In summary, in the article “Barbie’s Got a New Body” Eliana Dockterman uses logos, ethos and pathos to reveal the biggest change in Barbie’s rich history. Logos is used immensely through the use of statistics to demonstrate the rapid decline of the Mattel brand. Thus, Mattel was seemingly forced to conform to the recent American beauty ideals. In addition, logos is also used through the claim that the Barbie doll is spiritless figure, which shows society the type of body that is expected of them. Therefore, the promise of change by the company appeals to the reader’s sense of reason.…
Society has a specific view on beauty that plays into the lives of children and adults that captivates society every day. Those who do not fall into these ideas of beauty are shunned out and chastised for their differences. First, Natalie Angier looks into the world of toys, and how the way these toys are being represented is shaping the minds of the children of tomorrow. Adding to this, in Andre Dubus’s short story, “The Fat Girl”, Louise, the female protagonist, is chastised and condemned as a result of her being overwhelmed which ultimately extinguishes her self-esteem. To close, in Marge Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll”, the central character must accommodate her entire life in to fit into society’s view of beauty.…
Sandra Cisneros’ short prose poem “Barbie-Q” follows a narrator as she discusses her and her companion's enthusiasm for Barbie dolls. Cisneros infers, through the narrator’s account, that the characters are both young ladies, both of whom possess only one Barbie. On a Sunday, the young girls are at a market and spot a cheap new Barbie lying on a table. Glancing around, they notice there are numerous dolls and outfits, including a "'Career Gal'" outfit (291). Evidently, a close-by toy factory burned to the ground, thus these dolls are marked down despite the fact that they escaped with minor harms.…
The argument is Barbie either provokes a negative image to women or the image of a strong woman proving “girls can do anything” boys can do. How an individual perceives the Barbie determines the effect the doll has. This carries on to younger girls and their mindset on body image. The narrator in “Barbie-Q” follows under the empowering opinion. Proof of this is stated in the quote: “So what if we didn’t get our new Bendable Legs Barbie and Midge and Ken….and had to buy them on Maxwell Street, all water soaked and sooty.…
Marge Piercy in “Barbie Doll” conveys how it is impossible for women to maintain such an image as society expects. In the first stanza of “Barbie Doll”, the girlchild is presented with gifts that teach her how to be a woman in the home. If not a mommy or house wife, line three states that the female is supposed to maintain an image through, “…wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” After hitting puberty the girlchild was ugly, “[She then obtains] a great big nose and fat legs” (6). The female goes throughout life feeling as if she has a poor self-image and “… went to and fro apologizing” (10).…
Barbie Doll is a narrative written by jewish-American writer Marge Piercy, it was published in 1971. Piercy writes this poem during an era of second wave feminism (Grimes, Linda. Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”. Letterpile). This poem is known for it’s message of how society’s expectations were for women and how pressuring it was for them.…
The Mattel Barbie Collector Edition Steppin Out ‘Great Fashions of the 20th Century’ doll is the epitome of the 1930s fashion. The 1930s style is possessed in this collector doll. This doll was released as the third edition in the series of ‘Great Fashions of the 20th Century.’ It became available in stores on January 1st, 1999. The fashions of the Barbie dolls in this collection highlight the biggest style influences of the 30s.…
Analysis of “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for fifty years. Mattel received many criticisms about Barbie and the impact she has on young girls. In the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy the title perfectly introduces the message of the poem. The Barbie doll is known to be the “idol” figure that all girls want to be. The toy symbolizes the need to have physical qualities that fit in, just as the poem implies.…
Alex Kimmell Mrs. Andrea Glenn Composition II, First Period 29 January, 2016 Barbie Doll An Annotated Bibliography Anschutz, Doeschka, and Rutger Engels. " The Effects Of Playing With Thin Dolls On Body Image And Food Intake In Young Girls. "Sex Roles 63.9/10 (2010): 621-630.…
(Prager 1). Instead of gathering the facts and showing whether or not Barbie’s appearance had any influence on the rising popularity of breast implants, Prager moved on. Her claim could be seen as credible if she had gathered statistics that showed that women who have had breast implant surgery owned Barbie dolls growing up or that they find Barbie’s out of proportion body type to be the epitome of womanly perfection. Seeing, however, that Prager disregarded the importance of the facts and did not…
If Barbie was marketed to boys under five, boys that had not yet formed full societal stereotypes, perhaps they would treat the dolls relatively similar to how they do their other dolls. But if you gave a Barbie to an adult man and asked him to “play” with it, it would probably seem perverse to do so. However, “playing” with this plastic representation of womanhood, fixed in her identity, is symbolically…
While boys have toys such as superman and trucks that portray masculinity, and electronic advancement, girls have Barbie dolls that shape their personalities, deteriorate their self-esteem, and defined their intelligence. Margie Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” provides insight on the script that woman are expected to play. The third stanza of the poem states, “She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise diet, smile, and wheedle. Her good nature wore out, like a fan belt. So she cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.…
The Negative Effects of Barbie Dolls on Body Image: “As a child most girls played with Barbie dolls and if they had not, their views of what is considered beautiful and acceptable for women would be different, as well as how they felt about body image” (Ive, Dittmar, Halliwell 283). Childhood is the period of time where girls start to build their basic belief system that they will carry into their adulthood. Most young girls, especially in the United States, are given toys that portray the “perfect way” a girl should look. One of the most common examples is the Barbie doll. The Barbie doll image engraves a belief system in these girls’ forms a young age.…
Barbie Doll In the poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy, the author addresses the stereotypical ideas of what society believes a woman should look like and how a woman should act. The title lends itself to help reinforce these themes of appearance and femininity by implying that women are to fashion themselves around the famous 1959 Mattel doll, Barbie, whose appearance some argue provides an unrealistic expectation for women to strive to achieve. Piercy goes on to show what happens to the unnamed main character of the poem, when faced with the challenge of conforming to these social norms of beauty and femininity.…
(Dittmar et al. 285). This ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ sends a negative message to the young girls about body image and the weight. The scale indicates a certain weight that is ideal for every girl, though this weight is less than the average girl in our generation today. Barbie influenced many girls during that era, as it was one of the first Barbie dolls ever produced. Thus, females are taught to model these images in their own lives, as they look up to role models that represent these idealistic beauty standards.…