GI Joe occupies an important place in the history of American childhood because he represented more than a toy. He represented possibility.
A child could make him a soldier, adventurer, explorer, hero, or whatever the day’s story required. The figure became a character in an imagination that belonged entirely to the child.
American Material Memory preserves that creative relationship between object and imagination. GI Joe wasn’t simply something to own. He was someone to play with, someone to send into an adventure, and often someone whose stories lasted long after the toy was put away.
From the Artist:
Okay, what kid didn’t have a GI Joe back in the day?
I only had one, but apparently, there was a miscommunication between my Mom and my Grandma one Christmas because I ended up with two GI Joe Space Capsules that year. One was the tricked-out glow-in-the-dark version — that didn’t come from my parents.
So, when my wife, Lynn, tells me I don’t listen, I have proof that it’s in my DNA and goes back three generations!
GI Joe occupies an important place in the history of American childhood because he represented more than a toy. He represented possibility.
A child could make him a soldier, adventurer, explorer, hero, or whatever the day’s story required. The figure became a character in an imagination that belonged entirely to the child.
American Material Memory preserves that creative relationship between object and imagination. GI Joe wasn’t simply something to own. He was someone to play with, someone to send into an adventure, and often someone whose stories lasted long after the toy was put away.
From the Artist:
Okay, what kid didn’t have a GI Joe back in the day?
I only had one, but apparently, there was a miscommunication between my Mom and my Grandma one Christmas because I ended up with two GI Joe Space Capsules that year. One was the tricked-out glow-in-the-dark version — that didn’t come from my parents.
So, when my wife, Lynn, tells me I don’t listen, I have proof that it’s in my DNA and goes back three generations!
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