A Barbie For Every Body Analysis

During the time of development and release of Barbie, the feminist movement was in full swing. The concept that Barbie may have been manufactured as a weapon against these feminist groups is plausible as the image of Barbie exploits the female body and challenges the values held by active feminists. Though, from a slightly different perspective, one could argue that Barbie with her freedoms and luxuries supports the ideals of women's equality and rights. Barbie may have been the transition piece of the decade, setting a new path for women and young girls.

As I was on the hunt for the perfect gift for an 8 year old’s birthday, I discovered the doll market is quite different than my coming of age. Undoubtedly, Barbie is still problematic, but now she has competitors, including Bratz, and Monster High dolls, who are noticeably thinner than barbie and dressed up to look like grown women getting ready for a night of clubbing than a game of tennis. As I pick up the first doll box, I find a doll chained up in a slither of clothing with a blank expression on her face, a prominent thigh gap, with the tagline “GREAT for girls ages 5 and up!” By all means, I never imagined in my life that I would miss Barbie. For that reason, I begin to sit myself down in the toy aisle to start googling everything I could about these dolls on my

The evolution of Barbie has been an interesting one. The doll has sparked countless debates, yet has continued to be a defining icon for children for countless years, and will probably be so for many more. Her changing fashion, careers and views could be easily attributed to the changing views in our society and current fashions that have transfixed the world over time. Barbie is a tangible embodiment of pop culture throughout the years, she has managed to become popular and stay popular, because she has done what many toys could not, she has grown to fit the world around her, and by doing so has captivated generations.

Picture yourself as the ‘perfect’ woman. Embodying every woman’s dream. You are undeniably gorgeous, weighing in at 100 pounds, standing 6 feet tall and holding nearly 150 careers (barbiemedia.com). Yes, this is the beloved, ever so ‘inspirational’ childhood toy, the perfectly perfect Barbie Doll. Barbie is America’s most beloved toy, considering young girls between the ages of three and eleven own at least 10 Barbie’s throughout their childhood (‘Life in Plastic’). As creator of the Barbie Doll once said, “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices,” (Handler). However, Barbie has proved to serve the opposite effect and

Children’s child play has become a form of an unrealistic world. Although, it is considered for children to begin creating a creative imagination, the mind fascinates children into toys. Some child’s play toys are not ideal for young children, like the one and only “Barbie”. Barbie has become a worldwide toy product for children all over the world, from the North Pole to the South Pole. These dolls have emerged from one ethnicity to another. In Ann DuCille, “Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Differences” the author talks about the race and gender differences; found in Barbie. She argues; “Is Barbie bad?” her response, was “Barbie is just a piece of plastic” (459). In contrast, this piece of plastic is not just a piece of plastic to young girls; it is much more than that. A piece of plastic that little girls all over the world wish they could be. Even though, it is only a piece of plastic to adults that Barbie significantly means nothing to them. Growing up, I owned a couple of Barbie dolls. The tall, long blond hair, blue-eyed doll was my best friend and my “role model”. I wanted to become exactly like Barbie. As a child, I thought only beautiful people who looked liked Barbie signified beauty. To my little to no knowledge, I soon came to find out no one really looks like Barbie, except people who want to become like Barbie. In my adolescent years, no one taught me Barbie was “unreal”; no one taught me it was just a figure in my imagination.

According to Ashley Nicole: “If Barbie could magically become human supposedly would equate to a 5-foot 9, 110-pound woman with a 16-inch waist, a full yet perky bust and long, lean legs. The average American woman is just under 5-foot 4 and weighs about 166 pounds. Even with a starvation diet no one would be able to attain this size and stay alive at the same time; there would be no room for internal organs. [In addition to her abnormal measurements], a waist that thin compared to her height Barbie would have had no breast development” (Nicole

Emily Prager, in Our Barbies, Ourselves, stated that Barbies have influenced little girls around the world on what the perfect body looks like, when in reality there is no “perfect” body. Our Barbies, Ourselves states “here are millions of women who are

In the short story “Hill like White Elephants’, the poem “Barbie Doll”, and the drama of “Trifles” all deal with the struggles that women face. Breaking down these issues helps to give a clear plan on how to not just survive, but to thrive at being a woman. The Barbie Doll is an iconic figure in the toy industry. According to “Barbie” by Sara Pendergast, the average girl between the ages of three to 11 owns ten Barbie dolls.

Finally in 1958, Barbie Millicent Roberts was born 11 1/2 inches tall and weighing 11 ounces. She debuted as a teenage model in a black and white striped swimsuit that came with sunglasses, high-heeled shoes, and gold-colored hoop earrings (see Figure 1). Her body was shapely with movable head, arms, and legs. Barbie was the first doll in America with an adult body.

Barbies have been around for years they are someting people can colect and little girls can play with them.The name and Author of this particular article Barbie is getting a new look and the author is Joseph Pisani he talks about how mattel inc is creating barbies that have feet that move so you can put flat shoes on and heels.It also staits that barbies come in different skin colar and different eye color.These new barbies also come taller,more curvey and petite.The mattel inc is also keeping regular barbies.The new body types where in for 2 years.

Mattel decided to give Barbie a more modern look “The new Barbie will have a more natural body shape – less busty with wider hips.” according to this change the Los Angeles Business Journal, the sales of Barbie sales dropped from 2 billion to 1.5 billion in 1999.( Barbie: Influence and Controversy (n.d.). http://www.citelighter.com/current-events/trending-topics/knowledgecards/barbie-influence-and-controversy).Even thought Mattel had it fare share of controversies concerning manly its Barbie doll line, it did revolutionize the toy business by owning a lot of the major toy companies such as Fisher Price, Bluebird Toys, HIT Entertainment, Ideal Toy Company, Mega Brands,Tyco Toys and also View-Master International. Mattel currently has a net worth on 5.9 billion dollars and is only slightly behind Lego. To this day mattel still is one of biggest toy companies in the world and still devisers it most popular brands such as Barbie and will only continue to grow in the coming years and only improve. Showing many people that even the smallest business which started in a garage can grow and amount to anything if the hearts in the right

Much like Disney cartoons, the creation of an ideal type of fashion-show beauty is based primarily on the worship of the generic blonde image of womanhood. Of course, Barbie is a doll that is made into an adult figure, which defines the role model that young girls should follow as part of popular culture. This is a clear form of cultural indoctrination by forcing the child to witness the popular meaning of Barbie as an icon of American culture. More so, the popularization of Barbie is one way in which the Mattel Corporation (like the Disney Corporation) can portray idealized an unrealistic examples of women as a type of cultural child rearing. The Barbie has become the generic version of the adult American female, which is often promoted as an ideal toy for young people in the toy marketplace. For instance, Steinberg (2009) defines the way in which the “adult” shape of the Barbie provides a means of commercial indoctrination at a very young age in childhood

Barbie’s image has since transitioned from the archaic glamourous 50’s house wife to an image that has become a part of the American fabric, by reflecting the women of each generation. The Barbie brand is known for its lucrative collaborations, having created collector’s items for iconic brands such as Chanel, Oscar De La Renta, Coca Cola, and most famously the Disney Princess line. This franchise has recently gone through a drastic product rebirth over the past 10 years; modifying the traditional and controversial measurements, in order to make Barbie appear more realistic and naturally proportionate and physically diverse. According to an article in The Atlantic “, [Barbie] will now come in a variety of shapes and shades. (And also: a variety of hairstyles, and eye colors, and “face sculpts.”) The doll will still be fairly cartoonish—this is Barbie, after all—but, from today, she can be bought in sizes “petite” and “tall” and “curvy.” (Garber, 2016)

The object under consideration is the barbie doll. A barbie doll is a toy for children who have moved on from developmental toys to more sophisticated toys. Barbie doll fit an unrealistic size and shape figured doll that kids can play with in various ways. They can play dress up and do different things due to barbie having multiple careers paths she is able to take. It does promote a positive image to young girls because it promotes the idea that you can be anything you want to be, however, it still plants the idea of an unrealistic body image. Barbie is slender and tall and barbie dolls do not deviate from thing and this is problematic because it creates a certain kind of standard young girls begin to believe in.

Barbie has been the face that many girls all over the world have looked up to for 50 plus years. Since her debut in 1959, she has undergone so minor design changes and has even added a couple of friends. There were a few authors who wrote articles and poems about Barbie. Among the authors, Hilary Tham who wrote a poem called Barbie Shoes. Tham did mention some prejudices with Barbie shoes that can be compared to today’s society. She used words such as “useless” and “mismatch” which could detail that most Americans put things down in the basement to preserve for their children and grandchildren. Although Barbie shoes are “useless” and “mismatch” they still reintroduce newcomers with a like spark from the old shoes but go buy new Barbie shoes