Nick LeBlanc WMST 390T Research Paper Ruth Handler and the Barbie Doll Ruth Handler is not exactly a household name around the world, however, her invention, the Barbie doll is. Perhaps one of the most well known toys in history, the Barbie doll has a special place in the heart of every little girl. The Barbie doll has been an incredibly influential toy in societies all around the world for decades. The argument on whether or not these influences were good or bad is a controversial one when
2009 by John Hopkins University Press. This “blonde Bimbo”, Barbie, named after her creator, Ruth Handler children Bar-bara, has formed and shaped a feminine idea that is controversial. However, I state that the representation of Barbie, as a cultural icon in Americans society, imposes undesireable as well as impossible models of feminity on adolescents. Therefore, I claim that Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, exploits the change in American culture by using the doll as a means of appropriation. First
storm. The creation of the eleven and one–half-inch tall “glam gal” didn’t begin at a large corporation’s drawing board, as some might think. She actually came straight from the hands of her loving “parents”, Ruth and Elliot Handler. The Mattel Corporation, founded by Ruth and Elliot Handler, has successfully marketed the Barbie doll for over four decades and still continues to sell the doll throughout the world. It is amazing the impact this “child’s toy” has had in both the corporate boardroom
than Just the Mother of Barbie 90% of girls ages three through ten owned at least one Barbie doll. Ruth Handler’s idea for children to live there adult fantasies through a toy, came to life in a tall beautiful blonde doll. Barbra Millicent Roberts, or Barbie for short was named after Handlers daughter. Barbie was originally molded after the European Lilli doll that was made to be a gag gift, but Handler transformed this idea into so much more. The first Barbie doll was created in 1959, changing the
is the woman of the years by having many careers, having a stunning wardrobe, and changing the standards of dolls everywhere "Introduction." (Introduction. Virginia Education, n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2016). Ruth Handler is the creator of Barbie. Ruth’s daughter Barbara was playing with paper dolls and Ruth thought of a way to create a better doll thus creating barbie. Barbie was born March 9th, 1959 and has been a popular toy ever since. Barbie is an eleven inch doll, with long blonde hair and bright pastel
Barbie, a doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc., encourages an unrealistic body image, racial insensitivity, and contradictive goals, and it is having a negative influence on young girls everywhere. Launched in March 1959 by Ruth Handler, an American business woman and president of Mattel, Inc., Barbie quickly became popular and has gone on to sell three dolls every second, in over one hundred and fifty countries. However, Barbie’s rise to success has not been wholly positive – there have been numerous
emulate because she was an innovate figure in the 1960s and has continued to be well into today. The intention of this paper is to examine what were the intentions of Barbie doll creator Ruth Handler when the doll debuted in 1959 as well as the magnitude of Barbie’s impact on women and women’s history. Ruth Handler, the creator of the Barbie doll conceived the idea of creating a doll after a family trip to Europe where she discovered an adult doll that was a German sex toy. Once she returned to the
for younger girls it was first created by Ruth Handler who was the originator of the Barbie doll she was born November. 4, 1916 in Denver, Colorado and died April 27, 2002 in Los Angeles, California from colon cancer surgery on the of 85 .the Barbie doll was manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. Ruth was inspired from a German doll called Bild Lilli (that was not a toy for kids it was for adults) also The inspiration for Barbie came as Ruth watched her daughter Barbara playing with
The idea of Barbie came about when a woman named Ruth Handler was watching her daughter play with dolls. In the 1950’s, girls of all ages only had paper or cardboard dolls to play with and preferred to play with cut outs of teenagers and adult dolls. So, Ruth Handler thought to make The Teenage Fashion Doll for older girls, as a three dimensional doll, called Barbie, named after her daughter Barbara (Heppermann 2010). However, Mrs. Handler met resistance when she went to her husband with the idea
March 9, 1959. The co-founder of the company, Ruth Handler, realized there was a need for young girls to play make-believe with a doll that allowed them to imagine the future as adult women. Until that time the toy industry had offered dolls that encourage girls to play “mother”. The dolls were babies or young children. Dolls representing adults were typically paper dolls that did not relate to little girls imagining what they could grow up to be. Handler presented a doll that was three-dimension that
wrong. Prager uses both expressive and persuasive modes in her essay. Her own flavors to this essay express her own frustrations with the ?men? that created Barbie dolls. In truth, Barbie was not created by Jack Ryan. Barbie was created by Ruth Handler. Handler sensed that it was just as important for girls to imagine what they themselves might grow up to become as adult women. In paragraph 2, Prager suggests in her essay that Barbie was fashioned after a man?s dream date with her tiny waist, large
makes a body image for girls that is nearly impossible to achieve or how they don’t have enough racial diversity. However, Barbie is trying to fix all of this, and become an empowering toy for young girls, and boys, everywhere. Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, said, “The whole philosophy of Barbie was that by playing with the doll, a young girl can be anything she wants to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices.” (Kershaw) Barbie’s new commercial, Imagine the Possibilities, portrays
how did the entire world get so caught up in it? The answer lies in Ruth Handler’s vision for the first children’s adult doll. Mrs. Handler’s eleven and one-half-inch chunk of plastic began causing problems even before it’s public debut in 1959, yet has managed to become one of America’s favorite dolls. Ruth Handler and her two young children, Barbara and Ken, were merely sightseeing in Lucerne, Switzerland, when Mrs. Handler first saw the doll she herself had been trying to create (Lord 29).
Mattel's sales, and has had more than 500 make overs in her career. It all started when Ruth Handler noticed her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls and imagining them in grown up roles. Ruth realized that dolls on the market at the time were all baby dolls. She also realized that there was a need for a doll that would inspire little girls to think about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Thus Ruth came up with the idea for the teenage fashion model, Barbie, whom she named after her
this woman came to be. Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, whose husband co-founded Mattel, the world's largest toy company. She noticed a gap in the market as she saw her daughter, Barbra, playing with adult paper dolls. At the time, the market for young girls was focused on baby dolls, but Barbra and her friends preferred to play with a grown-up version, dressing them up in outfits and pretending they were the grown up women they were playing with. Ruth then thought to create a 3- dimensional fashion
of societal institutions such as workplaces. Mattel, the company behind the Barbie enterprise, developed the doll in the 1950s. A woman named Ruth Handler was the mastermind behind it all (Stone pg 12). Ruth seemed to be the polar opposite of a Barbie doll. Ironically, she looked nothing like her, and was even seen as a tomboy throughout childhood. Ruth said, “I didn’t like dolls and never played with them” (Stone pg 11). At some point in almost every little girl’s life, she becomes engrossed
In 1959 Mattel released a new toy for young girls to play with. The doll was meant to be a friend,to spark creativity, and, according to the creator Ruth Handler. “let girls practice for adulthood.” This doll is the world famous Barbie. Nowadays you can find her in almost every toy box and most parents buy the doll without a second thought. Barbie may seem harmless, but there are many reasons to why you should not be buying a Barbie doll for your child. Some of these reasons are: she makes girls
range of Barbie’s available is higher than its ever been before in previous years. As popular cultures throughout the decades alter with societies acts, it, in turn, causes Barbie to change. The Barbie doll was introduced in 1959 by a woman named Ruth Handler. The figure has been an influence on fashion, body image and a female’s stance in society. The Barbie is no longer just a toy but used as role models for young children. With a range of body types, skin tones, eye colors and hair styles available
customer wants, what’s going on in pop culture, what the parents are willing to buy for their children. etc. (Teresa) In 1959, that’s exactly what Ruth Handler thought. Traveling to Switzerland for business, she discovered a life changing toy: The Bild Lilly doll. In America during the early 1900’s, the only dolls that were made for young girls were baby dolls. Ruth wanted to take a more mature approach to the toy industry and that’s how Barbie was born. Barbie was named after Ruth’s daughter, Barbara. She
known dolls in the world so it’s no surprise that she has a song about her, nine out of ten people know who Barbie is by just seeing a picture of her (Docterman). Most girls grew up playing Barbie and are clueless about her origin. Ruth Handler is the inventor of Barbie. Ruth is a hard working women who, with the help of her family, created a doll that change the world. Barbie changed the lives of any young girl who played with, she gives them the chance to play out their own destiny. Barbie was not