Reese Withers Spoon Research Papers

I always thought Barbie was so cool; [as] I got older, I learned that it's impossible to be Barbie. She's been everywhere, [even] in outer space. She's the perfect blonde. She has the perfect blue eyes. She's like everything! If she was a real person she wouldn't be able to walk.” (Tara Kuther)

3. Barbie dolls came into existence in 1959. During that time all dolls were infant dolls and Ruth Handler creator of the barbie dolls saw that “children will enjoy giving the Barbie adult roles” because it is different than playing with infant dolls. It has evolved over time, due to the improving technology, the dolls these days look very realistic. The social impact it has made is that it gives children a chance to play with more advanced toys and gives them the ability to admire Barbie’s achievements through her various career

In an article in Interview Magazine, Emily Prager discuses her opinions of Mattel's toy doll Barbie being designed by Jack Ryan, husband to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and designer of military missiles. The concept that a doll for young girls was designed by such a person greatly shocked Prager." Suddenly a lot of things made sense to me" says Prager. The element that Ryan designed Barbie may explain some of the key aspects of the doll itself.

As we planned the workshop, we discussed our own personal ambivalences about Barbie’s collusion with heteropatriarchal, consumerist culture, while at the same time acknowledging the remembered pleasures of childhood doll-play...(Reid-Walsh and Mitchell 2001). In developing the workshop format, we tried to provide enough structure and eclectic raw materials to invite focused thinking about embodied femininity, but without imposing our own expectations about how the girls “should” view Barbie and reinvent or remake her ( Collins, Lidinsky, Rusnock, and Torstrick 106-107).

Prager worms her way into the reader’s emotions by using pathos. Barbie’s are apart of almost every average American girl’s life, with each one owning up to at least ten of the dolls by the time they reach eleven years of age (Mirror-Mirror). The reader’s emotions are unlocked by the author through the use of one simple word: Barbie. Just bringing up the subject of Barbie in an article will make a woman’s ears perk up and cause one to want to see what is being said about the precious childhood toy. Merely mentioning the doll brings many back to the simpler days of childhood and provides the reader with a sense of nostalgia. Prager puts the reader into the mindset of remembering what it was like to play with Barbie and her counterpart Ken, thus allowing the audience to also regain access to questions they may have had whilst playing with the dolls during their childhood as well. Sharing some of her own questions, Prager reveals that even as a ten year old she found Ken’s lack of genitals “ominous” in comparison to Barbie’s voluptuous figure (Prager 355). As aforementioned, the author mentions early on in the article that a man designed Barbie. The author correlates this as the reason why Barbie is portrayed so voluptuously whereas Ken is not. Prager begins to move beyond our emotions, and into the ethics surrounding the making of

     It is my opinion that Prager has failed in her attempts to persuade the reader that Barbie is a tool created from male fantasy or a poster child for modern feminism. If anything this essay has helped me to realize that Barbie is a combination of both worlds. She is both sexually appealing to men and someone that women can admire and even a toy that little girls can play with and hope to be like when they are older. I still remain adamantly devoted to my Barbie dolls, seeing her as neither temptress or sexually frustrated object.

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.

The Barbie doll was invented by Ruth Handler, of Mattel in 1959. She was inspired to make a doll after watching her daughter Barbara playing with her paper dolls. The fashion doll was named after Ruth’s daughter and the Ken doll was named after her son two years later. Today the Barbie doll has become one of the best- selling, cultural icon symbols in any young girls’ and women’s’ lives. Barbie can represent a multitude of things depending on who you ask. She can be defined as a positive thing like a brand or a tradition but also thought of negatively as a promotion of the beauty ideal.

In the words of her creator, Ruth Handler states “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has

Since the emergence of the Barbie doll in 1959, Barbie has been a populous choice among young children, and more specifically young girls because of its monopolization of the toy market. Barbie is a doll that has been outwardly controversial and debated upon for years and most likely will be for many years to come. The idea of the Barbie doll is a toy for which young girls model themselves after and aspire to be like when they mature and grow up. DuCille states, “more than simple instruments of pleasure and amusement, toys and games play crucial roles in helping children determine what is valuable in and around

On March 1959 during the American International Toy Fair, Barbie with a demure sidelong glance entered the world stage for the first time. Unlike the earlier traditional toys, Barbie in her high heels and black and white striped swimsuit seemed ready for an upscale pool party, and in the end, she revolutionized both the toy industry and society’s culture by representing the changing society as more women joined the workforce after World War II. As a result, today when any typical American woman reflects back at her childhood besides perhaps crayons, the Barbie Dolls have to be in the top list since it became an integral childhood partner. For most innocent American female children, the Barbie doll is more

The question arises if the Barbie doll should be banned from our homes for imposing a negative view on the young girls of our society. Though she acts as a role model for most, can she also be the cause of the tearing down of self-esteem for others? This topic is nothing new, the beloved Barbie doll has been receiving criticism for her body since her release over fifty years ago. Meanwhile during her lifetime, she has broken the barrier for women to pursue careers that are mostly male dominated. So, does she still pose a threat to young girl’s views of their body or is she opening the door for girls to be who they want to be?

Ruth Handler realized that pretending about the future was a part of the growing up process. While she watched her daughter, Barbara (who Barbie is named after), playing with paper dolls, Handler formulated the idea of creating an adult doll. This was not necessarily a new idea because there were adult fashion dolls, such as Cissy and Miss Revlon, which were on the market. The phenomenon behind Barbie was that she was an affordable toy that had those same grown up accessories as the other adult dolls.

For opportunities, Barbie is a worldwide brand. So there is an opportunity for the company to use that reputation to increase its market share.