American Girl

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Fandom
Name: American Girl
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Pleasant Rowland, Pleasant Company, Mattel
Date(s): 1986–present
Medium: books, dolls, movies
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: Official Website, Wikipedia
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American Girl is a line of dolls and books about various American girls throughout the ages with all types of backgrounds. In the 2000s, films began being developed starring their characters.

Canon

Each character has their own series of six books and collection of doll clothes and toys.

BeForever Characters

Originally known as The American Girls Collection or colloquially Historical Characters:

  • Kaya, 1764; a Native American living in the pre-contact Northwest; she is a member of the Nez Perce tribe.
  • Felicity Merriman, 1774; living in Williamsburg, Virginia (portrayed by Shailene Woodley in the film version); she is a consummate Horse Girl. Her father is a Patriot but her best friend's family are Royalists.
  • Caroline Abbott, 1812; living in Sackets Harbor, New York; her father is a sailor in the War of 1812.
  • Josefina Montoya, 1824; living in New Mexico; her stories are emblematic of pre-US ruled New Mexico/Mexican culture and deal a lot with grief over having lost her mother.
  • Marie-Grace Gardner & Cecile Rey, 1853; living in New Orleans; they work with Yellow Fever victims.
  • Kirsten Larson, 1854; living in the Minnesota Territory; her best friend dies in the opening book of the series
  • Addy Walker, 1864; Addy is the first African-American doll in the line and is a fugitive slave that escapes North Carolina to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Civil War
  • Samantha Parkington, 1904; living in the Edwardian period of Mount Bedford, New York (Portrayed by AnnaSophia Robb in the film version)
  • Rebecca Rubin, 1914; living in Lower East Side of New York City and is of Jewish with Russian descent
  • Claudie Wells, 1924; an African-American girl living through the Harlem Renaissance
  • Kit Kittredge, 1934; living in Cincinnati, Ohio during the Great Depression (Portrayed by Abigail Breslin in the film version)
  • Nanea Mitchell, 1941; living in Honolulu, Hawaii during the time of the Pearl Harbor bombing
  • Molly McIntire, 1944; living in Jefferson, Illinois during the later World War II years (Portrayed by Maya Ritter in the film version)
  • Maryellen Larkin, 1954; living in Daytona Beach, Florida. Is a Polio survivor
  • Melody Ellison, 1964; living in Detroit Michigan during the progression of the Civil Rights movement and the Motown years
  • Julie Albright, 1974; living in San Francisco, California, her stories revolve around the passing of Title IX and girls in sports
  • Courtney Moore, 1986; living in Orange Valley, California, she is an avid video game and arcade game fan to encourage girls in STEM

Girl of the Year dolls

Various girls/dolls were then presented each year from 2001 to the present besides 2002 due to the lack of sales.

Fandom

Although each doll/girl has its own series of books and doll line (or even a film), most of the archives combine the franchise under "American Girl". Fanfiction and other fanworks are more rare for the fandom, much like for Barbie since many people mainly interact with them at a young age and playing with them with their friends or collecting them. Fanfiction for the series didn't appear on FanFiction.Net until 2005, after Felicity's film was released, and in 2009(?) on Archive of Our Own. American Girl is a Yuletide fandom.

Crossovers are fairly rare, but due to fact that many of these girls take place in various years that many fandoms take place in makes it possible to have the potential for crossovers. For example, That's Not Her Name by forthosebelow crosses the Captain America Movieverse with an adult Kit Kittredge for a Kit/Steve Rogers pairing.

The majority of American Girl fandom is non-transformative, instead presenting as a collection fandom due to the limited nature of some of its products and the expense of the dolls leading to their being generally regarded as collectibles. However, there is a transformative fandom presence on Tumblr, where users mainly write meta and headcanon the historical girls as neurodivergent and LGBT. There is an Incorrect Quotes blog for American Girl.

Throughout the 2010s, there was a thriving American Girl fandom presence on YouTube knows as AGTube. Creators in the fandom (AGTubers) made many types of videos, ranging from dollhouse tours to vlogs, but the most popular by far were American Girl stop motion (AGSM) videos. Such videos consist of an AGTuber using their dolls to create original stories or music videos in a stop motion format, complete with voice-overs and sound effects.

The most popular AGSM video not made by the company itself sits at 22 million views as of 2022.[1] Two of the most popular AGTubers of the era, basilmentos and mixiepixie7, have over 70 million views on each of their channels, with basilmentos surpassing 100 million. As of late 2022, both still make AGTube content.

Pairings

Various gen and OC works are also created.

Incidents

The fandom has seen a surprising amount of drama over the following issues:

  • Original Pleasant Company models vs Mattel versions
  • The company retiring fan favorites or less popular dolls
  • Historical accuracy
  • Adult content
  • Social justice matters

The community AG Over 18 was created in response to what a few fans felt was an overly puritanical approach to the fandom as well as a lack of fan content aside from costumes and accessories. [2] AG Over 18 was a place for all the fan-created content the forums and message boards discouraged or outright banned, from same-sex shipping to porn to gothic or villainous costumes made for dolls.

One of the founders of AG Over 18, Nethilia, has been involved in various social justice arguments on her blog and on other fandom spaces, mainly centered around her heated criticisms of not only the American Girl company for their perceived racism in creating new dolls but other fans' personal tastes. [3] She and one of her friends are known for being extremely harsh on anyone who publicly disagreed with Nethilia, going so far as to suicide bait one particular commenter who refused to back down. [4]

She ended up banned from the community after some personal drama with another mod, though this was eventually reversed with the other mod stepping down. [5]

Example Fanworks


Fanart

Fanfiction

American Girl Stop Motion (AGSM) Videos

Archives & Fannish Links

LiveJournal Communities

Other communities

Other resources

References

  1. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMp_I3MquTw
  2. ^ Why I'm an Outsider - Part Three
  3. ^ AG Complaint Department: Fucking It Up With Kaya, AG Style
  4. ^ Rambled Opinions and General Snarkiness
  5. ^ Why I'm An Outsider: Part Eight


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