In this essay, I will explore the themes of various poems from “Kinky”, by Denise Duhamel. The poems “The Limited Edition Platinum Barbie” and “One Afternoon When Barbie Wanted to Join the Military”, reflect upon the oppressive beauty standards and gender expectations in our culture and hyperbolize them to a dystopian point. Duhamel uses Barbie as a metaphor throughout these poems, and addresses our culture’s misogyny, while making Barbie a first person character and giving her a voice. The poem “The Limited Edition Platinum Barbie” critiques our culture’s narrow standard of beauty. Our society is consumed by the fantasy and perfection of the idealized body.
Mean Girls is a musical about a girl named Cady Heron who has just moved to Illinois from Africa. When Cady comes to her new highschool, she is seen as an outcast and has no friends. That is until lunch one day when she is invited to sit with the Plastics; Regina, Karen, and Gretchen. Taking advantage of this, two students who took Cady under their wing, Damian and Janis, have Cady get the inside information on what is happening between the Plastics. They also want to put an end to Regina George’s supremacy in the school.
The narrator in “Barbie-Q” resisted the negative association with the shame expected of her and did not allow that shame to stop her from enjoying her toys. The narrator posed this to readers when she says, “So what if we didn’t get our new Bendable Legs Barbie and Midge and Ken…in nice clean boxes and had to buy them on Maxwell Street, all water-soaked and sooty” (“Barbie-Q” 16). She used her innocence as a way to avoid the shame associated with her dolls and just focused on the excitement of receiving a new one. By her lack of real shame over her dolls and her own situation, she really fought the idea that one must feel ashamed and negatively towards themselves because of the shame they are presumed to feel because of their financial
‘Beauty is not defined by your physical features, it is defined by the heart inside your chest and the love that flows through it. ’- Imania Margia. This meaningful quote written by Imania Margia explains the true significance and message shown through both the short story “Barbie” written by Gary Soto, and “Pretty Hurts” sang by Beyonce. The short story, “Barbie” written by Gary Soto presents a young girl named Veronica who learned from a young age that in order to be pretty, you must fit standards and stereotypes- Barbie stereotypes.
E: Greta Gerwig’s movie is set in Barbie Land, where everything is perfect and made of plastic. In Barbie Land, women have higher social status than men in virtue of their beauty. Employing the actress’s lines, facial expressions, warm light, eye-level shots, and intertextuality, Gerwig shows us how people are entrapped in their powers, and appeals to us to make our world equal. E/A: When the Barbies talk about Barbie’s dysfunction, a Barbie laughs at the weird Barbie when she talks about the weird Barbie “falling more and more to disrepair herself”. Through the facial expression, Gerwig implies that the normal Barbies look down on the weird Barbie because she is not being “pretty”, which is a source of empowerment.
The poem Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy is a short poem that talks about a little girl who is born just like any other little girl. She plays with dolls and little ovens and messes around with makeup. She is fine and unbothered with her life till she hits puberty. Around that age she has a classmate tell her “you have a big nose and fat legs.” She was a girl who was healthy, strong, and intelligent but, she was apologizing to everyone for what they saw.
Issue: Critics believe Beyoncé was starting a war with police with her new music video “Formation”. Position: Critics have not provided evidence supporting their theory about Beyonce’s music video. Premise 1: One of the sciences in the video had a little boy dancing in front of police in riot gear. This statement represented innocent children being killed by police.
She addresses current situation that a picture created by an artist named Nickolay Lamm has created for Barbie. He transformed her image to be a more realistic depiction of the “average” girl. Making her shorter, less interesting and with more realistic features, but what most people don’t realize is that this is a doll, a children’s toy, and it is made to play with not to use as an idol. Lamm used a picture of a doll to create a realistic human form that surely children wouldn’t be as interested in playing with, not because she is less attractive than Barbie but because normal is boring to children. They wouldn’t be as interested in their other toys if instead of a troll and a princess dress they had a short obese man and a basic sundress, it just isn’t as
Marge Piercy's poem Barbie Doll tells of a young girl and her experience through adolescence. It illuminates the destruction wreaked when unrealistic expectations and gender limitations become socially acceptable. This poem ends with the tragic suicide of the girl and how only in death did she embody the ideals set by society. Piercy exposes the paradoxical expectations set by American culture through the use of explicit diction, simile, and irony.
With the constant fear of ridicule and discrimination, we still try and define ourselves, though we are always under the society’s scope. Marge Piercy, in her poem “Barbie Doll”, gives us a look at the influence of our surroundings and how something as innocent as a doll can trigger these insecurities. Our strive for acceptance and “perfection” can cause major emotional damage on anyone who identifies as a woman. Young girls look at these depictions of “perfect” bodies, such as a barbie doll for example, and compare themselves. In the poem “Barbie Doll”, Piercy talks about a young girl who she described as “...healthy, tested and intelligent...” (247) but, she was picked on by peers who said she had “a great big nose and fat legs.”
The poem Barbie doll by Marge Piercy is about a little girl who grows up only to kill herself for not living up to society’s standards. The speaker shows how she had a normal childhood and was happy playing with here baby dolls and toy stove. However, during puberty, her body changed and everyone noticed. She was criticized for her “fat nose and thick legs”. She tried to change by dieting and exercising, but soon tired of doing so.
(Kramer and Nelson 1997). Using the idea that Barbie depicts a woman who can be whoever she wants to be gives a sense of ethos present in the advertisement. This will then influence the audience (young girls) that they too can be whoever they want to be. By giving the opportunity for emotional attachment and representation of the little girl holding the doll looking up to Barbie as someone much like themselves, it gives a sense of hope and inspiration for the young girl. With the use of pathos, advertisement of Barbie makes it appear as though she is very approachable because of her looks and the way she seems to “fit the standards of society.”
The song “Pretty Hurts” was written by Beyonce Knowles. Known for her empowering anthems, she effectively connects with an audience of women with her gut wrenching ballads and unifying messages. She began her career in the girl group, Destiny’s Child, and embarked on a solo career in 2003. Since then, she has proved to be one of most famous and influential female singers of all time. In the song “Pretty Hurts” by Beyonce Knowles the speaker, a young woman who is dealing with body image issues, illustrates the idea that societal beauty standards are unattainable and harmful for young women.
In the short story ''Barbie Q,'' Sandra Cisneros portrays that Barbie dolls can impact girl's lives as they grow up, and influence the way they act and perceive themselves. These girls grow up in a poor family environment considering that they acquired the rest of the dolls in a toys sale after a store burned down. In ‘‘Barbie Q,’’what is the thematic significance of the damaged dolls after the fire? The girl’s enthusiasm to get the new dolls -when they said that they prefer to receive new doll’s clothes- suggests that the meaning of these Barbie dolls is more than just a new toy.
The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy suggests that girls are fatally and ultimately entrapped by society's definition of what feminine beauty and behavior is. In our society we believe that women should be perfect. We want women to be as flawless as a Barbie doll and in doing so we create many struggles for women because no one can ever achieve that goal. The poem gives off a sense of irony when “society” compares a young girl to a Barbie doll. Our society has an ideal that was created by the influences of popular media and culture that is impossible for anyone to reach.
