Barbie: The Woman, The Myth, The Legend
Friday, July 21st, I joined my Aunt (mom’s sister) and her family for a birthday trip to the movie theater. We saw the Barbie Movie. As someone who grew up playing with various Barbie dolls, I really enjoyed the movie. There was more depth than I thought there would be. Also the storyline resonated with me. Now, I refuse to provide too many spoilers, so please watch it yourself if you really are interested.
Like I previously stated, I grew up playing with Barbies. I only had my older brother around at family functions until my little sister was born five years after me. Until she was born I didn’t really play that many girly games, but I was all for it by the time she arrived. Thus started my Barbie phase.
Back in the early 2000s, there were not many options to get extra clothes for these dolls, so often we would be playing with very naked toys. My sister created clothes for them out of various colors of duct tape. Honestly it was a decent solution, the dresses never got lost because you could never undress the dolls again. She definitely deserves points for creativity and getting the job done. (Side note: my grandma hated that we had naked dolls, so we would hide them when she came to visit.)
As we would play, our dolls would take damage in the conventional way, but they also would be broken other ways. My family owned a large black lab, named Bella, who developed a keen sense for doll plastics. It became her favorite thing to chew on. So several of our Barbies became amputees and we would play with them even after they began missing limbs. This created another “game” of sorts. Hide the dolls after you were done playing with them so Bella wouldn’t find them and eat a limb off. Finding spots that our Barbies could live in between play sessions that were both safe from Bella, and hidden from my grandma, was a difficult task all on its own. Not sure if this was typical play with other children, but I would throw my dolls down the stairs because they could fly in my imaginary world. My dad is a big superhero fan, so I guess I get it from him.
These dolls went through the wringer at my hands. Barbies were subjected to the same wear and tear that my other childhood toys dealt with. Hair was cut off and such to make them truly a child’s toy. Looking back now, I can’t help but smile at the memories that Barbie helped me create. I didn’t care about the beauty standards she has become the beacon for. I just wanted a person shaped doll, so I could live out my imaginary stories through them. Maybe Barbie helped me on my path to be a writer and story teller.
