“If my daughter asks me for a Barbie one day, I likely won’t deny her,” this is how ends the thought of Jessica Valenti, arguing that Barbie dolls will teach her daughter how to get used to sexism and evolve critical thinking towards company`s manipulations. Without any doubt, one can see as the hidden intention of the company to increase the sales and to use the trend of feminism to promote its dolls. This paper will provide an analysis of the American Dream, Barbie doll, from a neo-Marxist or feminist perspective.
I choose this topic because it is controversial: interest of feminist critics is largely predetermined by the fact that they are putting gender issues with their social orientation associated with this doll. For example, in the works Marxists more often and more deeply are affected by the issues of poverty, racism, class antagonism, social justice, etc., than their counterparts, based on those or other psychoanalytic theory. Moreover, the latter often subjected to sharp criticism. It is we who have joined the Barbie doll at about the same time as the series of "Santa Barbara." Consonance with the name of the homeland forever romantic Cruz and Eden permanently moved Barbie closer to the circle of sacred heroes, moral character that is not negotiable.
Undoubtedly, without such antipuritan symbol of America, it would be more difficult to maintain composure. The living characters are not eternal; they give failures, out of shape, and even die. The advent and popularity of Barbie in America are natural. Barbie is the compensatory character of sensual pleasures in Puritan country obsessed with work and business. Thus, this doll doomed to criticism of public conscious and verbal - but doomed and lust public subconscious, and simultaneously tactile, visual and virtual. The next sections will show the stereotypes connected with this American idol as well as its connection with the American Dream concept and the economic metaphors depicted from Barbie`s character. Firstly, let us look at the phenomena of Barbie and compare it to the American dream.
The new version of Barbie doll plus-size literally shocked the vast number of Internet users. As it turned out, most people believe that the doll is a real insult to the female. In addition, a doll has an abnormal length of the legs and eye magnitude. Now, when there was a pattern of more realistic dolls, many still find it to have distorted proportions. Barbie could leave nervous Marilyn Monroe, she could have committed ten times to commit suicide or lost her visual identity on the table a cosmetic surgeon. Admittedly, Barbie was born in 1959, and Marilyn passed away in 1962. Such close proximity is no coincidence. America sensed that urgently needs-wildcards, more harmless, easily replicable and did not require complex care. Moreover, most importantly - deaf to the media debate. After the circulation in the media, it cannot spoil the complexion, the nerves and the character only an artificial creation. Doll woman's dream for little girls replaced the living woman-dream for boys. In addition, no one equal in Marilyn effect has not appeared so far. Perhaps, it is because the world of the self-decided is not crazy about one person and one image. Hence, pluralism, and political correctness, and a fantastic variation of modern fashion. Well, it really needs to buffet Barbie as an aesthetic phenomenon and whether Barbie is dangerous as the content? Outside Barbie - it looks beautiful adult woman with the proportions, which are more common in Western Europe and North America. A large bust, narrow waist, slim hips, long thin legs. That is very beautiful. Moreover, one must admit it courageously, even if not all of the women on the ground to meet these parameters. West throughout the twentieth century rapidly spreads around the world the standards of beauty. The dissemination of these standards leads to their coarsening and improvisation. But the West transcend such payment and all the world the American - Disney's Snow White, it's Marilyn Monroe, it's Julia Roberts and all the other Hollywood stars. It is Barbie! But not thick, devoid of all proportion, with a triple chin dolls that do not experience any complexes and do not consider that a disgrace to the bright image of Barbie.
The problem related to beauty in the style of Barbie - a problem of a great cultural policy and natural tastes of modern human masses. Barbie as an ideology - said that upbringing in children the desire for consumerism and programs on girls' perceptions of themselves purely as a sexual object. Generalization of these tendencies can lead to good arguments, but within reasonable limits it can lead too. However, Barbie is not to blame for the woes of the consumer society. Of course, Barbie, like so much else, could trigger manic tendencies. Nevertheless, to blame her is senseless, about the same as criminal movies to promote aggression and violence. Certainly, some of the girls may go mad on the sexy doll continue to emulate her not will step up to old age building their American Dream on becoming supermodel. Most healthy people will wait for time, forget Barbie, and understand the difference between a doll and a woman, the pleasures and joys of the game of the real world. It is significant that the current Western television production for children is concerned synthesizing harmonious beauty with intelligence, femininity and businesslike. Pink, pretty looks, sexy outfits and appearance a la Barbie combined with the skills heroines super agents - in the animated series Totally Spies and with the love of the sport, with the desire to help people - in the game series Lazy Town. Babies show that you can look like a Barbie but to be an interesting person. Keeping Barbie as an aesthetic ideal, it rather successfully reformed from the inside as a human content. But Barbie is waiting for changes.
In today's society, which is divided by sex, a woman is exploited, along with the exploited working class. However, if the workers overworked in the workplace, the home, and women are oppressed in the family. Vertical, as the status of the higher, the smaller words, the less there are women, the less words to denote the visibility of women. Because language, for example, for me, is the ability of women’s visibility in an area where women are sufficiently small. On the other hand, a horizontal segregation because this niche profession that is often fixed or for women or men. Sex category, is the product of a heterosexual society, transforming women into "sexual beings" and dolls, stimulates the development of such a concept. Moreover, what would they do not engage in, any kind of success in public life is not achieved, they are always perceived primarily as "sexual beings", even if they deviate from the traditional forms. That is remarkable because the women themselves are accustomed to perceive themselves. Women hardly perceived as the "social beings". Thus, sex category is tightly bound women. And this category is through "totalitarian", gave birth to their courts, their inquisition, their police, controlling not only the symptoms of women's lives, but their spiritual life, their culture and creativity. That is why this system has created absolutely other Barbie dolls, but they can hardly be seen as a change of the standard of beauty. This is primarily a form, a doll that lives its own life.
From the perspective of feminist criticism of the Marxist orientation of the Barbie doll can be seen as one of the ideological "superstructure" over the economic "base." And as the basis in the capitalist countries of the West is, it is not surprising that they are in the spirit of Marx's call to combat it. One can characterize them by a mixture of class and gender approaches to the image of women. Hence, Barbie formalism and its impact on young people was a significant reason for its rejection of Marxists and feminists. The article, in particular the American "new criticism" close the work in itself, talking about his special "aesthetic" or "symbolic" reality, for them the most important thing - its shape, the Marxists tied for first place content and expressed therein ideology, which always has a class character.
In conclusion, we can assume that the author has Marxist leanings. In his criticism, it considers that the "new criticism", placing the form above the product of its content and not paying attention to his ideology, in fact serve the interests of the ruling classes. Doll, as well as fiction, in their understanding, should be class-oriented and help the development of the population rather than its unification. This article provides the reader with a thorough development of a thought, with both Marxist and Feminism critique of popular trend. It may result in the future scholar work in the field of feminism or gender studies. On the other hand, it uncovers the routinized and unified thinking, as well as showing the other perspective on popular phenomenon. As for me, I have learned how to apply my knowledge of Marxism theories and Feminism to real-life example and case, which helped me to understand the mass culture production.
Mason Dillon is a talented writer at https://essaysprofessors.com/write-my-literary-analysis-essay.html. Whose hobby is to transfer his thought to the paper sheets.
