Rebecca Hains has posted a call for chapters for a scholarly anthology about princess culture. We had a quick Twitter exchange about possibilities and somehow She-Ra popped into the conversation. If you never heard of She-Ra, Princess of Power, you were not a preschool child or the parent of a preschooler in the mid-1980s. Here's a taste:
My three-year-old daughter was heavily engaged in He-Man and She-Ra play for about a year, and owned not only She-Ra and the horse and the castle and a sick-kick or two, but also a She-Ra outfit. The later was a mix of items that were purchased (shield, sword and mask) and homemade (dress from an old slip, silk scarf turned into a cape). For a brief time, trips to the Mall were transformed into "shopping with She-Ra", as she walked a few steps behind me, narrating an imaginative adventure and waving her pink plastic sword.
So take a look at She-Ra. Consider the Playboy Playmate proportions, the girlish voice, the horse, the clothes. If you were a fan, what do you remember being so attractive about She-Ra? What impact, if any, did she have you, as a child or as a grown up? Would you be happy or appalled if your own child fell in love with She-Ra today? Is she the mother or grandmother of the Disney Princesses? A distant cousin?
Curious minds want to know.
So take a look at She-Ra. Consider the Playboy Playmate proportions, the girlish voice, the horse, the clothes. If you were a fan, what do you remember being so attractive about She-Ra? What impact, if any, did she have you, as a child or as a grown up? Would you be happy or appalled if your own child fell in love with She-Ra today? Is she the mother or grandmother of the Disney Princesses? A distant cousin?
Curious minds want to know.
