BARBIE DREAM HOUSE

When digging through my closet recently, I found one of my old Barbies from when I was little, perfectly preserved in a pristine gown, her long legs and cinched waist shining with a glowing permanent smile plastered across her face.

 

Barbie was created over 50 years ago as a doll that young girls could play with and imagine themselves becoming in the future, inspiring them to be anything they wanted. However, Barbie’s history remains tainted regarding the not just unrealistic, but physically impossible beauty standards the dolls portray and their often harmful influence on young girls’ views of their own bodies. Personally, I remember having an overall positive experience with the dolls growing up, but I specifically remember my grandmother would only buy me dolls like "Doctor Barbie" and various other career dolls to ensure that I knew that my worth didn't come from looks, unlike what the dolls seemed to push to my grandmother.

 

Looking back at the dolls, I wonder, why did Mattel have to make the dolls so incredibly unrealistic looking in the first place? Recently, Mattel has taken immense strides forward to expand their line to include diverse dolls of all shapes, sizes, and skin tones, but only after years of the Barbie brand being ridiculously sized and portrayed. It begs the question, what kind of message was Barbie trying to push? Are the dolls simply harmless toys or have they created an internalized self-worth gauge for young girls? Both? Varying per person? Even after completing this project, I still don't know the answer to these questions, but I do know that this project was beyond fun and intriguing to work with over the last 12 weeks, and I would love to encourage you to ponder these questions. while you look over some of my work!