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In today’s society people want a women to have an extraordinary appearance. Marge Piercy's’ story Barbie Doll portrays the theme of how a person never feels fully perfect because of the views of society. Even though this poem was written back in 1936, we still have the same perception of how an ideal man or woman should look. In today's time, Social media is the main reason why people have these views. Girls are supposed to look a certain way to be considered attractive.
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.”
Marge Piercy’s “ Barbie Doll” establishes the character to be a young girl who hits the stage of puberty and is then subjected to people's hurtful words that destroy her body image. Before these words she seemed to be a normal little girl playing with all the right toys. The words spoken were with intent to help the girl change her physical appearance so she could be a better version of herself, but in the end the girl felt there was no other option. She could never make everyone happy.
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
Hillary Clinton: Gun Control “America simply cannot accept as ‘normal’ about 33,000 gun deaths every year ” (“Hillary Clinton on gun violence prevention.”). Hillary Clinton’s stance on gun control is that the government needs to close the Charleston loophole, fix our background checks, and keep guns out of criminals hands. Clinton will also stop the internet shopping loophole and make people on the no-fly list not be able to get hold of arms. Every 88.8 out of 100 American people have guns; guns are among the most common in America of all countries.
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,
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
When people believe in something, they must stand up for it and speak out. In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Marji stands up for what she believes in against the government. Likewise, in The Importance of a Single Story, Chimamanda Adichie speaks out against what she believes in injust. Finally, Anthony Bourdain No Reservations shows him writing about the truth in Iran, despite political threats against him.
I found this article to be extremely interesting because I believe that a ‘normal Barbie and Ken’ doll should have been created a long time ago. By the creation of these new toys, children are taught from the beginning that it is okay to be a little taller, a little shorter, a little heavier, it teaches acceptance to children that it is okay to not have a supermodel or a body builder’s body. Similar to what the article said I believe that by the creation of these new realistic dolls it will give children a more realistic expectation about their own appearance. The main key points that were discussed in Chapter 6 regarding the attractiveness of men was all key points that the creator of the dolls is hoping to change. By children playing with fashion dolls like the typical Barbie, reports have showed that it may lead to eating disorders and other body image issues which I believe will stop by the creation of these new dolls by
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
It is very easy to have influence over young people. The more time that is spent with something, the more influence it has over the person. This was perfect for Barbie. She is a doll and is played with by girls all over the world. She has caused big controversy over her appearance and some people want to make her have a more realistic look.
The story tells the reader about how two girls, each owns a Barbie doll with their one outfit piece and they made a dress out of worn socks for the dolls. One Sunday, they both went to the flea market on Maxwell Street, where the dolls of the other characters in Barbie were sold with lower price as a big toy warehouse was destroyed by fire. They did not mind to buy the dolls at the flea market even though the dolls were flawed, soaked with water and smelled like ashes. Barbie is widely pictured as a successful girl, who is perfect in every way; with her beautiful face, a slim body, nice house, secured job and a handsome boyfriend which is the fancy of every girl. The story tells the reader of the expectancy for women to have this immaculate figure, ignoring the fact that each person has different body fat percentage and body mass index which may affect their sizes and weights.
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.”
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
How do we know that all children who buy Barbies see her as a physical role model? Nobody can really say for sure that the physical appearance of the doll isn’t dangerous, because it’s very possible that it is. Though, is the doll really all that corrupting? It is 2015 and society changed in a way that allows women to have more equal rights.
