Today my parents dropped a box of my old Barbies, and associated dolls and paraphernalia, off at my house! I was DELIGHTED, because I never expected to see any of them again!
They, their Barbie Travelin’ House Playset, and all their various accessories are in, ur… relatively good condition? Let me introduce you to them!
The most impactful thing about Barbie 2023 was my liminal experience seeing it in a theater, because we got to the scene where Barbie is on the floor in Weird Barbie’s house having a breakdown, and America Ferrera goes to comfort her and asks what’s wrong, and crying and makeupless for the first time in the film, she says, “I’m not pretty anymore.” And its been silent, because this is an emotional moment, but as soon as the words are out, some little girl age 4-6 two rows behind us says, with unshakable truth and great worry, “But she is!” to the parent sitting by her. Everyone in hearing distance audibly reacted to that in the only way one would.
I saw “Barbie” last night! (Wearing pink, of course.)
It’s a beautifully made and absolutely fascinating movie that I hope is dissected for years to come. I am mildly disappointed it didn’t feature my all-time favourite Barbie, though, the Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie I had as a kid! Sadly no pictures exist of me with her but here’s what she looked like. I was OBSESSED with her golden tail.
The other fun thing was seeing all these reviews posted on the review board at the cinema! Said cinema was the Phoenix in Leicester and I love it, and I think more cinemas should have a review board.
Barbie Pink & Fabulous ― ‘Barbie’ Los Angeles Photocall Barbie 1959 ― ‘Barbie’ Bondi Beach Photocall Barbie Day to Night ― ‘Barbie’ Seoul Premiere Barbie Sparkling Pink ― ‘Barbie’ Seoul Press Conference Earring Magic Barbie ― ‘Barbie’ Mexico Premiere Totally Hair Barbie ― ‘Barbie’ Mexico Photocall Solo in the Spotlight Barbie ― ‘Barbie’ Los Angeles Premiere Enchanted Evening Barbie ― ‘Barbie’ London Premiere
It kind of really confuses me when Barbie commercials have little girls dressing them up and brushing their hair Like no Barbie is not about fashion. Barbie is about collecting as many dolls as you can get your grubby 7 year old hands on and dominating the living room with your expansive empire of plastic women. Barbie is about creating intricate social structures and spicy inter-family conflicts between town house residents. Barbie is about formulating complex back stories for tortured Ken dolls with emotional scars. It’s about creating near-sadistic dramatic plot twists that split up marriages and cause that one Barbie you really dislike to be ceremoniously tossed down the stairs in order to be offed by the jealous ex-wife of Ken #4.
Yes, but how do you make it into a marketable commercial that won’t freak parents and caregivers out?
I’ve always had the impression that advertisers don’t really understand how girls play with their toys.
When I played with Barbies I had this thing called “The Dead Pit” which was a purple bratz laundry hamper. So whenever a Barbie got killed off she would go in there. And what I would do was I would carry her to the dead pit while singing the dead pit song. The dead pit song was just saying “The dead pit” over and over again in different tones. Anyway, once I finally reached the pit I would announce “(name) has died.” And drop her in. I would wait a few moments. Then, I would violently shake the hamper while shrieking, pretending to be the tortured souls of dead barbies from the underworld. I thought it was hilarious.
God I loved Barbies as a kid. I had about three of them I think? (Plus a few more non-Barbie knockoff dolls). Whoever my favourite Barbie was that day, it was her job to save Ken from various damsel-in-distress situations, like “falling in the river” (being pushed off the sofa). I miss ‘em
