The real story of toys

by Mojico, Ana & Trenti, Andrea

“Tell me what you have and I’ll tell you who you are”. This seems to be the essence of what is called the consumer society. Jean Baudrillard claims that this is a type of society in which consumption is not simply associated with fulfilling necessities, but with creating meaning. Having certain products is a way of belonging to some specific group or keeping a particular social status. That is, through compulsive shopping, we do not only acquire objects but also signs. The real value of goods does not lie in their capacity of use but in their capacity of representation. Therefore, consumption creates identity from the moment we are born.

Having, instead of using, seems to be the underlying premise in Toy Story I, the first computer animated film, produced in the USA in 1995. Beneath children that accumulate too much and play too little, and toys that are afraid of being replaced by new toys, the childhood built in Toy Story I is consumerist.

Standing on top of a tin and holding a plastic microphone, Woody, the leader of the toys, reminds his friends: “It doesn’t matter how much we are played with, what matters is that we are here for Andy when he needs us, we were made for that, right?” Through this brief speech he summarizes the basis of the consumer society, as if he were a well-known economist: toys are not produced to be played with, what matters is to own them.

Andy accumulates electronic cars, attractive board games, big dinosaurs, talking dolls, magic boards, and even an enormous and sophisticated circuit for races. All of them seem to wait, hopefully, to take part in a funny adventure. However, they spend their days in a wooden box, fearing the threat of being pushed down by more modern toys. The accelerated obsolescence characterizes the consumer society, in which people are persuaded, through advertising, of the necessity of a new product almost from the moment they unwrap the one they have.

Consumerism is also expressed in the film through the promotion of merchandizing. Once Andy is given the latest and most fashionable toy, Buzz Lightyear, he begins to consume products whose main function is to advertise that toy and not to fulfill a real necessity. Despite having a warm and colorful cover, he replaces it by one that shows a big image of the new toy.

So, what is the real value of that object? Image. Just the appearance of something. Products are signs attached to meanings and stereotypes that shape identity and lifestyle. What really leads people to buy is not a physical need but the symbolic need of creating an image. By having certain kind of toys, Andy keeps his mid social status. On the one hand, an imposing house, a modern car and the habit of eating fast food in a fashionable place, contribute to build that social status in the film. On the other hand, the lack of these items is used to represent the evil and destructive identity of his neighbour, Sid, who has a few old toys in a small dark bedroom.

But, beyond image, what is the real difference between the two children? While Andy accumulates toys, Sid uses them. Sid combines the head of a doll with the legs of a spider to build a new toy. In the end, Sid’s toys satisfy a natural necessity of children: experimenting. His identity is built by doing and not by having. Only in a consumer society can accumulating be worthier than creating.