Barbie's impact

     Barbie was a doll that started as only showing one side of a woman, the stereotypical look that was appealing to the male gaze. With her blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and tiny waist she was very appealing to Ken’s of Barbieland. I looked at Barbie as a stereotypical woman who was just a doll and did not learn about the deeper meaning behind her. As time progressed different Barbie’s became symbols of empowerment and societal changes, while growing Barbie’s helped woman learn about self-discovery. 

    Barbie’s became symbols of empowerment after releasing dolls like, Dr. Barbie, Surfer Barbie, President Barbie, Basketball Barbie and many more just to name a few. After releasing these types of dolls who shy away from the normal stereotypical look it made little girls like myself believe I could be anything. As children, we want to look like the examples in front of us and do things that our favorite toys can do. When I was little I remember so many times when I wanted to be just like my Barbie, I wanted her clothes and wanted to wear high heels like she did until my mom bought me the Basketball Barbie when I was six years old. I never realized it until I grew up, that I wanted to be more like my Barbie character. The Barbie was what I was basing my self-image on. I wanted to be something unrealistic at a young age until I found a Barbie I could relate to. The Barbie movie shows many different women of different colors, shapes, and sizes which gives generations of women who have watched the movie something to relate to. 

The Barbie movie shows the societal changes and differences between the so-called “real world” and Barbieland. All the leaders in Barbieland are women, from the president to the rest of the leaders. In the “real world, “ most leadership positions are held by men and they mainly make decisions for our country.  In the society of Barbieland, Barbies were seen superior to the Kens. The Kens were treated as objects to accompany the Barbies. In the Barbie movie, when Matel’s company was releasing a new Barbie was accompanied by a Ken doll they would sell it as “ Barbie and her boyfriend” or something along the lines of that. That's very different than the society we live in where women are more looked at as objects and only for their looks. This topic is touched on at the end of the movie where Ken explains to Barbie that he does not fit the looks or the part to accompany Barbie. 

At the end of the movie, we watch Barbie go through a journey of self-discovery. At the end the song “What Was I Made For” by  Billie Elish plays as Barbie relives all these memories and she goes through a self-discovery process about not wanting to be the object anymore she wants to be the one who makes the ideas. This was eye-opening to see the process of what it feels like to go through changes.