News

Oct 15, 2023

The evolution of Barbie: From blonde bombshell to career

Barbara Millicent Roberts, or Barbie, was born March 9, 1959. The doll was launched at the American Toy Fair in New York City by the co-founder of Mattel Ruth Handler, who named the toy after her

Barbara Millicent Roberts, or Barbie, was born March 9, 1959.

The doll was launched at the American Toy Fair in New York City by the co-founder of Mattel Ruth Handler, who named the toy after her daughter.

Sixty-four years later and the popularity of Barbie has not waned. She's the world's top-selling doll.

And with the imminent release on Thursday of the Barbie movie, fans around the world will get the chance to relive their childhoods as they head to cinemas to watch Gold Coast actor and producer Margot Robbie in the lead role as "stereotypical Barbie" in a Greta Gerwig-directed film.

It's day two of the Australian publicity tour and Barbie stars Margot Robbie, Issa Rae, America Ferrera and director Greta Gerwig have delighted fans with an event at the Pitt Street Mall in Sydney.

But what's behind Barbie's longevity? Well, it may just be in her evolution from blonde bombshell to being career-minded and diverse.

Inspired by the German doll Bild Lilli, a risque novelty gift for men, which Handler bought the rights to, Barbie was the only adult doll in production when it launched in the United States.

Barbie challenged the notion that girls just wanted to grow up to be mothers and needed baby dolls they could nurture.

That revolutionary thinking was the beginning.

But Barbie was controversial from the get-go with parents criticising her for having "too much of a figure" and "unrealistic body proportions". A 1994 study found that if Barbie was a real woman, she would not have enough body fat to menstruate.

Mattel responded to some of this criticism. Barbie's body mould has changed several times. In 2016, Barbie even made it to the cover of Time magazine when she was introduced in three new body types: curvy, petite and tall.

Other criticisms of Barbie had to do with materialism — the outfits Barbie rocks, her car, her house. But consumer demand trumped all of that. Barbie proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, named after Handler's son and played by Ryan Gosling in the movie, was introduced in 1961.

But the fact she isn't defined by her relationship with Ken, rather the other way around, means Barbie has flipped the narrative on gender roles.

Barbie's CV is impressive. The doll has taken on countless careers over the years. She's been an astronaut, a doctor, an Olympian, an airline pilot, a teacher, a CEO, a film director and even a cop and firefighter.

Although Barbie had black friends much earlier, the first black Barbie didn't make her debut until 1980. That was also the year the first Hispanic Barbie was born. Ken wasn't far behind with the first African American Ken doll introduced in 1982.

In 1981, an Asian Barbie who didn't belong to any particular country, was introduced. While the nondescript nature of her country of origin was criticised, Barbie's diversity and resume may be what's kept her relevant given evolving societal values.

In 1997, the first wheelchair doll in the Barbie range was released — Barbie's friend Becky.

Issa Rae (Insecure, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Photograph) plays President Barbie in the new film and told ABC News that she was first introduced to Barbie by her mother and aunt who felt it important that she play with black Barbie specifically.

"[It] was for them important for me to play with a doll that reflected them and me," Rae said.

"But even then, the standards of beauty … I didn't see myself reflected in that version of the black Barbie doll. So, I still didn't identify with the Barbie.

"And then I saw it over time be rejected by women and also the bimbo-isation of Barbie where Barbie is dumb and calling women Barbies to insult them and so now, I feel like this movie addresses all those things in such a succinct, smart, beautiful way but also examines what it means to be a woman today."

Rae said she was overwhelmed at first by the messaging from her mother and aunt, who wanted to make sure she could see her own beauty, despite what society might have her believe.

"You're an innocent child and you just want to play … but of course now I see it and I hope I don't live in a world where I have to do that for my kids as well.

"Now, there are so many options of dolls and they have different hair textures and have different types of noses and it's easier to find yourself than it was for them on toy shelves."

America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, Real Women Have Curves, How to Train Your Dragon) plays Gloria in Barbie — described as "the every woman".

Ferrera didn't grow up playing with Barbies, saying she didn't feel represented by them.

"I think there was so much about Barbie that was inaccessible to me," Ferrera told ABC News.

"Like Issa was saying, when you're a child, you're not sitting there consciously saying 'I'm boycotting Barbie because it doesn't represent me', but we couldn't afford it and Barbie had a car and a house and a campervan.

"That world just felt unattainable. And I think that it's also a reflection of just growing up in a time where there were so few reflections for me of where I came from and who I was.

"And so, in large part, not by any intention I set out for on my own, but my career has been very centred on creating representations for people who haven't seen themselves.

"And when I read this script, on so many levels, as a mum, as just a woman in the world and as somebody who still has a little America inside of her, the idea that the Barbie narrative, something so dominant, so influential in our culture, so ingrained in our mind as little girls, whether we played with it or not as this status symbol or an expectation of girlhood, womanhood, that that narrative has shifted to include me, to include more of us, that to me is a good thing.

"That was obviously a very big part of what was so compelling to me on top of the fact that it is just a brilliant, fun, hilarious, heartfelt, intelligent smart, crazy script."

Barbie opens in cinemas Thursday.