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The Forum > Article Comments > A Barbie-traumatised childhood > Comments

A Barbie-traumatised childhood : Comments

By Shakira Hussein, published 28/2/2006

The wholesome Barbie gives way to the sulky hookers of today's new 'doll on the block', the multicultural Bratz.

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I really missed something.

My toys had no ethnicity.

Doh.
Posted by keith, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 4:59:55 PM
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Given the choice of Bratz over Barbie I'd take Barbie any day (not that my kids would mind you).

Anyone seen the Bratz movie (not sure which one, they all look the same) -- where the Bratz give us deep insights into the human condition such as "if I lost my fashion sense I don't know what I'd do". Well thanks for that bratz #1. Barbie may have been an all American blonde but at least she showed dolls could be more then mothers (as a side note, Barbie inventor wanted a doll for her daughter who was just a mother figure; couldn't get one and so Barbie was born).

Bratz seem to be saying that you can be good looking and slutty no matter what your skin colour -- brains are no object (or help in the Bratz world). Barbie may have my pumping a blonde message but at least she showed you could be a doctor or an airline pilot as well.

Having said this, I don't actually think it make much difference to my daughters what colour or occupation the dolls have, bratz, barbies and baby born all end up naked at the bottom of the toy box.
Posted by Charger, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 6:17:30 PM
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As Shakira opens Pandora’s Box on a culture that has been vastly popular, teen doll collecting lets reflect on what drives these super toys. Given that Barbie in her heyday sold up to half a million every few hours, we can’t dismiss her as a failed icon, simply the winning theme after decades on top was best refreshed by a rival. But what’s it all about?

Original fantasy or private adult nostalgia these dolls are all about who we are today, a plastic encapsulation of our weirdest moments. Every bit of it is just sheer indulgence made possible by modern mass production, the slickest of marketing and the weakest of doting customers, crazy stuff from the outside, maybe.

Mattel like Meccano ran with a creation for decades. To reach their pinnacle both depended on fine engineering of the time for their basic structures. Then came fashions and seasons all in miniature. Now some can’t resist that can they? Everything we ever wished for in a shoe box at a reasonable price, fantastic!

As expected many alternative tried to compete and there were casualties. Lifestyle itself becomes the issue and that requires producing the background extensions. Not all teens including dolls make it to maturity soon enough in this most competitive world. Note too the frustrations start with our infants. Who still has their old Barbie mint and without bite marks? I bet your parents started it though.
Posted by Taz, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 11:10:38 PM
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Mattel seems to have grabbed a German Lilly doll after the war and reproduced a version in Japan for the US market first patented in 1958. Japanese toy manufactures encouraged this way did not stop. Engineering and robotics went on in all sorts of ways with other toys. Bandai figures had a life of their own for quite a time, and then there was the moonfaced girl Blythe. One went back to Japan still in its original packet from a big country town in Australia for a good figure, well over $5000 and its special air fair as an extra. Bratz can catch up later.

Today in Japan there are big dolls for adults and their technology goes on and on. Each one may have some sort of life in and out of the limelight and they sure go to parties and conventions with their creators and playmates young or old just like Barbie did.

Barbie had a huge following with many countries getting in on fashion design, production and assembly of odd issues. This is why collectors, resellers, dealers and make over artists tried to cash in at highly organised conventions. What ever happened to wooden peg dolls, and when do silicone models take over from the vinyls??

BTW the first official Black Barbie was patented in 1980, late acceptance in the US but they never quite made it downunder then or later. I reckon Shakira still has a bit of a problem.
Posted by Taz, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 11:22:05 PM
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Very interesting article. I could relate with many things; I too was desperate for multi-ethnic dolls as a child. My mother would search far and wide for ANY ethnic fashion doll (or even a doll without blonde hair)but that wasn't easy to come by especially in the 80's.

I am grateful to MGA Entertainment; they broke the vicious cycle of blonde haired, blued eyed fashion dolls that dominated the market for years. I don't have a problem with dolls that look that way but when it's all a company offers, it can make ethnic children feel indifferent. They need a doll that represents them; a doll they can relate too. As a little Latina girl I was craving a doll that looked like me and the women in my family. The Bratz dolls are the dolls I dreamed of as a child and I highly enjoy collecting them.

These dolls should be praised for their ethnic diversity and other toy companies should take note.

~Lady Yuna's Bratz Group~

http://www.bratzfanz.com
Posted by Lady Yuna, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 2:42:51 AM
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Everytime someone brings up an issue such as this, some people automaticlly think that the ethnic people are the ones with the problems ,or the ones with low self esteem.Just because they don't fit into a bias and narrow minded society.
Europeans spend alot on plastic surgeries,blonde hair dye,skin tanning, etc,not to say that women of colour don't do things to change their looks,but people say they (the ethnic people)are the ones with the self hate issues.When it goes both ways. Nicole Kidman has straighten her hair,dyed it blonde and gotten botox. This move will never be seen as self hate,only a make-over to boast her career to some.
I see beauty and un-attractiveness in every single race,but if things where shown with this light to society,people would become bored with looks, and that would mean bad business to beauty companies.The difference in beauty around the world would make the barbie doll "lose its appeal",not a barbie anymore. Barbie and Bratz are cute dolls, but people create dolls and what they look like
Posted by Amel, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 3:42:03 AM
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