*parental guidance advised: contains nude graphics
i’d never seen so many barbie (real name barbara? barbarella?) dolls under one roof in my life (barring toys r us, but they’re all fully clothed, so, not so exciting heh), so please pardon my fascination and ‘kejakunan’. i simply had to make the six-year-old owner spread them out in the open to do a body count.
behold the line up…
i mean, WOW! :O
i’d only ever owned one of these in my entire lifetime, and even that was a gift from someone who was not my parent when i was a ripe age of eight.
she was called ‘peaches & cream’ and she came in this incredibly frilly chiffon gown and big blonde hair (somehow jessica simpson comes to mind), and thereafter i’d managed to wheedle out of my parents a few other tarty outfits for her when we went shopping.
then there were the shoes, oh the shoes! tiny little colourful plastic pumps and heels that delighted me.
and of course, with all those clothes and shoes, naturally i HAD to have the closet to fit them in, right? right!
then came the vanity set, coz well, she HAD to have somewhere to sit to do her hair, after all.
soon after, i took to making stuff on my own to add on to her burgeoning ‘lifestyle’, such as an old sharpener wrapped in paper and decorated to look like a radio set, for example.
you think back and realise what a ridiculous thing to play with, this waxed figurine with fantastical vital stats and assets you once imagined you’ll automatically get when you grow up some day. (i’m STILL waiting!)
you clothe them, preen them, press them against ken and make smoochy sounds… (come onnn, ‘fess up, you’ve all done that last one before, haven’t you??)
i’m not sure what owning a barbie did for me, but, come, let me try.
i learn to:
- coordinate my clothes, shoes and accessories. yup, definitely.
- organise and colour-code my wardrobe (heck, i even do it with aniq’s now) and keep it somewhat tidy. hmm.
- take good care of my possessions.
- and oh here’s a good one, groom self to look presentable at all times.
- SHOP!
why, all useful and practical life skills, doncha think? LOL!
vilify barbie if you must, for conveying the image and personification of the ‘perfect’ Woman – tall, leggy, slim, shapely, elegant, glamourous, fashionable (aren’t you hating her already?)… and, as a reflection of newer generations, global (she has mutated into a multi-cultural variety of skin tones and hair colour since my time). but she has, no doubt, carved a niche in our collective psyche, and successfully associated herself as a ‘role model’ for millions of young girls (and boys??) out there.
i’m sure many socially-conscious parents have refused to buy their daughters what they deem as ‘false idols’. i did in fact have an ang moh uncle who denied my young cousin ownership of a barbie (he also didn’t allow anyone in his family to drink Coke, heh, so i guess he’s an anti-consumerist species of his own).
but there surely are some redeeming values that barbie imparts on her followers. i don’t think there’s any REAL harm with a little role-play and imagination (and fantasy?) with barbie and friends. unless your kid grows up… bullimic or anorexic or with low self-esteem or whatever psycho mambo-jambo you can come up with, from idealising barbie – but hmm, that should be our fault and not barbie’s, shouldn’t it? (oh, and you’d probably be a teeny bit concerned if your boy, perhaps, spends more time with barbie than GI Joe or ultraman, lol!)
say… i wonder if there are baby barbies and tiny barbie prams and cots out there too. imagine barbie holding a cell phone in one hand, pushing a stroller with the other, wearing a dkny-inspired power suit, her SUV keys jingling in her handbag, her hair perfectly coiffed, smiling smiling smiling.
now, that would be something i could have aspired to. 
oh, and where’s ken in this picture? well… if ken (funny that rhymes with ‘men’) were perfect, he’d be the one in the power suit and handling the baby instead, wouldn’t he…?
come to think of it, hmm… i guess it’s all about GIRL POWER, y’all!
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