The He-Man Effect: 04/08/25

The He-Man Effect by Brian Box Brown (2023) is a graphic novel history of manufactured nostalgia. The book covers how advertising, toy manufacturing, and deregulated television has created a culture of nostalgia that has brainwashed entire generations of American children.

I chose to read this book for a few reasons. The first is my own interest in the subject. I wrote two different papers on the subject back in 1990 and again in 1994. I wish I still had copies at hand to share. My research ended before Disney became the behemoth it is today, before the resurrection of the Star Wars franchise, and before the Marvel movies started.

Another reason I wanted to read this book was for the title. Back in the day I was a He-Man fan. I watched the entire run of the series. I wanted the toys and even almost bought a bunch of them second hand at the swap meet that was held regularly at Jack Murphy Stadium. Mind you the stadium went through a name change and was later razed, which gives you an idea of how long ago this was.

Put another way, I was raised in the era of cable, half hour advertisements for toys, and sometimes I was even a latchkey kid. Somehow despite all of that I never really got into the hype of wanting to buy the toys. Maybe it was because my parents worked in marketing so I knew the tricks. Maybe I just had too much fun writing fan fiction instead?

My final reason is just being a fan of the author's works. I like his writing. I like his artwork.

How does Brown's research compare to my own? The dates and names we agree on. I think he puts too much into the effectiveness of cartoons for selling toys or for building a loyal fandom. This is a short book, made shorter by the fact that it's presented as a graphic novel. There's not a lot of room for in depth analysis in this format. Brown does include a bibliography for further reading.

He spends a chapter on He-Man (and She-Ra). I enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes. On a side note, I hated original She-Ra but I did watch the Netflix relaunch and found myself shocked at enjoying it.

The more recent stuff, like the saturation of the market with Stars Wars movies, shows and other crap was an interesting read. Brown takes a rather jaded look at the franchise which was refreshing.

I am old enough to have seen the original film in theaters when it first came out. Despite it apparently being extremely popular with children (as I was at the time) the film bored (and continues to bore) me to tears. I've had the majority of my life with that stupid franchise shoved down my throat and I just wish it would go away and leave me alone.

My closing thoughts on the book and on cartoons that are made to sell toys are as a parent of now two adults children. By the time my oldest was a toddler we had ditched cable. Compounded with that was the end of analog TV signals in lieu of digital signals and/or the expectation that folks would have cable or Dish in the days before streaming. As we live in the hills of unincorporated Hayward, over the air signals don't reach our TV very well so our children had their childhoods without access to the shows that were aimed at their generation.

Likewise, because we're nine hours by car from Disneyland, taking our children there was already not easy. Our limited funds as young parents combined with Disney's astronomical annual price increases to their park tickets means that we've never taken them to any of their parks. They aren't beholden to the mouse like I was as a child. But when I was a child, an all day pass cost about $35.

Five stars

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