The Post 9/11 American Girl (video essay)

Описание: What’s the point of human existence? Some scholars say that everything motivating us boils down to four drives: to learn, defend, acquire, and bond. In the aughts, American Girl seemed to understand these drives more than anyone. If you were young in the early 2000s, maybe you recall those years as a blur of patriotism, fear, grief, and confusion. I do. And American Girl felt like a guiding light in this age - for better or for worse.

In this critical but nostalgic video essay, we teeter between personal narrative and turn-of-the-century media to tell the story of how this brand sunk its grip into a more-than-captivated audience. (And speaking of audience, I say ‘girls’ a lot ; it was tough to avoid when talking about a brand by this name; please know that all are welcome here, and you didn’t have to be a girl to love American Girl.) In the wake of 9/11, "American girls" naturally gravitated toward "American Girl" because of the things we were hearing from the president, our TVs, our fast food menus, Toby Keith, and many other places.

I hope you'll watch the whole thing and let me know: Am I alone in these thoughts?

The breakdown:
0:00 Chapter 1: Intro
03:46 Chapter 2: Context
08:44 Chapter 3: The Motivational Drives
23:45 Outro

Other YouTube channels in this video:
@BiggestAGFanEVER, @DarlingDollz, @rainbowunicorncat1, @analogcommercialcompilatio1802, @AmericanGirl

If you feel so inclined to donate to this channel, you can find me here: https://ko-fi.com/charlottemilliemack...

Key words: Video essay, American Girl, American Girl video essay, American Girl deep dive, nostalgic video essay, nostalgia, early 2000s, early 2000s nostalgia, 2001, early 2000s video essay, new video essay, unique video essay, post 9/11 America, cultural analysis, patriotism in media, consumer culture, brand influence, children’s branding, psychology of nostalgia, early 2000s culture, American identity, millennial nostalgia, 90s kids, early 2000s childhood, nostalgic brands, girls toys history, 2000s pop culture, American girl dolls, American girl books, American girl marketing, historical dolls, critical analysis, visual essay, media critique, the aughts, media in the aughts