I knew the old girl eventually would find her way.
I was so sure because she was my bestie for many of my growing up years. I know – or knew – her so well.
I’m talking about Mattel’s Barbie. You haters can roll your eyes all you want, but she influenced me greatly and I know she can still do that for young girls. Playing with her made me realize I wanted an education and career so I could be out doing things, like Barbie. Gotta pay for that Malibu beach house!
OPINION
Part of why an 11½-inch-tall doll could be such a positive in my young life was because of my mom. She is a strong woman who made it clear by the way she led her life that Barbie – with her impossibly teeny waist and silly feet – was a doll, not to be confused with a real person. Just as baby dolls weren’t anything like having an infant, I knew Barbie was a toy. Makes me wonder if the root of girls confusing her with a human has more to do with stiletto-wearing moms obsessed with being rail-thin than the doll itself.
But I admit, I kinda lost track of Barbie for a while. And what I heard via the grapevine was not good. There was that terrible “Math is hard” episode. In the past there had always been Barbies with careers – teachers, astronauts – but what I saw when I visited the toy aisle was a Barbie who was a bit too interested in retail, in stuff. Maybe she was just reflecting what our culture had become: possession obsessed.
An online ad for Barbie tells me she’s trying to right her ways. In it, a series of young girls are interacting with adults as they go about their business as college professor, team coach, veterinarian and other professionals. As the scene fades to a young girl play-acting being a college professor, the words “You can be anything” fill the screen.
It’s quite sweet, and does remind that through play and imagination a girl can indeed dream up what she might want to be when she grows up.
But as Barbie.com – of course she has a website! – reminds, this isn’t new territory, but Barbie’s legacy. Ruth Handler, Barbie’s “mom” (alright, inventor), often was quoted as saying, “Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”
Naturally Barbie is into social media these days. On her Facebook page while congratulating Angela Merkel for being Time’s Person of the Year, the post also mentions that the line came out with a Barbie in the German chancellor’s likeness in 2009.
Mattel isn’t just marketing via social media but also listening to what’s being said. When it launched a limited edition doll in the likeness of “Selma” director Ava DuVernay, fans took to Twitter to ask for more of them. Last week the company obliged and the DuVernay doll sold out within an hour, according to news reports.
Whereas back in the Stone Age girls like myself were content to drive our Barbies around in her sports car, today’s girls want to emulate while playing what someday could be their life’s work. One thing Mattel has to do now is get Barbie to be a bit more interactive, career-wise. (There’s a reason GoldieBlox is so popular.) And rethink Hello Barbie.
But I can see my long-ago friend is finding her way back. And that makes me very happy.
Email: sueontiveros.cst@gmail.com
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