The Barbiefication of America

My doll-loving era predated the arrival of Barbie. Surprisingly, my last doll received in 1956 was considered revolutionary at the time. Why? Simple… because she wasn’t blonde and blue-eyed.  My mother was euphoric when she serendipitously encountered a doll with brown hair and brown eyes like me, her youngest daughter. She snatched it up and presented it to me like a prized treasure trove just as I was entering the downward-doll stage. 

Loving my Cathy-Ann

But I didn’t reject the sentiment of my mother’s gift. In fact, Cathy-Ann, as I called her, is still an informal member of my family. However, instead of her original frilly white dress with lemon yellow daisies, she is now dressed in a sexy American Doll workout outfit. This updated ensemble was an unexpected Christmas gift from Ed, my witty and playful late husband who knew what an exercise maniac I was. And still am.

The Louvre’s nod to the world of dolls

Even though Barbie dolls were not part of my growing up, the ground-breaking toy has been on my radar well before the recent and wildly popular movie, Barbie. (More on that later.)  In fact, the doll entered my consciousness back in 2018 on a trip to Paris.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that the Musée des Arts Décoratifs  (the section of the Louvre specializing in decorative arts) was mounting an exhibit dedicated exclusively to America’s iconic doll. Mon Dieu, the venerable Louvre? No way was I going to miss that!

It included 700 dolls shown within a historic and sociological context. Leave it to the French to intellectualize a show about dolls. The exhibit first presented a timeline detailing the creation and evolution of the Barbie brand. Being a wine marketer by profession, this was something I found riveting. The story of Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel and the doll’s creator, was carefully scrutinized. We learned that Handler had to fight hard to get her toy produced. It turns out that the big drawback was the doll’s well-endowed upper anatomy.  “Dolls don’t have breasts,” her all-male executive team argued. “No mother will ever buy this doll for their daughter.”

But in 1959 Handler prevailed. By so doing she also revolutionized the toy industry. Her doll, named after her daughter Barbara, would be aspirational. Up until then a doll’s purpose was to be cuddled so that little girls could practice their assumed roles as future mothers. However, the new plastic Barbie doll, with permanently flexed feet to accommodate sassy spike heels, would provide children with a totally different experience.

Barbie, a career doll

In addition to being a fashionista, Barbie could also be a dress-up doctor, a teacher, or even a game-developer, a profession introduced in 2016. As described by M.G. Lord in her book Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Living Doll, “She’s an archetypal female figure, she’s something upon which little girls project their idealized selves.”

We learned at the exhibit that today Barbie’s resumé carries a list of more than 200 careers. Interesting factoid: Barbie broke the “plastic ceiling” back in the 1960s when she took on the trailblazing role as a female astronaut, four years before Armstrong reached the moon!

With fashion being the cornerstone of this toy, naturally the Louvre’s exhibit dedicated much of its space to hundreds of outfits displayed on flying catwalks. These miniature ensembles were created by some of the world’s greatest fashion designers: Bob Mackie, Chrisian Dior, Givenchy, Tommy Hilfinger, among many others.

A cross-generation experience

But the exhibit was not just about the genius of fashion, innovation, and marketing. It also revealed the toy’s ability to capture the unfailing loyalty of multiple generations. One of the most unexpected parts of the show—and curiously fascinating for me—was watching grandmothers, mothers and their daughters dressing and undressing Barbie dolls in an enormous interactive salon.  Quelle surprise!

Barbie’s film splash

Fast forward and now we have Barbie, the movie.  A great deal has been written about this blockbuster film and its writer-director Greta Gerwig’s amazing talent. She, along with her writing partner Noah Baumbach, was masterful in developing the script and hypnotic set. Not only was the parody filled with surprisingly witty twists and turns—including lots of Easter eggs with hidden film references—but it was rollicking good fun.

What intrigued me the most, however, was the juxtaposition of the two protagonists, Barbie and Ken, and how their respective roles evolved during the movie. For whatever reason, Ken interested me the most. (In case you didn’t know, the Ken doll was created by Handler in 1961 in response to Barbie’s fans who were clamoring for her to have a boyfriend.)

As expected, the movie generated great media attention not to mention a flood of postings on social media. One thing I’ve observed in reading these various dialogues is how differently women view Ken’s evolution. Here’s a good example:

Joan Brower, former marketer and publicist

Essentially, I think the movie’s promotional poster says it all: "She's everything. He's just Ken." And I’ve read that on Twitter, “a Ken” is now referred to as someone who doesn't match his date’s excellence.

 Ken is one of Barbie’s many accessories— supportive, but only background material. In fact, I can recall the time when the Ken doll was first created a few years after Barbie, and that introduction was similar to that of many of her other secondary accessories. As a young girl, I never asked for a Ken doll to accompany my Barbie doll. He was irrelevant to me (and to Barbie, really).  

Ken’s style has evolved over the decades, as has Barbie’s. And so has his attitude, according to the film which I see essentially as a feminist manifesto. 

 Matthew Lauber, University of Florida college sophomore

My twenty-year-old grandson, Matt was far more generous vis-à-vis Ken.  As a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, I was relatively confident that he and many of his “brothers” would have been coerced by their girlfriends into seeing Barbie. Here’s what he had to say which touched on both Ken’s role as a movie character and as a commercial “socially responsible” product.

The topic of Ken has definitely come up before with friends. We all agree that Ken from “Barbie” has undergone a thoughtful evolution. Over the years, Mattel has made strategic updates to his character to better reflect the changing values and expectations of society. This includes introducing diverse versions of Ken with various ethnicities, hairstyles, and fashion choices, which is a commendable effort towards promoting inclusivity and diversity in the toy industry. I think that's the way in which the world is moving and (this was reflected in) how they portrayed Ken and showed that he has different sides to him and how characters can change over time.

Ben Judd, 30-something business executive

I asked Ben what he found most compelling about the Ken character and his relationship to his wanna-be girlfriend, Barbie. With more than a decade of maturity behind him from Matt’s life’s experiences, here’s what Ben had to add on the “entire arc” of Ken’s character in the movie.  

Ken evolves from a hapless character who just wants to be noticed, to the villain, to someone who learns to compromise. Ultimately, I found a lot of parallels with general “masculine” development. I remember being a teenager (and admittedly even older) and wanting nothing more than to just be noticed by women. But there’s a subtle difference (that Ken eventually learns) between doing things to be noticed and doing things because you genuinely enjoy them.  

There’s a concept I learned from Aristotle called “Eudamonia” that boils down to life being lived in the balance between extreme emotions based on the situation. This movie encapsulates it well in the sense that being too geared towards oneself or being noticed by others leads to discord. The real sweetness in life is maintaining your individuality while also aiming to strive collectively. Men should focus on themselves first more than craving external validation.  

When asked what Ben thought about the Barbie character and her relationship with Ken, he thoughtfully replied: 

Sort of the same here, but the opposite. Everything was fine for all Barbies, and they never wanted it to change. That led to a sort of hollow existence and then swung wildly back the other way when the Kens took over. In both cases they never saw a reason to change until they learned that compromise and change were necessary to live in the real dream world.

In a sense, they learned that perfection was boring and so, too, was total subjugation. 

A social phenomenon

The movie’s success has spawned a tsunami of different cultural responses, not only verbal. Barbie’s signature pink, PMS 219, has invaded the current fashion scene. Barbie-themed restaurants have sprung up like wild mushrooms in the fall. As expected, their menus are filled with pastel- colored, confetti-topped, sugar-loaded dishes. The Malibu Barbie Café pop-up at the South Street Seaport, for example, describes itself as a Pink Paradise. Among other settings, it also provides a life-size “Barbie Box” made for their guests to create 100% Instagrammable photos.

Another fallout has been a raft of at-home Barbie-themed parties. One of my pals enjoyed the movie so much that she enthusiastically proclaimed her plans to host one at her swank, uptown New York apartment. Each guest would be invited to attend with her Barbie doll. I panicked. While desperate to attend—I adore themed parties and already had a pink outfit in mind—I lacked the price of entry, a Barbie.  

A Barbie Fairy-Godmother to the rescue

Luckily, I remembered that my daughter-in-law, Laureen, collected them.  In fact, she has a room in her home dedicated to her collection of 100 Barbies, most of them never removed from their box, or “NRFB” in Barbie lingo. She was happy to lend me one and generously handed over a Collector Edition “Enchanted Evening” Barbie dressed in a pink satin gown, long silk gloves and a white fur stole.  

A few days later, it was my friend who was in a panic. She divulged that she had torn up her entire apartment but couldn’t find her beloved Barbie. It was time for another text to Laureen, Barbie’s Fairy Godmother. Laureen immediately FedExed yet another Barbie NRFB bringing down her collection count to 98! 

When my friend opened the package, presented to her as a surprise birthday gift, she let out a squeal of joy and exclaimed, “Oh, my word, I’ve been Barbiefied.” And that’s exactly what Mattel wants to happen to help fuel their ever-rising sales.  As they claim, “You’re never too old for Barbie.” 

What about not being too old for Ken? Despite Margot Robbie’s heartfelt performance in the titular role, of the film’s two leads I favored Ken.  Ryan Gosling’s scene-stealing performance was, in my opinion, worthy of an Emmy nomination. His comedic prowess made me howl with laughter.   

So, while others continue to debate the merits of the movie or wrestle with the existential question of whether Barbie is a sexist expression or a feminist icon, not me. I’m saving my energy for finding a Ken doll.  Of course, not just for me. Cathy-Ann has been clamoring for a boyfriend for years. Like my mother, I am setting my sights on a Ken doll attired in a gym outfit.  Preferably, a sexy one!

 Mind you, I’m not the only one who thinks it’s time for Ken “to share some of the spotlight.”  Just as I was ready to post this piece, the Associated Press released the news: the National Toy Hall of Fame last week announced the Ken doll as one of 12 finalists that could be inducted this year!