg. 167). Therefore, although toy companies still dominantly focus on offering children “natural interests” based on gender, encouraging children at school and at home to improvise when they play can create counter narratives for toys.