Barbie made her debut at the American Toy Fair 48 years ago today. There are more details here courtesy of the History Channel, once you get through the commercial. Overall, I think Barbie is a positive toy for little girls because kids play with dolls (or action figures) to project what they hope adult life will be like or act out adventures. I remember all the space operas, alien invasions and odd conflicts my brother and I tackled through GI Joe, Johnny West, Mego dolls and Star Wars figures.
I don’t buy into all the negative arguments though. Then again, I got an F in Pyschology 001 before I dropped that class. But my point is that I don’t think little girls are completely influenced by a doll on body issues, especially when peer pressure is stronger. The materialism part is rather weak too. Barbie shops because they don’t sell action sets for her and she doesn’t have a nemesis like Darth Vader, Skeletor or Cobra Commander. I wonder why they haven’t done some kind of tie-in with Tomb Raider, Kill Bill or Alias; examples of women in strong roles, violent yet they’re demonstrations of female action stars. I will have to put these questions to my three nieces Madison, Anna and Siri.
As a girl who used to play with Barbie; yes, we are influenced by our toys. Just not as much as we are by our friends. But when your friends are influenced by Barbie too… it becomes a pathetic circle. Luckily Barbie has had some reconstruction since my time, so kids are getting hit with the impossible body types from TV instead. Your comment about the lack of action sets is very true. My Barbie was a better shot than Han Solo after she stole his gun, and I had to make up all kinds of alien worlds for her to run around in. Shopping sucked, her van was boring, and we couldn’t afford to buy her condo. Where’s the alien spaceport, White House, and Evil Genius Lair? That’s what today’s Barbie needs.
Don’t know how many little girls played with them, but they made plenty of Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) toys back in the day. I’ll bet the majority of a) are still in the original packaging in the hands of some collector or b) are adorning a cubicle somewhere.
This, coming from a dude who before he got married and stopped collecting kitchy stuff had quite the Tomb Raider collection. Still have it — in the original packaging…