As a child, I was always enthralled by toy commercials, especially, those for action figures. They all had a similar format of children manipulating dolls within little plastic sets (usually replicas of castles, caves, and dungeons that may or may not be sold separately).There was always a cutaway of a slack-jawed kid in disbelief at how awesome the figures were.As a child, these carefully constructed scenes felt immersive and fun and made me want the toy of course! That was the point after all.
I think a lot of us have special relationships with toys.Boomers were the first generation of children from the burgeoning (and since obsolete) middle class to benefit from their parents' disposable income.This combined with the development of cheap production methods and the advent of plastic and rubber, saw an entire industry born specifically targeted to youths.It started with magazine ads and quickly moved over to the TV screen where Saturday morning cartoons became launching off points for products marketed directly to kids.More often than not those products were toys.
I believe Boomers wanted for their children what they pined for as youths themselves.Toys, toys, and more toys.As a child, I spent countless hours after school and on the weekends playing with my X-Men and Power Rangers figurines. There’s a familiar, sentimental feeling even now as I recall those early formative years with my collection of play items.A feeling successfully captured in Toy Story.
