Toys

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Michael Brody

At the millennium a whole new set of toy manufacturing options are becoming available. The very nature of what constitutes our previous conceptions of media-based possibilities is being radically reconfigured by cyberspace and DTV. New "Toy Stories" are emerging with the advent of on-line web sites where a child's favorite licensed characters sell toys. Children want more than a functioning toy, they want a share of the media's emphasis on celebrity, a piece of purchasable personality. This personality represents power, glamour, money, beauty, respect, and invulnerability. Information and media mega-companies fill this need with the syndication and synergy of electronic characters. Ever-growing media corporations are now our most important children's story tellers and the new toy makers.