The Barbie Collection website is a dangerous place; I spent an hour scrolling 
through all the different Barbies and their elaborate outfits and ended up wishing that I didn’t sell all of mine at a yard sale in 2006. I even found one that I had (2000 Celebration)! The Barbies of the World were intriguing, especially considering all of the stereotypes that they embodied, but even more interesting were the Designer Barbies. As if collector Barbies couldn’t get any more extravagant, these dolls feature clothes that were designed by world famous designers such as Christian Louboutin, Burberry, and Armani. Barbie models ballgowns, fur boas, and even wedding dresses in this series. The fact that a doll has nicer clothes than myself is a little disturbing.
The material side of Barbie is explained by the collectability and the style that she embodies. Without her fancy clothes, what would there be to collect? Yes, there are different Barbies with a variety of hair and skin colors, but the clothes are what make her so collectable (Pearson and Mullins). By creating over a thousand different outfits, Mattel has created not only a toy for girls but an item for adults to obsess over as well. Clothes are a necessity that many cultures, including our own, have turned into something materialistic. I will even admit that buying clothes is one of the most satisfying feelings, hence “retail therapy”. So by buying a collector Barbie a person is not only getting a doll, he/she is buying an outfit. The Designer Barbies take retail therapy to the next level. Barbie’s outfit becomes even more extravagant and flashy, which is mouth-watering for collectors. When you throw a pink floral Kate Spade trenchcoat on her, the material level of a Barbie doll is enchanced by a thousand. The Designer series of Barbies shows the material culture that surrounds Barbie, even more than the doll itself.
take in your surroundings. Are you in a bedroom? Now it’s the Barbie Fantasy Bedroom. Are you watching TV? Well, now you’re watching a Barbie commercial on a pink, plastic couch. Cooking? Your timer has a cute little voice tell you when the food’s done in the oven, and your Barbie apron keeps you looking fashionable as you put the meal on the table for your hunky significant other. You can Barbiefy any activity, and it’s actually fun to think of all the ridiculous ways you can do so.
from a few months ago regarding the 2010 Barbie book, I Can Be…A Computer Engineer. The controversy arose when a journalist for Gizmodo, Pamela Ribon, published an article dissecting the book, entitled “Barbie F*cks It Up Again,” on November 18, 2014.
While the articles we read in class depicted Barbie as a grown adult modeled after the “Bild Lilli,” a “sort of three-dimensional pinup,” the Barbie portrayed in books from 2004 to the present, show a teen Barbie in high school, who, disconcertingly, owns her own Dreamhouse with her younger sister Skipper, and the occasional friend, or a teen princess Barbie (Lord 7-8). The two main series of books in production in 2014 and 2015 are Barbie in Princess Power and Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. The Princess Power series appears the most promising, as it depicts Barbie as a modern day princess with powers that allow her to “save the day,” but Life in the Dreamhouse highly values domesticity, with titles like “Cupcake Challenge!” “Barbie Loves Parties!” and “Dream Closet”. However, there is one book in the series that focuses on Barbie’s independence – in “Licensed to Drive” Barbie receives her drivers’ license and gains mobility and the responsibility of driving Skipper and her friends around the town.
seems to be ingrained in our brains as a young, white, American woman, eager to help on the home-front while the boys are away. But how much of this iconic image corresponds to what the face of a “Rosie” actually looked like in the forties? Did all the women who stepped forward to work fit this cookie-cutter example of what a wartime heroine should be? Or did the lines blur to include women of different color, ages, or socioeconomic backgrounds?
Rosie the Riveter, the more I began to question Rosie as a true American Icon and more of an American Farce. Defining an American Icon in the beginning of the semester we learned that an iconic image is “wholly exceptional and has levels of widespread recognizability; moved beyond its original purpose; is in fact original and moved to a point of celebrity; and has the attraction of a cult following”. While I think that most may agree that Rosie possesses these types of characteristics, I believe she does so in the sense that she was specifically made TO BECOME an icon, which to me breaks the #1 rule of iconicity- she isn’t original or authentic. Rosie the Riveter, in my opinion, was just a successful advertising campaign.
the essence of achieving, and in World War II’s case upholding, the American Dream. Your ability as a person or collectively as a country to overcome and succeed allows you to achieve that Dream; when it’s smashed, there is nothing to do but try to survive again. American culture, based on the survival efforts of man was thrown upside down when all of our men were sent to the front lines. Who would help the country pick up the broken pieces of its white picket fence?
Women, like Mary Cohen, were encouraged by the Office of War Information’s magazine campaigns run by Dorothy Dorcas and the Magazine Bureau (Honey) to take up the jobs of men to fulfill their patriotic duty to their country and help the country survive in its time of need. The propaganda campaigns of the OWI achieved the goal of their “psychological” war in drawing women into taking up the duty of survival previously left to men. No doubt the achievement of these women, their dedication and patriotism to our country is commendable; but how do women like Mary Cohen survive in our male dominated historical narrative? How do these women’s stories become a huge part of World War II’s historical narrative?
5 days a week to rivet in New Jersey in 1942. After fulfilling what she felt was her American duty to help support the men over-seas and “rebuild the fence,” she joined the United States Army and worked on airplanes in Tucson. She later married, had children, and worked for the State of California to help place veterans in jobs. In one of her stories she tells of giving up her seat on a plane to a young man returning home from Iraq. Clearly Cohen represents the ideal woman of American society that history has presented us; patriotic, willing to serve her country, a mother and wife, a supportive role model. Her profile fit into the narrative of World War II without disturbing the accomplishments of man- She “[could] do it!” She, like all Rosie’s, achieved iconic status because of a supporting role- much like Betsy Ross did for the American Revolution.
rolling a higher number increases the chances of success. On a 20-sided dice, rolling a natural 20 (a 20 is displayed on the die) means instant success! Not only success, but really awesome things happen. On the other hand, rolling a natural 1 means instant failure. And not only failure, but bad things happen to your character, too. Reading about Wonder Woman, her origins, and her evolution made me think about the role that women play in comics and the Fantasy genre, and how it so often feels like we are constantly rolling a natural one.
