$1600...The Elsa Dress (pageants, son, 5 year old, mother)
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This thread caught my eye, but disclaimer: I AM NOT A PARENT.
And good thing too. Because my attitude is even worserer - yeah I said worserer.
Kids don't work. Their job is to learn. Not to be exhibits in their parents display of material success or folly.
Kids don't work. They need practical clothes to play and rough and tumble in and make believe.
Kids don't work. They are not contributing to the economy and should not be expected to 'dress for success'. What they consume should primarily be in service to the project of growth, and not for the profit of the sleazoid entertainment industry that opiates their impressionable brains with the idea that their lives are only as important as their accumulation of frivolous goods.
The pilgrimage to Saint Disney? Thousands on airfare, etc? For KIDS? Are you kidding me? CRAZINESS.
Yet it is normal. Indeed, all but required. Prefab fun, woo-hoo!
Whether a family can afford to buy a $1600 dress or twice annual vacations to Florida is not the point.
Buy a piano. A chemistry set. A bag of popsicle sticks. Whatever. Let the kids fool around, learn something, make a mess, get paint on their clothes, make a puppet. And when they grow up and make money, they can buy a $1600 dress if they must have one. A parent does not have the responsibility of giving a child everything it wants, only what it needs. Happily, those two things often converge. Especially if you tune out all those messages that chant buy, buy, buy.
(I don't know what the Elsa dress is, but I bet I could make one. Hmmm......)
You expressed exactly what I was thinking. I often sometimes wonder is it actually for the child or for the parent??
I know the feeling of wanting to make my kids happy, and I do enjoy watching all of them, boys and girls, have so much fun playing dress up. We have tubs of dress up clothes, and it's one of the hardest "toys" for me to let go of as they get older. So yeah, I get the impulse if not the action of paying a mint to dress up like a character in a movie my children and I have a fondness for. In this case, my kids all LOVED Frozen. It left me cold. lol I just didn't think it was that great.
Anyway, I have to laugh to read all the comments on how much simpler it would be just to make the costume. I've done that many times, and while I'm no seamstress I think the costumes have come out much more beautifully than store bought. However, I ALWAYS have spent far more than I think I will at the outset. And nearly always spend much more than I could have bought the costume for in the first place.
Slightly off topic: I have no problem whatsoever with anything which encourages sisterly (or brotherly) love, but why on earth does Disney claim that "Frozen" is based on Hans Christian Andersen's novelette, "The Snow Queen"?? Go back and read the original - other than featuring a land which is perpetually winter, there is just no similarity that I can see. Maybe a young girl's long and difficult journey, but that's about it. Characters and their names are different, the story is different, the lessons-to-be-learned are different.
I have to think that the studio was trying to latch onto the Andersen connection to increase box office (and other) returns.
Go see the movie and buy the merchandise if you want to - just don't think you and your kids can skip reading "The Snow Queen" because you've seen "Frozen", and think you know the story. You don't, unless you've read it. Recommended for ages nine or ten and up, by the way...not for little kids.
What's wrong with spending money to take kids to Disney?
Disclaimer: also not a parent. I spend enough time with my two little cousins to qualify though.
As an adult, I love Disney. Yes, it's a manufactured experience. So what? Many things are manufactured. I spent scads of time playing with Legos as a kid, building treehouses, etc. But I also loved roller coasters, rides and funnel cakes. My parents took me to amusement parks often enough. My wife and I have been to Disney 3 times in the last couple years and we may go again this year. It's something we enjoy doing together, and I'll admit I can't wait to take our kid/s when the time comes.
I've taken my two cousins to parks, waterparks, etc. Should I not, because they're kids and don't contribute? I'll gladly spend the money to enjoy the day with them and watch them have fun.
I ALWAYS have spent far more than I think I will at the outset. And nearly always spend much more than I could have bought the costume for in the first place.
In my world, anyone who thinks it's all about the money you spend doesn't get it. Same comment to the retail therapy reply I received above. Buying things = happiness. Ugh.
I've seen the trailer. That was enough for me to determine that it is not sending a message that I would be interested in receiving. Presumably, the *best* of the movie appears in the trailer. I found it sadly lacking.
I actually found it refreshing that for once the theme was "sisterly love" rather than "how to be rescued by a man."
Slightly off topic: I have no problem whatsoever with anything which encourages sisterly (or brotherly) love, but why on earth does Disney claim that "Frozen" is based on Hans Christian Andersen's novelette, "The Snow Queen"?? Go back and read the original - other than featuring a land which is perpetually winter, there is just no similarity that I can see. Maybe a young girl's long and difficult journey, but that's about it. Characters and their names are different, the story is different, the lessons-to-be-learned are different.
Its just inspired by "The Snow Queen" no one is actually claiming it is the actual story of the Snow Queen. Just as Hamlet influenced the Lion King. The Lion King isn't Hamlet, but there are similarities.
What does "entitled" have to to with this? Kids want everything from a $0.25 candy to a $1600 dress... ...so what's the big deal? If the parents can afford it, why not? The value of$1600 is different to different people.
For a several year period in her teens our daughter was friends with a couple of girls who were extremely wealthy . I mean, buying $2,000 purses to match various outfits for a 14 year old, wealthy. Flying to Europe for a weekend wealthy. Buying a half a million dollar horse for a teen wealthy. Going out to dinner with well known movie stars wealthy.
We were not wealthy, then or now, but it really opened up my eyes, and our daughter's eyes, to a totally different world. Look at it this way. If your family makes $50,000 a year, $1,600 is a huge percentage of your income. If your family makes $500,000 a year it is a much tinier percentage of your income. If your family makes $5,000,000 a year spending $1,600 is nothing at all.
BTW These were the sweetest, nicest girls that you could ever imagine. None of them were spoiled or entitled at all. (They were friends with my daughter because they shared a hobby.)
Slightly off topic: I have no problem whatsoever with anything which encourages sisterly (or brotherly) love, but why on earth does Disney claim that "Frozen" is based on Hans Christian Andersen's novelette, "The Snow Queen"?? Go back and read the original - other than featuring a land which is perpetually winter, there is just no similarity that I can see. Maybe a young girl's long and difficult journey, but that's about it. Characters and their names are different, the story is different, the lessons-to-be-learned are different.
I have to think that the studio was trying to latch onto the Andersen connection to increase box office (and other) returns.
Go see the movie and buy the merchandise if you want to - just don't think you and your kids can skip reading "The Snow Queen" because you've seen "Frozen", and think you know the story. You don't, unless you've read it. Recommended for ages nine or ten and up, by the way...not for little kids.
Disney doesn't need to "latch on" to anything to increase box office returns .
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