What's with everyone disparaging Samantha?

[judiaci]

The only disparaging comments I have heard were also about Sam's collection being too frilly, girly, etc. like the others have said. I personally like Sam's collection very much. Sam's Grandmother is rich, but to me the fact that she lost both of her parents at an early age makes her a "poor" girl despite her family's wealth.

[CasualAGFan]

I totally agree with all you Samantha fans out there. She is my first(and only, at the moment) American Girl doll. Not only is she a very pretty doll, she is a great character and role model. She may be rich and have nice things and all, but she has a heart of pure gold. Anyone who reads her books or watches her telefilm and perceives Sam as a really shallow, self-centered girl is nothing short of out of their mind. I think she's a really good role model, 'cause she shows, if you're rich, it's good and important to support those less fortunate. Yes, Grandmary and the servents did kind of spoil her, but that's not her fault. That was just the life she was born into. I think that, overall, Samantha Parkington might be the kindest and nicest American Girl.

[Pressed_Flowers]

While I have no personal beef with Samantha I can see how people would say such things. Even though she's kind and loving, Samantha was always hard for me to relate to and she never really seemed to fully understand where Nellie was coming from. I'm not defending people who insult Samantha I'm just saying I can see how some could take being unable to relate and turn it into something it really isn't.

[Pressed_Flowers]

Originally posted by cami713:
...
I have to wonder if the people who bugged you by saying it dislike Samantha because they have another favorite AG? If Samantha wasn't one of my favorites, I'd be very jealous of how popular she is and how much *stuff* she gets when some of the others get next to nothing. I can see how someone who was jealous of Samantha's collection could be mad enough to say something like that.

I really don't see how a person could read the Samantha books and think she was a snob.

<font color="#051E50"><font size="1">[ October 02, 2005 10:53 PM: Message edited by: cami713 ]</font></font>

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">While I like Samantha I must admit I was quite jealous of all the stuff she got while my favorite, Felicity, slipped into oblivion. I'm getting over it since the relaunch of Lissie and launch of Elizabeth and I'll probably completely get over it once they bring back more of Felicity's retired items, especially her work dress.

[Victorinia]

I love Samantha. At times, due to her upbringing, she was naive (regarding Jessie's home life and Nellie's struggles), but she always sought to get to the bottom of things and in the end came to learn the truth about her mistaken ideas about the society she was shielded from. She had her spoiled moments, too...like her vendetta toward Cornelia, but she did overcome them. It was Samantha's classmate, Edith Edleton, who was mean and snobby toward Samantha whenever she tried to reach out to those less fortunate.

[AmericanGirlLover2982]

Smantha is my favorite historical as well. Please do not judge her because she is rich, she has a good heart and is a good person because if she did not she would not have helped Nellie, Bridget and Jenny. This breaks my heart.

Samantha is also not not borning and just another Victorian Doll, if she was borning and no one liked her collection then she would not be AG's Number 1 selling doll.

Please lets stop all this talk of bashing Samantha! [img]frown.gif[/img]

[Pat B]

Part of the dislike of Samatha came about because her collection increased at the same time that Felicity items disappeared.
Samanthas collection also includes tailored outfits- her school dress and her summer sailor outfit. The frills for her more dressy outfits were typical of that period. Even the dresses from the Sears catalog which middle class girls would have worn were frilly.
Pleasant companys concept of a collection and books for a doll were a rare idea . If is logical for them to have one typical "doll" to go with the more tailored Molly and the simpler Kitsten.
Rich gorls who are not spoiled brats are rare on childrens literature. The yjree who come to mind are Samantha, Sara Crewem and Honey Wheeler ( Trixie Belden books)

[geneobug]

I am new to AG things and have not gotten to read the Samantha books yet, but I have seen the Samantha movie 8 times (in two weeks) with my DGD. We LOVE Samantha. I don't know how well the movie followed the book, but she certainly didn't come over as snooty in the movie. My DGD and I love beautiful clothes and she wants me to make her all the outfits for every doll! Wish I could find the Victorian patterns for children that were like Samantha's. I can find Felicity and Kirsten type patterns, but not Samantha's. I sure wish AG would come out with the girls patterns again since they are not selling the outfits anymore.

[Dancin'4'AG]

If I have come across as rude on this topic, I am sorry. [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] I never meant that Samantha was boring, even though dolls like Samantha are little less difficult to find,like I said, most dolls and stuff like Samanthas appeal to little girls and moms because its very pretty,which I can't deny that it isn't. Thats why she's AGs #1 selling doll. [img]smile.gif[/img] I will admit that when Felicity was treated like a literal outcast by AG it did make me mad to see dolls that are more common like Sam, get huge collections, and new stuff all the time. I t almost got like " ANOTHER oufit!???" ,when she like has tons of web pages full of her outfits and stuff-I was sort of angered by this. [img]mad.gif[/img] But I have nothing against Sam-its really mattel thats the problem. And now that Felicity is getting all the pomp and glory and Samantha for once is taking secound place in the catoluge and on the web, its a nice change. For awhile there I thought AG was becoming The Samantha Company and all the other girls would be weeded out. I am hoping hard that Felicity and Elizabeth will do the never done before and outsell Sam for like a year. [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img] yeah I know I am dreaming-but all the avid Felicity fans out there know where I am coming from. [img]wink.gif[/img] When your favorite girl has been banished to the getto for a zillion years and come back, and at that FIRST place with a movie, its a wonderful experince, that many Sam fans can't understand cause the thats never happened to Samantha, shes always been pretty much on the top, which is fine because NO ONES favorite girl should ever be banished! Now that Felicity has moved up I feel sorry for Kaya,Addy,Kirsten, and Josefina, because they seem to have slipped into almost total obliviation by AG. [img]graemlins/cry_smile.gif[/img] But Kaya and Addy did get a new outfit-but still you get the feeling like "were giving her one last chace to bring us some $$$$ ,by giving her one more outfit".

[amandajg]

I like Samantha! [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Re: her popularity, Americans (and British, for that matter) seem to have a general fascination for the Victorian/Edwardian era. As an art history student, this interests me. There are many reasons why I think people are generally fascianted by the Victorian era, which I won't get into on here. But I think the massive attraction towards Samantha (thus driving her sales and the numerous additions to her collection over the years) stems from this general interest in the turn-of-the-century era, which in turn produces a love/hate sort of attitude towards Samantha.