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The effects of Barbie dolls on society
The influence of Barbie dolls
The influence of Barbie dolls
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In the short story, “Barbie-Q” by Sandra Cisneros, you can see how ones social class can affect their lifestyle and outlook on the world. The theme of this short story composed by Sandra Cisneros is destitution. Cisneros starts the story with incidental symbolism, a portrayal of the Barbie dolls "Yours is the one with mean eyes and a ponytail” (14) and "Mine is the one with bubble hair” (14), then precedes to explain the dolls attire. Which clearly they made themselves "This and a dress invented from an old sock when we cut holes here and here and here…” (14). We can see Cisneros' aim was to furnish the onlooker with the kind of circumstance the characters are in and how they manage being poor to the point that they can't have decent looking Barbie dolls, nice outfits, or a good quantity of toy accessories.
The way the characters have their Barbie’s interact with each other, we can likewise assemble how living in poverty has influenced the characters' conduct, their dialect, and their point of view overall. For instance, "Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie's boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him, okay? Kiss.”(14) At that point the two girls engage in a fight due to the two wanting the same male doll which they named Ken.
Making the best of what one has is truly a great thing. The girls in this story show that life for them is more about "needing what you've got" than "getting what you need." These young girls do well with this idea. Their social class which is described as a lower income household allows the girls to appreciate the dolls and accessories that they do have. Additionally you can concur that what's inside matters most to these girls but there still is a longing and even a need to conc...
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...s" represents the idea of poor kids tolerating harmed toys. This energy and acknowledgement hail from the inclination of being much the same as middle and upper class kids and fitting in.
Cisneros makes a sensible character. The young lady's inspired activity is the longing to have the Barbie dolls. While playing with the old dolls, the young lady relates a story of two Barbies. This story of the hero's Barbie losing the fanciful Ken doll to an alternate young lady's Barbie uncovers the kid's disappointment also outrage at what she doesn't have which makes her feel subpar. This parallel to genuine living shows the kid's need of additional Barbies, regardless of the possibility that they are not flawless. In life you should see the positives of what you have regardless of social class, and not what you can’t have, but one should strive to get what you want to have.
“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “ David Talamentez on the Last Day of Second Grade” by Rosemary Catacalos are two poems that show a unique view into society and the roles society expects people to fill. Sometimes those expectations can lead people to take drastic measures or even cause defiance in some people. The irony of this is that it seems the more we push people to be what society wants the more it drives them to be what they don’t want.
In The Barbie Doll, the author writes about a girl' s life. The author starts off by describing her childhood. She was given dolls and toys like any other girl and she also wore hints of lipstick. This girl was healthy and rather intelligent. Even though she had possessed many good traits she was still looked at by others as "the girl with a big nose and fat legs". She exercised, dieted and smiled as much as possible to please those around her. She became tired of pleasing everyone else and decided to commit suicide. During her funeral those who she had tried to please in the past were the ones to comment about how beautiful she looked. Finally she had received the praise she was longing for.
In the beginning of “Barbie Doll”, pleasurable and unpleasurable imagery is given so that the reader can see the extremes girls go through to be considered perfect.
A common theme in this movie is white dominance. All of the the humans in Toy Story 3 are white and this can be a problem because it gives the kids watching the movie an unrealistic idea of the real world. The Barbie is also seen as a stereotype as all she cares about is clothes, self relaxation,and find a man. She is portrayed as very nice and speaks softly. These are all gendered traits that one would associate with a woman. The difference in the expected gendered roles is demonstrated in West and Zimmerman’s, Doing Gender as they state, “Subsequently, little boys appropriate the gender ideal of “efficaciousness” —that is, being able to affect the physical and social environment through the exercise of physical strength or appropriate skills. In contrast, little girls learn to value “appearance”—that is, managing themselves as ornamental objects.” ( West and Zimmerman, 1987) This idea resonates completely with Barbie, however later on in the movie she leaves her dream house to be with the toys which shows that she is challenging the idea of the ideal girl and is trying to escape the norms within her environment. Another character who is challenging norms is Ken, he is a male barbie that loves Barbies dream house and dressing up. He is laughed at many times during the movie which shows the real life scenario of how many people can’t do certain activities
The little girls wanting Barbies with perfect outfits goes with the “ideal” image a girl should have at a young age. They are influenced by society to like playing with Barbies, to like the colour pink, to basically become a girl in society’s point of view. Cisneros is showing the development of children and how they’re made to play their roles in society. The author is trying to show how girls don’t really have a choice in how they’re guided towards liking “girl things”. The story shows the reality of women and how their opportunities are limited by things that are out of control like being born into poverty and have to live below an average lifestyle, “So what if our Barbies smell like smoke when you hold them up to your nose even after you wash and wash and wash them” (Cisneros, 1991, p.448). This pertains to the inequality in the work place, government, how some women are limited because of their gender and are prevented from becoming a successful
In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we see the effect that society has on the expectations of women. A woman, like the girl described in ‘Barbie Doll’, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are compared to the unrealistic life and form of the doll. The doll, throughout many years, has transformed itself from a popular toy to a role model for actual women. The extremes to which women take this role model are implicated in this short, yet truthful poem.
Hippie Barbie, written by Denise Duhamel uses the symbols of the contemporary life of the fairy-tale lifestyle into reality. The words and ideas used in this narrative poem give fantasy a different perspective. It is inferred that the speaker is a female Barbie specialist, who reflects her knowledge by using the popular Barbie doll as the main character. Throughout the poem, she gives key points that have female perspective; for instance, kissing Ken, thinking about having mixed-race children, and walking a poodle. She establishes a story-telling tone, which introduces Hippie Barbie as a real woman. The speaker is trying to address to all Americans that know deeper into Barbie doll life. By using the word “hippie” she gives a sense of rejection, opposition and liberalism towards things. Hippie Barbie reveals the ugly truth about the society based on appearances that we live in.
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
The girls feel that people need to mask their imperfections and true selves to uphold the image of how they are supposed to be. These dolls were found in a less than desirable place, such as “Lying on the street next to some tool bits ,and platform shoes with the heels all squashed, and a florescent green wicker wastebasket, and aluminum foil, and hubcaps, and a pink shag rug, and windshield wiper blades, and dusty mason jars, and a coffee can full of rusty nails”. They find another Barbie with heals in the depths of junk. They cover up the physical flaws of the burnt barbies with pretty outfits such as the “Prom Pinks” dress. One of the girls state “as long as you don't lift her dress, right? - who’s to know.” This attempt to cover up where the dolls came from and their imperfections seem to parallel their feelings about themselves and where they come from. The girls have an image of how their dolls would be if they were new. This could be the role society plays on the image of how women are supposed to be and look
Cisneros explains that before puberty girls are free spirited, careless, and not focused on their appearance. She describes this time, before girls realize they are viewed as objects, in a very positive manor to emphasize the negative impact that objectifying women has on a girls life. The social impact men can have on a woman 's life is tremendous, and consuming. Once girls realize they are being looked at and judged on their appearance they begin to be self-conscious, which changes not only their behavior but their view on society and themselves. This story once again reveals the relationship between women and the dominant male in society through showing how a girl 's entire perspective is altered due to the actions of
206 paragraph one, (line 1), Sandra Cisneros reveals a model of how girls see themselves in the future. The girls felt the dolls represent the same story and scenario each time they came together and play with each other. The attitude, style and quality of dolls. The interchanging of clothes, character's likes and dislikes as depicted the deception by a doll; from a child's point of view. The girls noticed that when the male Barbie doll drops by the other Barbie would steal him away. A typical boy meets girls; girl thinks boy is cute; boy leaves with the opposite girl. This is a reflected of Sandra Cisneros’s short story "Barbie-Q, "p. 206 , paragraph 1 , (line 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 ) . The girls are tired of the social scene the boy Barbie represents. They only want to play among themselves without any boys. The girls enjoyed looking forward to Christmas and receiving gifts of clothes for their Barbie dolls. This is also, reflected in the insults the girls shared among their future Barbie dolls. In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros, the girls enjoyed going to the flea market, purchasing used clothes for Barbie dolls. Barbie dolls meant so much to the two little girls because they didn't care if their Barbie dolls were wearing hand-me-downs; second hand doll clothing sold alongside the street. The joy came from undressing and dressing up the dolls. The girls even found career clothes to match up to their doll's future. In the short
In “Barbie-Q,” Sandra Cisneros chooses a particular point of view in order to communicate the central points of this story. The story is narrated by one of the two young girls who are the main characters. The story begins with the following: “Yours is the one with mean eyes and a ponytail.” “Mine is the one with bubble hair.” (Cisneros 576) This clearly shows that the narrator is indeed one of the girls. Another part of the story reads, “Every time the same story. Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie’s boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him,” (576) This again shows that the narrator is one of the young girls because she uses words like mine and yours. There are also many other instances throughout the story that prove she is the narrator.
“The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre is ultimately about an aunt who constantly creates life-sized dolls for her three nieces. It becomes more of an obsession rather than hobby when the author explains that each year the aunt spends more time and effort into making these dolls resemble her nieces as much as possible. Towards the end of the story the youngest niece ends up marrying a doctor. The doctor who she ends up marrying views her more as an object to flaunt rather than respecting her worth. Many of the critics who analyze the story come across the idea that Rosario Ferre is attempting to make it appointed that during this time period there was a mixture of sexism, racism, gender, and class implications. As I agree with all of these statements,
Cisneros' Barbie-Q really stood out as a great piece of literature. Barbie-Q is a quick glimpse into the life of a poverty-stricken child and her way of life. Though my life as of yet has been rather short, my earliest childhood memories are overwhelmingly my fondest and her account really struck a chord. Sandra Cisneros' accurate reflection of a young mind and intricate writing methods expressed great emotion. Her portrayal of a child's mentality evoked my childhood recollections while her realistic tale of childhood bliss in the midst of poverty caused great empathy on my part making this my preferred work we studied.
It may seem trivial and go unnoticed to most, but by assigning Barbie a real career, people are able to identify with and recognize her. The marketers also provide Barbie with a life other than modeling, such as friends and a home. The Ken doll, which is commonly known as Barbie’s boyfriend, makes her appear more real to the audience. Girls are able to identify with the idea of a boyfriend, which makes the notion of Barbie seem more realistic and desirable. The same idea is applied to the many friends Barbie has been accompanied by over the years. Lastly, and perhaps most famously, Barbie, like almost all of the girls who play with her, have a home. The Barbie Dream House is just another clever way her marketing team has presented her to society as a real person. Humanizing Barbie, and portraying her in such a manner makes her more attractive to potential buyers. The girls who engage in play with dolls do not want merely a doll; they desire something they can relate to and envision in the real world. Imaginative play is a large portion of childhood, and the ability for children to posses a doll like Barbie , who represents a real person in society, is extremely valuable. The use of social constructionism in the marketing of products such as Barbie is both brilliant and effective.