A Barbie doll. Who hasn't heard of one? Essentially a plastic doll, this figurine has infested itself into Western-culture. One example of how it has infested culture is the recent Toy Story 3. The first two movies contained typical childrens toys, like a cowboy and a spaceman. This most recent movie shows Barbie AND her male counter-part Ken as toys that have been thrown away, linking them to nostalgia and the yesteryear. Now, I never owned a Barbie, but I can understand the effect that they have on a girl's memory. I can imagine how seeing one reminds them of games they used to play. In fact, I can relate this to my own experiences with videogames.
I started gaming when I was about 8, and that was on my parents computer. I played a game called Rogue Squadron 3D, and if I play it now, it still reminds me of when I was young. My father has the same reaction when we watch an older TV show, like Black Books or the original Star Trek. Just the other day, we watched Batman 1966, which was both amazing for him, to go back to when he first saw it, and for me, having never seen it.
On the other side, the way that Barbie has essentially 'milked' the success of its brand is, to me, disgusting. The producers of Barbie, who I believe are Hasbro, have churned out version after version of the doll, some of which are frankly inappropriate and disgusting for children. The anatomically correct barbie, with sex toys, is just not needed in a kids toy. I can understand the point that Hasbro are making, as why stop making a toy that sells. Its like stopping releasing movies or books. And although I said it was disgusting earlier, I throughly love the 'milking' of the Star Wars francise, which is the same ploy. Star Wars Episode IV has alone made over $4 billion dollars, which is a lot of money, quite frankly.
I agree with what you said about how Barbie dolls and toys bring back nostalgic memories but I think they are more seen, in the eyes of little girls, as perfect so they want to act and be more like Barbie. Girls want to dye their hair blond and be more like Barbie because in their eyes she is perfect and pretty. I think that yes, its true that Hasbro is making money, but the problem with these dolls is that girls don’t get to see how women actually are, they only see this perfect version. I thought it was funny how he author includes how there should be more realistic Barbie dolls such as G.I. Joe Barbie.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how the dolls do not show women as they actually are. But thats just good marketing. Why would a little girl want to play with something imperfect? More realistic dolls would be 'imperfect' and therefore defeat the buisness of Barbie. This means that Hasbro arn't going to do it. The only reason they released the toy in the first place was to make money, and why would they move against themselves, by making more realistic ones?
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