Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Barbie forever

Since her debut on March 9, 1959 (officially considered her birthday), Barbie has become a cultural icon, teaching girls (boys too) that they can be anything they want to be. Barbie’s been a US Air Force pilot, a dentist, a NASCAR driver, an astronaut, a nurse, a firefighter, a model, a news anchor, a candy store cashier, a chef, an ambassador for world peace, a ballerina, a veterinarian, a Sea World trainer, a business executive, a bus driver, a cheerleader, a palaeontologist, a cowgirl, an architect and a police officer. She’s taught sign language, Spanish, dance, swimming, art, aerobics and special education.

What's next, Barbie?

Yay Barbie as an Anglican minister and Hillary Clinton, above! In about 1992, my 8 year old son and his friend Kim made a sculpture - they took my daughter's Barbies and masking taped them to a large piece of plywood. It was quite fantastical and a friend of mine offered to buy it as a piece of art. But Anna was upset to find her Barbies plastered all over a board. Another artistic career cut short.

My complain about Barbie has always been her absurdly small feet. We big footed women suffer enough from footism - begone, Cinderella and her ugly sisters with their giant feet! - without having this role model with her itsy bitsy footies preset for high heels. Feh.

AND ... here's the most stunning array of photographs, the Smithsonian photo contest finalists.

No comments:

Post a Comment