Barbie dolls are so popular all around the world. According to the statistics made by Mattel Inc., the producer of Barbie dolls, a total of 1,000,000,000 Barbie dolls have been sold in over 150 countries including 350,000 in the first year, and the number is still increasing by 3 every second; American girls each has 8 Barbie girls in average, while a French girl has 5 and in Hong Kong, Asia, the number is 3.
When she first appeared, she was marketed "Teen-age Fashion Model" with her well-designed clothes, fashionable make-ups and popular hair styles. Her handsome boyfriend and their romance are the same as the story of prince and princess in the fairy tales we heard as bedtime stories. And, the most enviable thing may be her so-called "killer-body", which is the dream of girls, and, boys.
However, th
is is where the main criticism from. If someone wants to have this body shape, she will have to be 5 feet 9 inches, with vital statistics at 36 inches, 18 inches and 33inches. According to the scientific research (by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland), it is impossible for a woman to keep healthy under this situation. The misleading information provided may result in girls’ anorexia while they are pursuing the killer-body, as well as many diseases caused by lack of enough nutrition and energy during the progress of dieting.
Apart from this, “Barbie” became a derogatory slang which describes girls with appealing appearance and empty mind. She has so many beautiful clothes and jewelries, and lives a life like a princess, seems to do nothing other than shopping and attending parties. “Will we ever have enough clothes?” “I love shopping!” “Wanna have a pizza party?” These sentences that came from the Teen Talk Barbie released in 1992, especially the sentence “Math class is tough!” proves this kind of view in some way. Though only a very low percent of all the Teen Talk Barbie can speak this sentence, it was severely criticized by the American Association of University Women, and these Barbie dolls were recalled with Mattel’s promise to change.
However, as mentioned in Zeisler’s Feminism and Pop Culture: “In examining how fe
minism has informed pop culture and vice versa, it’s instructive to look at the way the evolution of the women’s movement has been mirrored in pockets of popular cult
ure”, the more important thing is to detect the development of Barbie Dolls and how it reflects the development of feminism.
The change of Barbie’s eyes in 1971 is regarded as a main change in Barbie’s development. The influence is obvious: looking straight forward makes she looks more welcoming and remove the scornful expression in her eyes while looking down to one side. She seems to have a steadfast goal and is confident about it. The last picture of doctor Barbie really shows this po
int. She looks reliable and kind and will never frighten children going to the hospital. She is different from male doctors, but she gives us a strong sense of a good doctor.
Her body shape, once caused much disagreement, was changed, too, including the waist and hips in the year 1997. She looks more like a real girl than ever before.
Another shocking news in the year 2004 is: Barbie had split from her boyfriend, Ken. With Ken’s sincerity and love and unremitting pursuing, they got together again. This period of story broke the image of fairy tale princess Barbie and gives Barbie her own mind about affection.
In the 60s, when women were encouraged to work, Barbie began wearing suits and carrying a briefcase with business cards, credit cards, newspaper and a calculus; when human beings first landed on the moon, she soon became an astronaut; when the information are came, she learned how to use e-mail quickly. These changes reflects the advancement of our society, and shows that she tried her best to catch up with the world.
From my personal point of view, I did not realize the change of her body. Her “killer-body” is of less importance these days and she is more of a role model. She is alive in most girl’s mind, as a friend who grows with them and encourages them. Just as the cultural critic M.G.Lord said in Forever Barbie: the unauthorized biography of a real doll, Barbie belongs to herself and teaches us to be independent women. In the past 40 years, however she changed, she does not hesitate and keeps happy and optimistic, this is why she succeeded, and this is how we can succeed.
She is a symbol of feminism, at least, in my mind.
Barbie-wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie
Joseph Lee
Date last modified: Sept.4th, 2011
Date accessed: Sept.20th, 2011
Barbie Collector
http://www.barbiecollector.com/
Mattel, Inc., and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, Fisher-Price, Inc. and American Girl Brands, LLC
Date updated: Sept.20th, 2011
Date accessed: Sept.20th, 2011
Feminism and Pop Culture
Andi Zeistler
Released: Seal Press, Berkeley, CA, 2008
Forever Barbie: the unauthorized biography of a real doll
M.G.Lord
Released: Morrow and Co. New York, 1994
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletepop culture item: Barbie dolls
ReplyDeleteRhetorical Awareness: The author provided evidence of research, which is quite impressive. However, there was a bunch of random facts that were somewhat inconsistent with the topic.
Stance and Support: The main point is that Barbie dolls transformed from being manufactured from the male gaze to more feminine. Demonstrates strong support from various resources
Organization: Quite a bunch of random facts that seem irrelevant to the topic. The main points of the essay are not so clear.
Conventions: It fits the audience and sounded professional.
Design for medium: Great positioning appropriate images to appropriate places.
Pop culture item: barbie dolls
ReplyDeleteRhetorical Awareness: There is a large amount of research and facts behind the arguement, and all points are valid, but they seem a little jumbled for time to time.
Stance and support: That Barbie is a symbol of feminism that has grown and adapted with the times. Support - references about how barbie has changed.
organization: for the most part well organized but some paragraphs seem out of place and would blend better in different places.
Conventions: Appropriate use of language.
Design for medium: appropriate media usage, images well placed.