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Barbie's Positive Influence On Pop Culture

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Barbie is a doll that was introduced in 1959, she took the world by storm with her fashion and changing careers. She greatly influenced pop culture and the thoughts and beliefs of people. Barbie has been involved in many controversies over the years due to her body image and the high body expectations that she sets for young girls. She has had a significant impact on social values by conveying characteristics of female independence. Barbie has had positive and negative influences on fashion, interests and beliefs of a certain year, which continually changed throughout the decades.

Through the decades, the way Barbie dressed, reflects the fashions of a particular decade. Although Barbie did not create these fashions herself, by wearing certain popular clothes, or having a certain hair style, she has been able to reinforce the popular fashion of the time. What Barbie wore influenced what children might like to wear, and sometimes even influencing parents. Whatever was popular at a certain time, she wore in the most stylish way possible. She wore accessories of all kinds, from hats to handbags to shoes of all colours. When a certain job was popular, she wore the outfit of that job. Barbie still …show more content…

Although Barbie has conveyed many beliefs through the clothes and jobs she has had, the most controversial belief has been body image. Since first being brought out into the world, Barbie has had an unreasonably shaped body, with a small waist and large breasts. All of Barbie’s body features have impacted the way society expects women to look. But in 2016, Barbie had a dramatic makeover, she was released in different heights and body shapes, making her more suitable to the way women actually look. Barbie’s new look has made a positive impact on young girls and potentially society’s unrealistic expectations of

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However, not only her body was modified, but her accessories as well. Barbie’s new necklace would include a microphone that would be activated when a user

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The girl in ‘barbie doll’, wasn’t perfect. She had a big nose and fat legs. Her classmates remind her of this, as does society. She was fine as herself, but others weren’t. They had to pressure into thinking she needs to change.

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The poem, “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy references socialization. The poem is concerned with a woman rather than a culture. Her physical appearance affects how people view her and how she sees herself. This builds social context. The “Barbie Doll” poem is an effective poem.

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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.”

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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.

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Barbie dolls causes many eating disorders that make young children want to lose weight. According to an experiment called “Does Barbie Make Girls Want To Be Thin?”, the experiment consisted of two groups one group was shown pictures of Barbie and the other group was not shown any pictures. The results were that the group that were

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In the poem “Barbie Doll”, written by Marge Piercy describes the life of a girl all the way from her childhood years to her death. Through the poem, the reader develops an understanding of the pressures females face when growing up. Women are influenced by many negative factors that contribute to them modifying their looks and behavior to “fit it”. In this poem, the reader clearly can see that even from a young age females are almost misled by society to try and be this perfect image of a Barbie Doll. There are many factors that play a big role in allowing girls to feel that way such as: childhood experiences, grade school influences, and social media.

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Although this outstanding doll was created to inspire young girls, it does not serve as a good role model; Barbie shows unequal proportions that makes it impossible to walk on two legs, the Slumber Party Barbie represents unhealthy weight lost, and Barbie’s wardrobe isn’t appropriate for adolescents. Barbie’s proportions in human form make

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The freedom of being able to change Barbie’s clothes into her various wardrobes sold gives the young children playing with her the sense of individuality. Although Barbie has brought a lot of controversy to the table within the years it has been on the shelf, her portrayal has not changed because after all she is just a doll,

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More specifically she represents the embodiment of the mainstream beauty standard (Klein). She became a very significant role in gender socialization among young girls and woman. In the first Barbie commercial ever, if you carefully scrutinize the lyrics, it says “…someday I’m going to be exactly like you, until then I know just what I’ll do, Barbie beautiful Barbie I’ll make believe I am you” these lyrics informs us that Barbie represents a dream to every little girl, how their future should look like. Barbie was able to remain popular in the conservative times of the 50’s by captivating the attention of little girls, they all aspired to look just like her. Barbie was able to uphold some of the messages that dominated that era by represents the gender roles that belong to woman, in the first Barbie commercial, you can see Barbie wearing a wedding dress, symbolizing that every girl/woman desires to become a

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The article ‘Normal Barbie’ Creator Introduces New ‘Normal Ken’ Doll correlates to Chapter 4 and many of the sections including Disciplining Gendered Bodies, objectification, and attractive men. The article, written by Caroline Bologna, a parents editor at the Huffington Post, discusses the new invention of a more realistic male Barbie doll with a more realistically proportioned body. The article is based around Nickolay Lamm, the creator of Lammily dolls. Lammily dolls also referred to as “normal” Barbie dolls were created two years ago to combat the unrealistic beauty standard that girls across the country are faced with each and every day.

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Imagine we lived in a world with only male superhero and no female superhero. Unfortunately they are held to a different standard then men so you actually don't need to work hard to imagine. On one hand people argue that pop culture degrades women, because they show women weaker then men. And on the other hand people argue pop culture empowers women by showing women and men equal. American popular culture mostly degrades women because, it portrays women weaker than men, the way they look not their abilities, and negative impact on body image and eating disorders.

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Barbie dolls extend girls an invitation to a ‘‘plastic society’’ that doesn't accept the genuineness each of us possesses. They present a role model impossible to accomplish. The characters didn't have names, they could hold a symbolic representation of society’s judgment. The girls had the first dolls just like they wanted, but they desired to cover all of the imperfections on the dolls damaged in the fire with new clothes such as the ‘‘Prom Pink outfit’’ (Cisneros). Thereupon, no one would notice the

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Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” takes a sarcastic approach to backlash at society and send the reader a message about what beauty really is. In “Barbie Doll”, A Barbie doll is used to show and symbolize what society views as what a female should aspire to become “perfect”. “Barbie's unrealistic body type…busty with a tiny waist, thin thighs and long legs…is reflective of our culture's feminine ideal. Yet less than two percent of American women can ever hope to achieve such dreamy measurements.”

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But where did it all start and how did you get to this position? You’re five years old when you receive your first Barbie doll. Your innocent mind looks at the plastic figure as just a symbol of inspiration or a relatable toy used on the playground

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