Love this. I remember making my barbies scissor and that’s literally all I remember making my barbies do. Hugely relate to being of the gen where doing feminism right is terrifying. Also gonna get a tattoo of Knife Barbie one day. 💞
I recently came across a copy of an argument I made as part of a school debating team in Form 3 (Year 9). The topic was 'why Barbie is bad'. It doesn't look like I can attach photos here but I have found an image to text generator online so let's see how well it works. This was my argument: "How many people do you know, who are always smiling, and looking happy, even when a small girl has chopped off all their hair, and flushed them head first down the toilet, I don't think so. But this is what Barbie does. How many times has Barbie looked angry, or depressed, Or has the talking Barbie ever looked even slightly annoyed, when a bunch of little brats pulls the string right out of her back?
Barbie is so happy, it's depressing. You've just flunked all your subjects, and there's your sisters Barbie sitting on the shelf, smiling about it! If my friends ever did that, I'd probably strangle them! Looking at Barbie, we see someone with the perfect boyfriend, the perfect life, and the perfect body.
In case you hadn't noticed, Barbie is physically impossible. Did you know that if Barbie was a real person, 168cm tall, she would have a 48cm waist, 72cm hips and a 74cm bust. In other words, she would be shaped like this (demonstrates with hands). Nearly every boys dream, but pretty depressing for all the other girls out there whoe dont have quite as good a figure,
and will be led to believe that they are ugly or fat.
And Barbie would also have ankles that are 15cm in circumference, and a child's size 6 shoes, making people think that their feet are far too big, and possibly even trying to bind them, like the Japanese did last century. And what about all the
perfectionists out there, who have to look perfect, might try to look like Barbie, and end up anorexic, or Bulimic, some girls will do anything for a good figure. This may not be much of a threat to boys, but do they really want to be surrounded by a whole lot of puking girls?
By the way, the bimbo look is out, so there is no point in selling Barbies thinking that girls will think they are cool, because even young girls don't want to end up looking and acting like a Bimbo. Because if they do, they won't have any friends, and guys will only like them for their body.
How many people here have seen those skimpy little dresses Barbie wears, anyone who could even get into clothes like that would probably think that they looked fat.
This is the 90's, we don't want girls thinking that it is OK to be ordered around by men because Barbie has taught them that being a passive female is alright, for instance, basically everything that the talking Barbie says is something vacuous, such as: Let's go to the mall with skipper, and, I'm going to a party, want to come?
And why does Barbie have to look so perfect, so she can sell well? look at Cabbage Patch Kids, they're short, fat, and ugly, and you can't say that they don't sell well. And one thing I want to know, why does Mattel manufacture Barbie underwear, if Barbie doesn't even wear underwear herself? Very interesting.
Looking closely, there is an awful lot of racism involved with Barbies, the first Barbies made, 31 years ago, were blonde, well tanned, and white. Eventually a coloured doll came out in 1967, called Coloured Francie, but she didn't sell well at all, you can see why just by looking at the
name.
A few years ago, Mattel started manufacturing ethnic dolls, Kenyan Barbies, Tongan Barbies, and many more. All these Barbies looked exactly like the original Barbie, except, of course, that they had darker skin.
And all of them come wearing a traditional costume from their origin, all but the American Barbie, who wears cool, casual clothes, I mean, New Zealanders don't go around in flax skirts all day, so why should young children grow up thinking that anyone who is a different colour from them goes around in woven headbands with a skimpy straw skirt, not the way people want their people to be represented, I wouldn't think.
Well, unfortunately, the Barbie is out there, and until it's banned, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."
Barbie memories here: My oldest son loved making Barbie clothes (yep he's gay), he played with our Barbies, my girls had a few (op shops, and gifts) and he made clothes for them. Years later the girl next door who used to play barbies with him said she was always jealous because he could make better clothes than she could. My girls dismembered theirs and we had Barbie body parts sitting in the bath for weeks - as they mixed them all up, cut their hair, got their brother to make new clothes for them. When son turned 21 a friend made his cake - Barbie stuck in a gorgeous cake skirt with miss universe vibe - a curved row of sparklers behind her stuck in her skirt , Magnificent! Then there was a pregnant Barbie - I was sent one so a radio station could interview me - sooooo weird, her belly actually popped off like a turtle shell, and baby sat inside this pop off belly, My little girls knew babies came out of vaginas - I cant remember if they knew how they got in there in the first place but I was certainly confused how poor Barbie was supposed to get pregnant and why anyone would have thought pregnant Barbie could be educational - made for a bloody funny interview.
Oh how I adored playing with my barbies! Mine were always single mums with like 5 kids and a crappy job. There was definitely some scissoring going on too 😂
I relate very much to Tam’s Barbie experience. I always thought I should want one but never did. I asked for one once but my mum knew better than me how it would end up. She got me a Cindy (Barbie’s basic copy cat) and within a day I’d cut off her hair, chewed off her hands and feet and given her some heavy felt tip makeup. She too ended up in the garden - as a scarecrow for our vege patch.
I did however get really into Jem & the Holograms. Cool rock star dolls that played instruments and saved orphaned children were way more my vibe it turned out.
Yeah I'm pretty sure that my mum was relieved when I was gifted that Barbie so she didn't have to spend money on something that it was actually unlikely that I'd vibe with lol
Reflecting on how ducked up it was that the ugly barbie = the villain barbie. We had an ugly barbie whose hair had been ill-advisedly tied up for too long in a pony tail and when we took it out IT STAYED UP. She was known, from then and forever more, as PALM TREE HEAD BARBIE. Even now, when my hair does the kink/step thing from too many hours in a pony, I shudder and think about her.
Oh, just remembered. I kept all of my Barbies (and one Ken, and Kelly, and maybe Chelsea? I also had a Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and this other tween age doll?) and they now live at my MILs so that my nieces could use them at her house, and then my boys got a bit older and they play with them there too, so I'm finding that awesome. My youngest has always been really into role play stuff so it's right up his alley.
I may have also bought a set that included a bed and two chairs from a fair, for, well bed reasons 🤣
My mum wouldn't buy me a Barbie (not sure if it was feminism or if she couldn't afford it at the time) so I saved my pocket money to buy my first one (the lead singer of Barbie and the Rockers - I loved the huge perm). Then she gave me my second one the following year and I bought my third one not long after. I loved making my own clothes for them and I made a whole lot of house and kitchen stuff out of FIMO because I thought the prices for the official stuff were way too expensive and what I could make was better anyway. I had no Kens but I can remember making my Barbies kiss each other on occasion...
Who do you reckon the movie is aimed at?! I'm so confused! I feel like it's too piss-take to be aimed at kids, but maybe too ridiculous for adults? But also after a few drinks maybe perfect 🤷♀️
Or is it all going to fly over most kids heads, and they'll just be there because "Barbie!" Like most kids films from when you were a kid, you go and watch now, and it's like you're watching a different movie entirely?
I had one barbie, received the christmas when I was four. My mum said it was crazy expensive but worth it in the end because that christmas I got mumps and barbie kept me fascinated the whole time.
She got a very bad fringe at one point and I was annoyed that it didn't grow back. She had earrings and the most beautiful shimmery dress and shoes. I remember mum and my grandma making clothes for her, but I really wasn't much of a girly girl after about age six, so she ended up getting pulled into all kinds of other shenanigans, and then discarded in favour of books and bike riding and anything that wasn't pink.
I am weirdly tempted by this film for the irony? Also, that Little Women pic at the end had me chortling!
I’m sad to hear it made you feel sad. But I’m also kind of confused that it did? I thought it was really clearly just fun and the “media analysis” was just that - a joking, fun post. I really loved it and it looks like a lot of other people did too - not everyone will like everything I share on here. But I think my mates are just the kindest, best people to take time out of their super busy schedules to keep my newsletter running while I’m so unwell. And hopefully we can all remember that eh and keep in that spirit of kindness eh?
Hey - I get that you didn’t like the post, it’s ok. I publish 3x a week every week. I totally understand not everything I write will be what folks are into (I wish it was but that’s life!). And my mates stepping in for me are just sharing what lights them up to support me and give me time to recover from being pretty desperately unwell and also to entertain others as well ❤️ not everything they write will be stuff every one of my subscribers will be into. Thanks for subscribing and again, I’m sorry you’re upset.
Love this. I remember making my barbies scissor and that’s literally all I remember making my barbies do. Hugely relate to being of the gen where doing feminism right is terrifying. Also gonna get a tattoo of Knife Barbie one day. 💞
Knife Barbie is totally genius. Love that it wasn’t just a stick leg they gave her but a full on Bond villain knife leg vibe.
I honestly don't know WHY it was a knife but it was so perfect for the killer lesbian vibe
I’m so relieved I’m not the only one who had aggressively queer barbies.
My Barbies scissored all day e’erday
OMG this is fabulous ❤️❤️❤️
I recently came across a copy of an argument I made as part of a school debating team in Form 3 (Year 9). The topic was 'why Barbie is bad'. It doesn't look like I can attach photos here but I have found an image to text generator online so let's see how well it works. This was my argument: "How many people do you know, who are always smiling, and looking happy, even when a small girl has chopped off all their hair, and flushed them head first down the toilet, I don't think so. But this is what Barbie does. How many times has Barbie looked angry, or depressed, Or has the talking Barbie ever looked even slightly annoyed, when a bunch of little brats pulls the string right out of her back?
Barbie is so happy, it's depressing. You've just flunked all your subjects, and there's your sisters Barbie sitting on the shelf, smiling about it! If my friends ever did that, I'd probably strangle them! Looking at Barbie, we see someone with the perfect boyfriend, the perfect life, and the perfect body.
In case you hadn't noticed, Barbie is physically impossible. Did you know that if Barbie was a real person, 168cm tall, she would have a 48cm waist, 72cm hips and a 74cm bust. In other words, she would be shaped like this (demonstrates with hands). Nearly every boys dream, but pretty depressing for all the other girls out there whoe dont have quite as good a figure,
and will be led to believe that they are ugly or fat.
And Barbie would also have ankles that are 15cm in circumference, and a child's size 6 shoes, making people think that their feet are far too big, and possibly even trying to bind them, like the Japanese did last century. And what about all the
perfectionists out there, who have to look perfect, might try to look like Barbie, and end up anorexic, or Bulimic, some girls will do anything for a good figure. This may not be much of a threat to boys, but do they really want to be surrounded by a whole lot of puking girls?
By the way, the bimbo look is out, so there is no point in selling Barbies thinking that girls will think they are cool, because even young girls don't want to end up looking and acting like a Bimbo. Because if they do, they won't have any friends, and guys will only like them for their body.
How many people here have seen those skimpy little dresses Barbie wears, anyone who could even get into clothes like that would probably think that they looked fat.
This is the 90's, we don't want girls thinking that it is OK to be ordered around by men because Barbie has taught them that being a passive female is alright, for instance, basically everything that the talking Barbie says is something vacuous, such as: Let's go to the mall with skipper, and, I'm going to a party, want to come?
And why does Barbie have to look so perfect, so she can sell well? look at Cabbage Patch Kids, they're short, fat, and ugly, and you can't say that they don't sell well. And one thing I want to know, why does Mattel manufacture Barbie underwear, if Barbie doesn't even wear underwear herself? Very interesting.
Looking closely, there is an awful lot of racism involved with Barbies, the first Barbies made, 31 years ago, were blonde, well tanned, and white. Eventually a coloured doll came out in 1967, called Coloured Francie, but she didn't sell well at all, you can see why just by looking at the
name.
A few years ago, Mattel started manufacturing ethnic dolls, Kenyan Barbies, Tongan Barbies, and many more. All these Barbies looked exactly like the original Barbie, except, of course, that they had darker skin.
And all of them come wearing a traditional costume from their origin, all but the American Barbie, who wears cool, casual clothes, I mean, New Zealanders don't go around in flax skirts all day, so why should young children grow up thinking that anyone who is a different colour from them goes around in woven headbands with a skimpy straw skirt, not the way people want their people to be represented, I wouldn't think.
Well, unfortunately, the Barbie is out there, and until it's banned, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."
Actually I just remembered that the debate topic was "Why Barbie should be banned" :-)
Omg I can’t even, this is so great.
“Do they really want to be surrounded by a whole lot of puking girls?”
Won’t someone think of those boys and all the puking girls they would have to cope with?!
Thank you for this gift 🙏
Barbie memories here: My oldest son loved making Barbie clothes (yep he's gay), he played with our Barbies, my girls had a few (op shops, and gifts) and he made clothes for them. Years later the girl next door who used to play barbies with him said she was always jealous because he could make better clothes than she could. My girls dismembered theirs and we had Barbie body parts sitting in the bath for weeks - as they mixed them all up, cut their hair, got their brother to make new clothes for them. When son turned 21 a friend made his cake - Barbie stuck in a gorgeous cake skirt with miss universe vibe - a curved row of sparklers behind her stuck in her skirt , Magnificent! Then there was a pregnant Barbie - I was sent one so a radio station could interview me - sooooo weird, her belly actually popped off like a turtle shell, and baby sat inside this pop off belly, My little girls knew babies came out of vaginas - I cant remember if they knew how they got in there in the first place but I was certainly confused how poor Barbie was supposed to get pregnant and why anyone would have thought pregnant Barbie could be educational - made for a bloody funny interview.
Love this Pinky 😘
Oh how I adored playing with my barbies! Mine were always single mums with like 5 kids and a crappy job. There was definitely some scissoring going on too 😂
Everyone made their barbies fuck! 😂
I relate very much to Tam’s Barbie experience. I always thought I should want one but never did. I asked for one once but my mum knew better than me how it would end up. She got me a Cindy (Barbie’s basic copy cat) and within a day I’d cut off her hair, chewed off her hands and feet and given her some heavy felt tip makeup. She too ended up in the garden - as a scarecrow for our vege patch.
I did however get really into Jem & the Holograms. Cool rock star dolls that played instruments and saved orphaned children were way more my vibe it turned out.
Yeah I'm pretty sure that my mum was relieved when I was gifted that Barbie so she didn't have to spend money on something that it was actually unlikely that I'd vibe with lol
Reflecting on how ducked up it was that the ugly barbie = the villain barbie. We had an ugly barbie whose hair had been ill-advisedly tied up for too long in a pony tail and when we took it out IT STAYED UP. She was known, from then and forever more, as PALM TREE HEAD BARBIE. Even now, when my hair does the kink/step thing from too many hours in a pony, I shudder and think about her.
Oh, just remembered. I kept all of my Barbies (and one Ken, and Kelly, and maybe Chelsea? I also had a Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and this other tween age doll?) and they now live at my MILs so that my nieces could use them at her house, and then my boys got a bit older and they play with them there too, so I'm finding that awesome. My youngest has always been really into role play stuff so it's right up his alley.
I may have also bought a set that included a bed and two chairs from a fair, for, well bed reasons 🤣
I am so excited for this movie !!!!!
Thanks Tam and Vee! That was hilarious and awesome!
My mum wouldn't buy me a Barbie (not sure if it was feminism or if she couldn't afford it at the time) so I saved my pocket money to buy my first one (the lead singer of Barbie and the Rockers - I loved the huge perm). Then she gave me my second one the following year and I bought my third one not long after. I loved making my own clothes for them and I made a whole lot of house and kitchen stuff out of FIMO because I thought the prices for the official stuff were way too expensive and what I could make was better anyway. I had no Kens but I can remember making my Barbies kiss each other on occasion...
I swear, everyone's Barbies were gay as fuck 😂
Who do you reckon the movie is aimed at?! I'm so confused! I feel like it's too piss-take to be aimed at kids, but maybe too ridiculous for adults? But also after a few drinks maybe perfect 🤷♀️
Definitely not for kids! Especially not with the "beach you off" innuendo!
Or is it all going to fly over most kids heads, and they'll just be there because "Barbie!" Like most kids films from when you were a kid, you go and watch now, and it's like you're watching a different movie entirely?
Very true! Don't think my almost 7 year old would understand. Looks like I may be going to the movies!
Do you think that scene just ends in a massive orgy on the beach? 🤣 imagine.
We can only hope so lol
bahaha!
I had one barbie, received the christmas when I was four. My mum said it was crazy expensive but worth it in the end because that christmas I got mumps and barbie kept me fascinated the whole time.
She got a very bad fringe at one point and I was annoyed that it didn't grow back. She had earrings and the most beautiful shimmery dress and shoes. I remember mum and my grandma making clothes for her, but I really wasn't much of a girly girl after about age six, so she ended up getting pulled into all kinds of other shenanigans, and then discarded in favour of books and bike riding and anything that wasn't pink.
I am weirdly tempted by this film for the irony? Also, that Little Women pic at the end had me chortling!
I’m sad to hear it made you feel sad. But I’m also kind of confused that it did? I thought it was really clearly just fun and the “media analysis” was just that - a joking, fun post. I really loved it and it looks like a lot of other people did too - not everyone will like everything I share on here. But I think my mates are just the kindest, best people to take time out of their super busy schedules to keep my newsletter running while I’m so unwell. And hopefully we can all remember that eh and keep in that spirit of kindness eh?
I also enjoyed this shot for shot analysis! https://www.hercampus.com/school/ncsu/a-shot-for-shot-analysis-of-the-barbie-trailer/
Hey - I get that you didn’t like the post, it’s ok. I publish 3x a week every week. I totally understand not everything I write will be what folks are into (I wish it was but that’s life!). And my mates stepping in for me are just sharing what lights them up to support me and give me time to recover from being pretty desperately unwell and also to entertain others as well ❤️ not everything they write will be stuff every one of my subscribers will be into. Thanks for subscribing and again, I’m sorry you’re upset.