American Girl launched its first three historical dolls in 1986: Kirsten Larson, Molly McIntire, and Samatha Parkington. Each experienced girlhood in a different period of American history, and were accompanied by a six-book series (sold separately, of course) detailing their entire life stories. The 18-inch-tall dolls, with their flaccid kneecaps and overly detailed lore, kick-started a revolution in the toy community. After Mattel—the same company who owned its biggest rival, Barbie—bought the brand in the late ’90s, the American Girl Doll Cinematic Universe evolved into a hard-to-tame beast. There are now 146 dolls for children (and, clearly, full-blown adults) to choose from. There's influencer-celebrated cafés and dozens of American Girl films—one of which starred future It girl and now noted SCOTUS hater Olivia Rodrigo.
In recent weeks Molly and Kit have become political symbols in their own right, appearing on protest signs with one of @hellicity_merriman’s coined phrases: “American Girl I wish I wasn’t.” American Girl dolls as political avatars makes sense. For women of a certain age, the dolls have always been stand-ins for ourselves—and there's nothing more relatable than a girl reminiscing about trying the original Four Loko at a house party in 2010 one moment and attending an abortion rights protest the next.
For the cocreators of the Hellicity account, politics is in their DNA: The pair met while working on a youth vote campaign years ago. Never did I think a plastic doll would come synonymous with the left-wing resistance, but nevertheless, Samantha persisted.
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The American Girl Doll memes—and the dolls themselves—were built on trauma. Samantha, the brand’s early-20th-century doll, was a child labor law activist. Now, thanks to the internet, she’s a girl who ate a Tide pod and almost died. It’s been said before that women (and girls) are born with pain built in—in this case, it comes in the form of a soft smile, glossed-over eyes, and plastic cankles.
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