It's really kind of weird to think that the toy that every little girl plays with at least once in her lifetime is now 50! Barbie is a vital part of American girl’s social culture, she teaches us how we can make our hair look, the cute clothes we could wear when we get old enough, and even now to keep our Earth clean. She is the "perfect" form of a woman and her hair never gets frizzy, wouldn’t that be nice for the rest of us to have. Even though Barbie has been criticized over the years for making little girls think that they are not pretty enough, she teaches a lot of good lessons to little girls now more than ever. No girl has the perfect body and it is not up to a toy to teach young girls that. Barbie has a number of different movies out now that teach little kids all about sharing, caring and friendship....all good morals that hopefully we all want our children to have. I feel that Barbie is a positive role model to children and that she keeps getting better with each year that she gets older and doesn’t physically change. We could all take a cue from her on how to make the world a better place for all, but at the same time doing that while looking really cute. And isn't that every girls dream?
I don't agree with people that are against Barbie. She is the "perfect girl" in my opinion thin, long legs, perfect hair and face. I can see why some people would critize Barbie and have a problem with her, but i think their are bigger things to worry about.
ReplyDeleteJessica did a blog on Bratz dolls and between Barbie and the Bratz i think the Bratz dolls take the cake with being innapropriate. I think people should let Barbie be herself for another 50 years and stop worring about her and about toys that are 10 times worse with pounds of makeup and slutty clothing.
While it’s true that Barbie might be a good role model for young girls, in the fact that she teaches them that they can have a good career and keep the earth clean, I think that she is sending a hurtful message to them as well. Because she always looks perfect it makes little girls feel like they should always look good too. She’s teaching extremely young girls that, although they can get good jobs, they always have to look good doing it (it’s hard to stay clean and pretty while planting a tree or giving surgery, and yet Barbie always manages it). It’s true that Barbie is just a doll, but I think that because she is a doll she shouldn’t be teaching girls that being perfect all the time is what women have to do. Little girls shouldn’t be playing with something that is going to teach them that “math class is tough” (which is what one of the first talking Barbie dolls said until people started to complain that this was sexist). Because dolls are one of the first toys children learn to play with, Barbie shouldn’t be teaching them how to always be perfect looking; they should be learning how to play and just be kids, not how to do their hair and make-up so that they can eventually land a man like Ken. The image that Barbie is selling is impossible to achieve, and yet, for 50 years she’s been teaching little girls that that’s what they should strive for.
ReplyDeleteOh, and for a link about Barbie's quote "math class is tough" you can go to: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DE103AF932A15753C1A964958260
ReplyDeleteI agree that barbie is the perfect role model for kids. Im glad they changed the dimensions of her body so kids or teens don't have to worry about being so skinny? But being pretty and well liked and doing things correctly all the time are all girls dreams. So why not look up to someone like her?
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