Barbie, the controversial plastic blonde who is more than just a doll daily menu

Barbie has been accused of perpetuating beauty stereotypes, but has also been praised for empowering women. His controversial personality has been questioned as accepted, Now that her movie has been released, one thing seems clear: She’s not just a doll.

Andrea was 4 years old when her parents gave her a 1985 Barbie titled “Day to Night”. The doll version of the slender blonde who was professional in the morning and socialite out to have fun in the afternoon.

“She was doing Barbie and her life is a little bit like mine now,” the 42-year-old told EFE before entering a Beverly Hills movie theater to see the movie “Barbie,” while wearing a look inspired by the doll.

Thousands of fans and detractors of Plastic Woman have been gathering since Thursday to see Greta Gerwig on the big screen.

Similar to “barbiecore”, Dressed in her best pink outfit, viewers swept into what they hope will be a hilarious and inclusive feminist comedy.

Embrace Barbicure

Ray, 24, attended one of the premieres of the movie, accompanied by two friends. She believes that in her case, it was “Barbie Swan Lake” that inspired her adolescence and strongly accentuated her personality.

“I grew up with Barbie. I love the cast of the movie and I’m excited that the movie is a little bit gayIt’s pink and it has dances, it has everything! ‘ says the young woman.

For Sahira, 36, Barbie represents “pure happiness” and knowing that “you can dream big,” while drag queen Sage Zarya says she has taken her motto as a “mantra”: “Be who you want to be.”

“It teaches you that you can truly be whoever you want to be.Like now that I’m dressed up as a pop star Barbie. I know I can be any Barbie I want to be,” Zarya responded to EFE.

My face is the symbol

Claire Sisko, a professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University, believes that the pink world of Barbie has not always been as friendly as it is today.

“Barbie was created in, and still is, a sexist society. I think one of the biggest issues it raises is that no matter how successful and professional you are, you have to be beautiful. As if beauty is as important as creative or intellectual aspirations.”

However, he recognizes that films like Gerwig and Mattel’s new doll lines with different body types and physical conditions help improve representation and social inclusion for groups that have been marginalized for years.

“In the past, there was no diversity, they made Barbies of different nationalities every now and then. Now they do a very good job. There are dolls with curves, many skin tones, and even people with special needs.Celebrating Tammy, the 54-year-old fan who collects African-American versions of the doll and her partner, Ken.

Similarly, psychologist Yalda T. Ulls, director and founder of the Center for Researchers and Storytellers at UCLA, revealed the importance of recognizing that games are more than just things.

“We can’t say that Barbie is a simple doll. Toys teach children what the world is like and specifically these represent people for them with whom they practice how to interact with humans,” he says.

A love-hate relationship

Lexie arrives at the movies with her friend wearing “Greta Gerwig” T-shirts.. Her main motivation is not Barbie, as she has never had one before, but to see the latest movie from her favorite director.

“I think by supporting this type of film where there is a huge diversity of people in terms of size, gender and identity, we are proving and suing the big companies that this is the kind of content we want to see,” the 28-year-old considers.

The phenomenon created by the film in terms of marketing and trends in social networks responds to nostalgia for the doll created by Ruth Handler in 1959 and to the game Gerwig poses in his work when he depicts the “love-hate” conflict that society has woven around him.

“The film shows these complexities and contradictions that Barbie represents And I think it uses the story of the doll to interrogate patriarchal standards of what a woman should be and what gender it should be,” says Sisko.

The budget of the film was $100 million, and it is expected that it will reach between $95 and $110 million at the end of its first week alone.