Barbie has recently had her 40th birthday. It all started in the 1950s when Ruth Handler saw her daughter, Barbara, and her friends playing with paper dolls. They liked to imagin the dolls beeing different persons who were working, swiming, playing with friends etc. Ruth, who owned the company Mattel with her husband, understood that pretending how the future would be was part of growing up for kids. She did some research and found that there was room on the market for a doll like Barbie. Mattel
Words: 635 - Pages: 3
Barbie Assignment I remember having trunks full of Barbies and playing with them when I was a little girl. My Barbies had all different careers and were of different races. My mom even convinced my older cousin to give me her MC Hammer doll. Being of mixed race, my mother wanted me to understand diversity through my dolls. The different skin tones that Barbie had, reflected the diversity I saw in my friends growing up. So for that I think Barbie had a pretty good influence on me. When
Words: 1376 - Pages: 6
“Her good nature wore out/ like a fan belt./ So she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up.” This quote from “Barbie Doll”, by Marge Piercy, refers to a young girl who wishes to change her character and her appearance in order to live up to society’s expectations. In fact, instead of being complimented or admired for whom she truly is, people would rather criticize and condemn her for whom she isn’t. As a result of endlessly trying to alter her portrait, the “girlchild” eventually “wore
Words: 7896 - Pages: 32
In A Barbie World! A culture that is saturated by consumerism can be referred to as a consumer culture. Barbie can be used as a tool for consumer culture because she is perceived to be the perfect woman, an unattainable achievement. Barbie has the perfect man, Ken; she has her dream house, and car, and even a dream closet. There are life size Barbies bouncing around in T.V. and print media ads that personify this image. Barbie produces a systematic reproduction of consistency; she doesn't evolve
Words: 1986 - Pages: 8
toy. Yes, it can hardly be any other toy but Barbie. Nowadays, girls can be seen wearing Barbie clothing, using Barbie perfume, carrying Barbie backpacks, and sleeping in Barbie pajamas, not to mention cosmetics, sneakers etc. (Morgenson 1991, 66). Mattel, Inc., the mother company of Barbie, should feel proud of her. Because on average, an American girl has ten Barbie dolls, a British or Italian girl may own seven, while five is the number of Barbie that a German or French girl has. It was Mattel’s
Words: 2555 - Pages: 11
to a Barbie Doll Women were considered the subordinate gender that was expected to have this stay at home homemaker attitude. They were supposed to powder their noses and look pretty. Women are discriminated against in society. Women have stereotypical gender roles they are supposed to uphold. As suggested in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy the Barbie doll is the idealized image of a woman and is considered to have long legs, perfect skin, small waist and a slender figure. The Barbie doll
Words: 2378 - Pages: 10
”Barbie-Q” At first the short story seems very unusual. The way the narrator describes each Barbie doll in such detail that makes you almost see them before you. But it’s not only the Barbie dolls. Even the flea market is described in a way that makes the pictures come alive before your eyes. But the unusual part is the role the Barbie dolls play. What is so special about these dolls, and what is their role? These are the questions that go through my mind. And my head tells me that there lies something
Words: 353 - Pages: 2
Guerline Donisvitch “Introduction to Literature” Ann Rasmussen April 23, 2009 Barbie Doll The poem begins in a fairy-tale vein, the archaic term “girl-child” being used to underscore the mythic quality of the story. The dolls, stove, iron and lipstick are all traditional play things for young girls, but they are also markers of an identity in the making, the things that young girls grow to identify with their own social roles. The doll presents an idealized image of the body, and stove
Words: 1216 - Pages: 5
1.No, I don’t agree that diverse Barbie offered by Mattel will cause to watered down of brand and it will not be instantly not recognized, because Mattel have created Barbie with unique and separate brand which will never be affected by the changing image in Barbie as the parent company is stable and very much rooted and recognised . 2. No, not truly the drop in Barbie sales is due to the mismatch between the Barbie’s original image and that of real girl. The others factors which were responsible
Words: 400 - Pages: 2
poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, she illustrates the effect that society has on the expectations of women. This expectation is that women, like the girl described in the poem, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly she should be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are being compared to the unrealistic physical looks and life of the Barbie doll. Through the past many years, the Barbie doll has
Words: 701 - Pages: 3
