“To me, Barbie is more than a doll, she’s an icon, a role model, an inspiration and a lifestyle,” says Azusa, content creator and Barbie influencer living in West Hollywood, California. From its birth, at the end of the 1950s, the role of this blonde and slender figurine was not limited to just entertaining. While little girls only have dolls with which we play mom, Barbie is the first adult doll, she works, she has dreams. She will contribute to opening up the field of possibilities for little girls, while perpetuating an idealistic vision of beauty: wasp waist, long blonde hair and always perched on high heels (as Greta Gerwig has fun in her film) .
With Barbie, the perfect woman? broadcast by Arte, journalists Julia Zinke and Nicola Graef observe how this now iconic doll has evolved with the times, developing models that embody diversity, but also wonder about the commercial dimension of this desire displayed by Mattel.
More than 250 careers to his credit
Initially, this American company was co-founded by the husband of Ruth Handler, herself an accomplished businesswoman. Unconvinced by these infants who implicitly assign girls to a future role of mother, she launches an adult doll that she names Barbie, in a nod to the first name of her daughter Barbara. This model is inspired by a figurine spotted some time ago during a trip to Germany. From the first year, the figures prove that Ruth Handler was right, with 350,000 Barbies sold. Pediatrician, pop star, footballer, animal photographer, ballerina, doctor: no way for this doll to be a housewife.
“Barbie has over 250 careers under her belt. For children, it opens up horizons,” says Lisa McKnight, Vice President of Mattel. To work in this direction, the brand rewards women with exceptional careers and also inquires about sectors in which the fairer sex is not very present. This is what motivated the launch of Marine Biologist Barbie. The universe of this doll therefore evolves with the times and with a clear desire for diversity and inclusion. Thus, children today can play with Barbie and her wheelchair or a Barbie doll with Down syndrome.
“The goal is to sell as many toys as possible”
But Carla Schriever, professor, specialist in social work, nuance. “It will still take a long time for dolls with prosthesis, or skin disease, to find their way into every home,” she says. And if the American firm affirms that the sales figures of classic dolls are increasingly comparable to those of new models, the directors specify that it is not possible to verify this assertion. Today there are more than 175 different Barbies, including black Barbie, which after a first test at the end of the 1960s, really hit the shelves in the 1980s. “Diversity or business? asks the documentary. “Never forget that Mattel is a toy giant whose goal is to sell as many toys as possible. The question on which the marketing department is looking is that of the representation of all the indigenous children, black and of color, who cannot identify with a white doll, ”recalls Carla Schriever. And what about Barbie Curvy, with a rounder morphology than her sisters? When she left, she had completely taken down the cover of the Time, with this title: “Can we stop talking about my body? “. With this somewhat chubby figurine, Mattel intends to fight against the body shaming. But the comparison with another doll reveals that this Barbie with a less slender silhouette has much wider hips but hardly any difference with another model at the level of the bust…
In short, a nuanced documentary that offers an interesting counterpart to the Barbie currently in theaters, comedy which, by the way, allows Greta Gerwig to become the first woman to direct a film exceeding one billion dollars at the box office.