The Evolution of G.I. Joe
From the work of Dr. Harrison Pope, a Harvard psychiatrist, comes this illustration of the evolution of G.I. Joe dolls. On the left is the original G.I. Joe from 1964, with relatively normal body proportions. Over the years, the dolls grew progressively more muscular until finally, on the far right, we arrive at a recent version of the doll, "G.I. Joe Extreme." Pope is trying to establish a connection between the toys and an increase in "body-image disturbances" among men.
Comments
There's nothing to click on to look at Pope's work but his 'work' is flawed. As a father of a 9 yr old with whom I play with on a regular basis, and a previous kid who's favorite toy was G.I.Joe, I can tell you that not all of them look like the 2 on the right. The third image is from the 90's and, as far as I know is not really in production anymore. The one on the far right looks like the stupid ones they came out with for the stupid cartoon show that used to come on (can you tell that I think it was stupid). The ones nowadays, are more like the second image which, having been in the military is representative of most active duty soldiers. The first ones were rushed through production to get a working model before the boss got back from vacation and is not representative of any normal looking person.
Posted by Madd Maxx on 10/16/08 at 05:56 PM
Maxx, are you saying you looked like #2 while serving in the Army?
Posted by BikerPuppy on 10/16/08 at 06:49 PM
Without the fro, but yeh. Most guys looked like that cause we worked out all the time plus we ran 5 to 10 miles a day. Once I moved into the Reserves and lived back home I quickly put on about 30 pounds but during active duty, male competition kept all of us in shape. Plus we didn't have anything else to do but go to the clubs and get bombarded by women who wanted all of your money.
Posted by Madd Maxx on 10/16/08 at 06:59 PM
This guy is up for sale at Target right now. He doesn't look ridiculously over-muscled.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EV1YnDDCL._SS260_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EV1YnDDCL._SS260_.jpg
Posted by Caffeinated Katie in Atlanta, GA on 10/16/08 at 09:33 PM
Caffeinated Katie - That's the newest ones that I mentioned in my first comment. They are more muscular than the originals but about the same or a little less than the second image in this post.
Posted by Madd Maxx on 10/16/08 at 09:42 PM
I looked through all of the G.I. Joes for sale on target.com and I didn't see a single one that look unrealistic.
Posted by Caffeinated Katie in Atlanta, GA on 10/16/08 at 10:01 PM
The only ones that were overly muscled that I know of were ones that were made from the show characters. They were overly muscled cause that's the way they were drawn on the show. My son wanted some to try and make into superheroes cause none of the newer ones that he has have enough muscles for a superhero.
Posted by Madd Maxx on 10/16/08 at 10:08 PM
The third one looks like Jessie Ventura - Predator anyone?
Posted by Jules in Connecticut on 10/17/08 at 01:19 PM
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Category: Body Modifications | Toys | Gender