Class Entry

I think Barbies have the ability to change the world. Or, rather, I think Barbies HAD the ability to change the world. Think about it, models and movie stars model themselves after Barbies; they want the perfect curves, the long blonde hair and the omnipresent sex appeal. Barbies look innocent, and are general perceived as so but when a mother gives a child a Barbie she is essentially giving her child a phallic symbol to be her best friend. A Barbie is to a little girl as a cigar is to Freud. That’s just a little weird, but not out of the norm for America. Okay, this may be a little bit of a stretch.
Anyway, media molds its celebrities into Barbie clones, so not only did the poster board child in the 80’s/90’s have twenty or so Barbies sitting around the house, every time a television was turned on or a magazine was flipped open there would be another twenty more. I can’t say I perceive things as different today (except I don’t think Barbies are such a big craze??) So there were the general blonde Barbies and even some brunettes, though those were definitely sparser, and there were even Mary Kate and Ashley and Britney Spears Barbies. To my knowledge, the Barbies that emulate other ethnicities or less popular stereotypes are rare or even nonexistent. I can honestly say that I never owned a Barbie that wore fish nets or wasn’t white. No, I played with Cinderella Barbie, and the Barbies that were blonde and had pink convertibles. The idealistic woman was what a Barbie encompassed. Everything that our generation strives to be: attractive to the point of perfection, rich with luxurious homes and cars, always with a man who embodies Ken… so on and etc.
So how could Barbie have changed the world? For starters, the ration of white Barbies to other ethnicities could be a bit higher than a zillion to one. There could be Barbies with head braces, missing legs and third degree burns. One might say that a little girl doesn’t want to play with “ugly” Barbies so this would just be a worthless endeavor but if Barbies resembled more realistic people, maybe little girls would become a little less stuck up and a little more accepting of others. There could be an overweight Barbie who still has a pretty face or a retarded Barbie with an undeniably genuine smile painted upon its face. I mean, I’d play with a Barbie whose face is a little lacking, or one whose leg has a space void of skin from a surprise shark attack. It’d actually be quite helpful for the odd children who like to crash their Barbies convertibles or dangle the dolls over the back porch. So in conclusion, those changes would prevent Barbies from being seen as a sex icon and lessen the urge teenage girls have for spending hours of their day putting on make up and fixing their hair so they can, whether they realize it or not, become their very own Barbie.