Barbie's Pursuit Of Happiness

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the Barbie Doll, and the positive and negative impacts she has on society. Central Purpose: I will discuss how Barbie has effected women and the pedestal she has set upon us career wise since our youth. Introduction Quote; Once a wise female said “The first 10 years of a girls life is spent playing with Barbie, and the next 10 years are spent trying to look like one”

At a young age, most girls play with this doll that has a skinny, yet curvy, figure, large blue eyes, the perfect smile, and gorgeous hair. Young girls are infatuated with the idea of that’s how they will look when they’re older. Barbie is the ideal beauty standard many girls grew up with, myself included. Why then, did I feel so insulted when someone labeled me as “Barbie”? Should I not have been enthused that someone thought of me as the typical ideal? It bothered me for a while but I eventually figured out the cause for that. A Barbie is also defined as a “person, especially a young woman, perceived as blandly attractive and vacuous” (“Barbie”). To this person, I was “blandly attractive” and “vacuous”. To them, I was only good for my appearance, there was no substance to my being, I was only useful for my looks. I know I am not this person. I know I have more worth than looks. I know that the experiences I have had, have shaped me into someone completely different from this definition. I know that they were wrong, yet for some reason, it still offended me too much. Defining this word helped me realize how I appear to others, and it made me think deeply about if I was ok with what they were seeing.

The poem, "Barbie Doll," written by Marge Piercy tells the story of a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. The author uses imagery and fluctuating tone to describe the struggles the girl is experiencing during her teenage years, and the affects that can happen. The title of this poem is a good description of how most societies expect others, especially girls to look. Constantly, people are mocked for their appearance and expected to represent a "barbie-doll"-like figure. Few are "blessed" with this description. The female gender is positioned into the stereotype that women should be thin and beautiful. With this girl, the effects were detrimental. The first stanza describes the

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

In the article “Klaus Barbie, and Other Dolls I’d Like to See,” Susan Jane Gilman talks about how we create this doll that sends a message to girls that they have to look a certain way. Gilman talks about how Barbie sets the standard that girls have to be a tall, skinny, blonde, blue eyed, straight, white female (Gilman). It tells girls that if they were anything else, they were never going to be pretty enough or accomplish much because they do not look like the ideal woman. At another point in the article, Gilman talks about how Barbie has introduced other dolls that are different races but are only limited edition (Gilman). With these limited edition Barbie dolls, it furthers the fact that people who are not the stereotypical Barbie, are not as good. Since this ideal woman is now within the

In conclusion, Barbie’s changing fashions, interests and views have altered in response to suit pop culture throughout the years. Barbie is a physical personification of popular culture throughout the years, and she has grown to fit the world around her, to change with the ‘fads’ and ‘fashions’ of the time. However in some cases it seems as though she has transgressed us on some levels. Barbie is a palpable representation of the amount of change that has taken place over the decades, a change in social thinking, social constructs, fashion and beauty. The Barbie doll is the perfect representation of popular

In “Barbie Doll”, the speaker is fighting herself with accepting who she really is versus who society wants her to be. Piercy uses exaggerated diction and is very sarcastic with her writing. This shows readers that it is a silly thing to feel so unaccepted because of physical appearance but the reality of it is that these things do actually happen to people. And this is a major issue in society as a whole. The writer tells a story of a girl who is born just like any other girl but grows into this body that is so unaccepted by

As Gilman states in her article, "..somewhere along the line, we stop believing in our own beauty and its dominion. Subsequently, we also stop believing in the power of our minds and our bodies." (72) Due to this mentality that was created, Gilman expresses her hatred towards Barbie dolls. “If you didn’t look like Barbie, you didn’t fit in. You were less beautiful… less worthy.” This idea that Gilman brought up really opened my eyes today since I never really thought of any of it at the time of when Barbie was a part of my life.

Barbie felt lost in a room full of people as she looked around to see if this was, in fact, her family. Her wandering was exhausting, and she needed a place to rest and a place to be comforted. The setting brings her a sense of feeling at ease, and she thinks to herself that she would like to stay there for a while because she feels like she belongs. Feeling at ease, she begins to think about tomorrow and a future with her newly found family. She wants to stop wandering and wishes that she could be part of this family but does not know how to make that happen. Then, by chance, just like in real life, something happens to change her life. This happened when someone cleaning the room “squished her between the seat / And back of the folding chair and stacked her, with the others, against the wall” (44-46). The

The short story 'Barbie Doll ' starts off by painting an image of a young girl, who grows up with the image of a woman 's life and duties planted in her mind. “Presented with dolls, and miniature GE stoves, and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” (Piercy) Immediately, she was placed unknowingly into the place of a girl, the standards that we are born to do, born to be. Growing up with this most likely put that idea into her own mind, and transitioning into puberty made it all the worse. She began to change, displayed the knowledge, health and strength anyone would be lucky to have. Yet, going into puberty, “everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” (Piercy) I remember being that girl, not glamourous, yet not horrendous looking. I was average,

Be whoever you want to be, just not yourself. People are often discouraged from becoming who they want to be due to what is deemed sensible. Most people choose their career based on where they see people like them. This idea averts people from exploring different occupations where they might be more content; and stops people from discovering their strengths. Legally Blonde (2001) directed by Robert Luketic, “In Defense of Barbie: Why She Might Be the Most Feminist Doll Around” by Charlotte Alter, Mondo Barbie by Lucinda Ebersole and Richard Peabody, Forever Barbie by M.G. Lord, Barbie: Spy Squad (2016) directed by Conrad Helten, and the Wikipedia article “Barbie” are all writings that focus on going beyond who you are and becoming who you want to be. Each piece mentioned formerly expresses the idea of identity and how to exceed the limits of it. In this essay, I will summarize each work previously introduce, discuss how the theme of identity is prevalent in each piece, and consider the significance of the theme in each work.

After reading this article, I am happy to know that Mattel has made many changes to their Barbie dolls. The original Barbies were usually WAY out of proportion such as small waists, large breasts, and incredibly long legs. Not to mention that most Barbies were blonde haired and blue eyed. To top it all off, the Barbies were always seen wearing overly fancy clothes. This set the impossible goal for little children to look like this. Setting such an impossible is terrible for children because not being able to reach their goal can cause a child to berate themselves. Children should be able to be proud of their skin and eye color. They also should feel like they are not beautiful if they are not wearing a dress. No one who is a normal kid person

Barbie Barbie, the doll ever girl dreams of owning, is it also what they dream of becoming? When Barbie was created it had all the right intentions, and no one had negative ideas toward it. Although people may argue that Barbie’s appearance is unrealistic and it is not good for a child, that is not the factor that affects them, it is the negative implications. It is arguable if Barbie limits children’s career choices in their minds.

The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy in relation to diversity alludes to specific aspects of gender, mainly targeting the female gender perspective and expectations. In the poem, Piercy is writing about a young girl transitioning from a child to a women and how society and its idea of beauty affects her. My interpretation of the poem is that the girl is basically crying out for help saying look I am healthy, intelligent, and strong but no one sees or cares about those things because the only thing they see when they look at her is her outside appearance and what society considers to be the flaws that she possesses. Although this was written in 1936 Piercy accurately describes the feeling of being defined or constricted by society to think, act, and look a particular way which is similar to that of todays society which is fueled by social media, where some find personal gratification and self confidence fueled from likes and retweets they receive.” Barbie doll “ is the perfect title for this poem because for the longest time a Barbie was a sign of something perfect and beautiful, a toy enjoyed by everyone and a conventional symbol for little girls all over the United States. Similarly the girl was conforming to be sort of like the Barbie doll in a way because of societal expectations and the want to be viewed in a particular light by ones peers.