Representative Toys

(November 16, 1962)

 

Oh how nice it was to return to KvL.  I hadn't expected it to be such a breath of fresh air, but boy was it ever.  That is certainly not to say that Ulmer is less important or that KvL is easier material (though I am not sure I have a problem in saying the latter), but rather that KvL suits my linear thought process a little more clearly than Ulmer.  Additionally, this last section in KvL was a new application of material they've already educated us on, so there wasn't as much grunt work necessary in understanding this material.

Nonetheless, there is some neat stuff going on here.  I especially like their inclusion of children's toys as a text for analysis, and I suppose I shall continue in that vein...

I have long been a fan of the Thundercats - that great 80s cartoon that saw humanoid felines crash on Third Earth after their planet was destroyed, only to find a great new evil awaiting them in the form of the evil Mumm-Ra (I've watched a lot of cartoons in my day... and there we have the connection to the Peanuts strip this week). Let's take a look then, at one of the popular toys that came from that franchise: the Lion-O action figure.



There's a lot going on with this simple action figure, as can be seen through the KvL lens - though I'd like to take KvL a little further in a few places.  The figure is a sculpture - from its very beginnings in production, that is how an action figure is produced.  It is three dimensional with all sorts of visual/material "stuff" going on.  One important aspect of this figure is that it is independent of a setting, as is often the case with sculptures (243).  Now, if one were to also purchase the Cats Lair fortress, I suppose Lion-O would have the setting that is representative of his setting in the cartoon, but that he would certainly not stay there, as that is not how action-figures are "used."  Instead, the decontextualized nature of the figure allows the child to imagine him in any place he/she would like, be it the fort under the dining room table or some imagined, mental recreation of Third Earth that disregards physical location.


The moveability of the limbs is important to this point on imagination.  Those engaging the figure can move them "to create a variety of representational structures, narrative 'scenes'" (248).  In the context of the Lion-O figure, this may have an interaction with notions of Given/New|Ideal/Real.  For instance, Lion-O's right hand holds the Sword of Omens and is can be raised by pressing the lever on his back, raising the Sword, the symbol of the Thundercats' power, into the realm of the Ideal.  The gesture of raising the sword has all sorts of cultural connotations, but it seems like the concept of the Ideal may be at play here.


There is plenty going on visually with the Lion-O figure.  Within the context of the Thundercats franchise, this toy actually has a reasonably high level of modality.  He doesn't look exactly like the 2-D cell animation character, but given that it was the 80s and he's a 3-D version of a 2-D character, it's not all that bad.  This may seem to run counter to what KvL say is typical of "boys' toys" (254), but I suppose the actual character himself is from a fictional world, and thus fits into their general observation that boys toys have lower modality (in relation to the "real" world, I suppose, while Lion-O has a high level of modality in relation to the cartoon world he is representing).  KvL quote Barthes as speaking perjoratively about "the plastic material" used to construct these toys (255), but given that this figure is a representation of cell-animation, plastic seems like a very fitting substance.

The eyes are also a very important part of this figure - one of the most important parts, actually.  While KvL note that "the eyes of many 'boys'' dolls [...] are often obscured by helmets, masks or dark glasses" (251), it is quite the opposite for our friend Lion-O.  Not only is their extreme contrast to his eyes (white eyes on an orange face with dark black pupils), but when an individual presses the battery ring into his back, Lion-O's eyes light up.  This seems to have more to do with the "action" aspect of the figure than it does an aspect of the "gaze" to which KvL may want to point.  In the context of this figure being a moveable, interactive, representation of a character, it seems like the glowing eyes would make a child more likely to interact with the figure in a way that may disregard the gaze.  This physical design is important on this point, as the individual holding the figure is inclined to face him forward, given that the lever (a sort of handle) is on his back.  Perhaps then the eyes serve as a way to create a sharper transactive gaze with another character-figure being played with at the same time.

There's also plenty that can be read into/from Lion-O's garb.  While I hesitate at such (for instance, I think the "reading" of the Playmobile toys (247) is a bit over-the-top), there is certainly plenty that can be said about the depiction of masculinity, action, etc.  Such anlaysis is really born out of an exploration of the semiotic codes used in the cartoons of the 80s.  This Lion-O figure is probably a decent representation of such.