Sex symbol or icon of progress? Opinions differ about Barbie

Many a supermodel has been discovered by chance while walking down the street – including Barbie. And in Switzerland. In 1958, Ruth Handler, co-founder of the American toy company Mattel, was walking through Lucerne and saw in the shop window a hard plastic doll with a blonde ponytail, long legs and high cheekbones. At that time, this character was not called Barbie, but Lilli.

Originally drafted as a stopgap for the first newspaper “Bild”, the sexy cartoon character Lilli inspired people in the post-war period with her cheeky and provocative statements. Lilli was so popular that she came on the market – and in a shop window in Lucerne – as a doll.

Toy manufacturer Handler was also fascinated by her and bought three copies. One for herself and two for her daughter Barbara, named Barbie. Shortly afterwards, the doll – slightly modified on the outside and with a new name – began its triumphal procession. That was 64 years ago.

Barbara Millicent Roberts – that’s Barbie’s full name – did what no influencer, model or businesswoman could do in real life: she has been shaping a beauty ideal for decades, is wrinkle-free even at AHV age and has practiced more than 100 professions to date .

Despite all these successes: Barbie always remained stuck in her perfect world of plastic. Or as the pop band Aqua sings in their hit: “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic”. But now that is changing. Because Barbie (played by Margot Robbie) gets the crisis, leaves her universe and becomes human. With her, Ken (Ryan Gosling) slips into reality.

This, in a nutshell, is the content of director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie (“Lady Bird” and “Little Women”). It hits theaters on Thursday, but it’s been a media event for a year now. That says a lot about Mattel’s marketing, which helps finance the film, but also about the Barbie phenomenon.

Everyone has a starting point. Whether it’s because as a child you first pulled the cowboy hat over the doll’s head and then cut her hair short, or because as parents you wanted to avoid the pink plastic mountain in the nursery with all your might, or because as grandparents you could.

Mattel has sold more than a billion Barbie dolls worldwide. In the mind of the manufacturer, money is not an issue for Barbie. Not only does she own thousands and thousands of clothes, but also villas, horses, boats and mobile homes. She is the image and cult figure of the consumer society. “Barbie embodies the perfect female consumer,” says Christine Lötscher. She conducts research on popular literature and media at the University of Zurich. For her, it’s no coincidence that Barbie was such a hit in the late ’50s. “It was a time when pop culture was austere and the whole world was looking to the US.”

As new as Barbie was, she is part of a long tradition. At the end of the 14th century, the first fashion dolls appeared in Paris. In a time when there were no fashion magazines, fashion designers, hair artists and jewelers traveled with them to different courts in Europe to present the latest trends to the nobility. Accordingly, they always embodied the beauty and fashion ideas of their time.

This continues up to and including Barbie, who as a fashion doll was no longer aimed at adults but at children. A novelty. “Before Barbie came out, there were almost only baby dolls. Anyone who plays with them almost inevitably has to slip into the mother role. With Barbie it’s different: you don’t have to worry about her, you can work on the ideals of femininity as embodied by stars,” says Lötscher.

Barbie is always a mirror of the times. No trend passes her by. Barbie has had her face lifted about 150 times. If Jacky Kennedy was considered the beauty ideal, then Barbie looked like her. Later, her features resembled those of Claudia Schiffer or Paris Hilton. Is the doll on the yoga mat today or has she been working as an immunologist in a laboratory since Corona, was she an astronaut in the 1960s and flower girl and disco queen in the 1970s. Her circle of friends, like her relatives, has grown over time, although these characters also adopt different trendy (female) types.

Barbie has become more and more diverse over time. She entered the market with different skin colors and nationalities, much later also with other clothing sizes, non-binary and with restrictions. In April, Mattel introduced the first Barbie doll with Down syndrome. “These launches show that we have become much more diverse as a society,” says Katja Rost, a sociologist at the University of Zurich.

But with all this diversity and inclusion, Barbie has always stayed true to her stereotype. “It’s also these copies that sell the most,” says Rost. Blond, long-haired and slim: that appeals. Why? “Beautiful people attract children. In addition, Barbie has very strong gender marketing. Mattel was one of the first to do this systematically with Barbie,” says Rost.

She herself grew up in the GDR. Without Barbie. As the incarnation of consumerism and American commerce, their pink world was not allowed to shine under communism. The sociologist says, “The more prosperous a country is, the more corporations serve stereotyped ideas.” Where there is money, much can be sold. “This is achieved through products that appear in blue and pink or by targeting men or women specifically despite having nearly identical content, such as a shampoo,” says Rost. This is one of the reasons why Ken only plays a supporting role in the Barbie universe. The stereotypical girl Mattel focuses on plays with female dolls.

It’s these gender roles and the idea of ​​femininity that’s why Barbie’s story isn’t all pink. The doll polarizes like no other toy – and has been since its first appearance. She fluctuates between icon and horror doll in the pink garbage universe. For some it is a symbol of female liberation, for others a means of oppressing women.

The feminist movement of the 1970s fought, among other things, against the objectification of women. And who is shallower than Barbie? The solid point between all the pink and glitter is her physicality. Her plastic-molded proportions (99-46-84) are not only unattainable, but simply unrealistic. For example, there is not enough space in her abdomen for all her organs.

Accordingly, the Barbie critics reject the doll not only because of its consumerist lifestyle, but also because of an exaggerated and one-sided ideal of beauty. “Images of women are negotiated based on this doll,” says Christine Lötscher.

She doesn’t share the rejection. Kids can certainly distinguish between dolls and humans, says the pop culture scientist. It’s too easy to blame Barbie for the obsession with beauty and the addiction to optimization. “The body problems of many young women do not stem from Barbie, but from social norms and values,” says Lötscher.

For the sociologist Rost, Barbie mainly shows how society ticks. “She tells us what is important to us. But above all, it serves mass consumption and shows what the masses want.” Barbie, a product of brutal capitalism.

Like all other well-known toy characters, Barbie has become a multimedia event. There are radio plays, animated films and video games featuring her. Barbie often appears as a princess. is that her Yes, says sociologist Katja Rost. “She embodies this girl who is her parents’ little princess and everything falls into her lap.” No, thinks Christine Lötscher, whose research also focuses on children’s and youth literature. “Princesses – from fairy tales, for example – experience many hardships and become wealthy through marriage.” With Barbie it is very different. She’s filthy rich without having worked her way through all the junk. “She is at most a princess of capitalism, but she does not develop,” says Lötscher.

She mainly sees Barbie as a ‘girl boss’; as a tough female character who has everything she wants. The princess role in the audiobooks and animated films, on the other hand, was chosen because this story sells well, says Lötscher. “These are ultra-cheap productions. Greta Gerwig’s feature film is the first time anyone in pop culture has taken a serious look at Barbie.” And whether you love her or hate her, after 64 years of world fame, she deserves this.