Image In Society
...that beauty is one sided, that it can be defined in only one-way. Beauty has been defined as being tall, skinny with big breast. Dolls have even become a huge impact on our idea of beauty, with their sleek bodies, perfect hairdos and stylish clothes. These dolls have caused children as young as the age of 5 to become aware of a body image. Ruth Handlers the creator of Barbie, one of the world’s most successful and enduring toys on the market since 1959, felt that her long lasting invention was a “project to every girl’s dream of the future”; that Barbie was an inorganic object that little girls could look up to and believe “We can do anything.” There is truth to her statements, over the years Barbie has been depicted as a doctor, an astronaut, a lawyer, a veterinarian, etc. Subliminally, however, the physical image of Barbie is what shows the truth about how our society thinks; that looking and appearing a certain way or being “beautiful” allows you to be able to do all those certain things that Barbie is able to do. But what is beauty? It’s said that beauty is seen in the eye of the beholder. That then creates our standard of beauty? Is it the media? Our parents? Our peers? Barbie? If Barbie was really supposed to be an icon for little girls to look up to or model their lives after, then she should look like the women we see everyday, whether those women are tall, short, skinny have black, blonde or brown hair. Barbie should portray these women as heroes, regardless of how they look.
Originally, Barbie was created for Barbra Handler, the creator of Barbie’s daughter. Barbie’s purpose was to be a more realistic toy that girls could relate to rather than baby and paper dolls that were common during the 50’s. Ruth Handlers inspiration occurred while visiting Japan in the summer of 1957. Lili, Japan’s three-dimensional curvy toy doll caught Handler’s eye while...
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