Who Is Barbie?

There are many figures that are made in the Barbie style. 

This is work I did in my elective, which I based on the disney princess Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. She looks very like Barbie. Does this count as Barbie? Just dressed to look like a famous disney princess?

This is a page in a newspaper i found and i instantly imagined the body cut out, leaving the Barbie style hair. I wanted to provoke a feeling of Barbie really is just plastic with a bad tan and mostly blonde hair...with this image.

Photography Practice. ANDY.

As part of my major project, i got the chance to learn a little more about photography and then practice these skills in the studio to help me with my final piece. I learnt alot across the two days and here are a series of some of my shots of andy concentrating on light, aswell as shutter-speed and aperture.

 This last photo was concentrating on depth of field and getting the hand in focus and the background blurred.

Below are a couple of photos of the Barbies which i applied the same rule to.

Bellia Buys Barbie(ies).

On the hunt for THE BARBIE.

I went out thinking i wouldnt find any, but low and behold, every charity shop i went into had a couple. I bought three for £1.75 each from the first shop and one naked Barbie for 50p from the next, and here they are...

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Below are some photos i took in the studio to really capture The Barbie.

Animating the Doll.

These are a couple of videos/animation i found of Barbie, i looked at them as ways of bringing the Barbie to life, which is in some ways what i want to achieve throughout this brief. Understanding peoples' perceptions of the doll and understanding Barbie herself...

This first one is a Vintage 60's Barbie Commercial, it was a commercial for when Barbie & friends first got bendable legs and is from the 1960s. It shows a in a couple of parts, the directors attempting to make them look more real, with a little bit of stop frame animation.

Vintage 60s The Barbie Look Commercial

Below is a really shit, video of someone embeding their own mouth onto the Barbie and making her speak. Its not amazing but the idea is there and its quite funny seeing her animated in this way that we're not used to.

Barbie talks

Barbie Celebrates Her 50th Birthday!

March 9th 2009.

Celebrations happened all around the world. Models dressed as Barbie entertained large crowds at an event at Hamleys toy shop in central London, one of the Barbies arrived at Hamleys in a pink limousine and was greeted by hundreds of young girls. Another model posed in a copy of Barbie’s first swimsuit in zebra print.

'Barbie blew out 50 candles on a customized cake, which was a tower of over 2,000 pink cupcakes. Barbie Millicent Roberts’ official birthday is this upcoming Tuesday. The doll has taken some criticism in recent years for representing the unattainable look and the wrong message to young girls'.

From an article on the internet.

Aswell as creating an animation, I think it's important to highlight the fact its Barbies 50th year this year, and so if i can manage my time properly, i would like to create wrapping paper and a series of birthday cards with my negative view on Barbie.
I will draw and also photograph Barbies I cutomise, aswell as putting together a human Barbie (using one of my friends) to photograph and put on the cards or wrapping paper.
Creating the human Barbie, i may also use at the end of my animation.

BARBIE.

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by Matell, Inc. and was put out into the world in March 1959. Barbie was founded by American businesswoman Ruth Handler (1916-2002) and is credited with the creation of the doll. She used a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.

Barbie has always been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for fifty years, and has been the subject of numerous controversies and lawsuits, often involving parody of the doll and her lifestyle. In recent years, Barbie has faced increasing competition from the Bratz range of dolls.

Using Barbie as my focal doll, is important in terms of the greater audience i can have, being around since the 50's means young and old people will know of Barbie. Not only this but this year, just a month ago, infact on March the 9th of this year it was Barbies 50th Birthday. Lots of people came together to celebrate and so i feel using barbie would be appropriate and this 50 year celebration could have something to do with my final piece?

Promoting or remembering?

The Doll Culture.

For my major project I wanted to look into the doll culture. I had a general interest in who these dolls are and how people relate to them.
Wanting to attract a wider audience for my final piece i wanted to concentrate on a doll that was popular world wide and that would be interesting to a wide age group aswell. I decided on The Barbie Doll.
Whilst looking into the Barbie, It became clear that although the Barbie was also critiscised. Feminists have criticised the doll for promoting an unrealistic body ideal for women and potentially damaging the self-image of young girls.

I've started the project with Barbie in mind and thought about the many different jobs barbie has and has had over the years. I wanted to almost take the piss out of how unrealistic the Barbie is and try and create personalities for Barbie that could ultimately be these young girls who are under the influence of Barbie in bad ways and feel pressured to look like Barbie. I would do this through drawing and actually changing Barbies i will buy. Examples of Barbies i might construct could be, Punk Barbie, Teenage mum Barbie, anorexic Barbie and drug abusing Barbie.

In this project i would really like my final piece to be an animation and drawings of some kind? It seems the perfect oppertunity to try it as i've never done animation before and its something that interests me greatly.

This was the second re-write of my Brief and Context.
Brief: ''Challenging peoples perspectives and stereotypes of Barbie. Is she all good?"

Context: Dolls have been around since the beginning of human civilization, and nowadays are appreciated by a wide audience, the young and the old (obviously in different ways and for different reasons).
Through finding one of the most popular dolls, Barbie, It's clear that most written about the doll is positive, especially as it was Barbies' 50th birthday in March aswell.
Not all to do with the doll is positive. One of the most common criticisms of the doll is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for young girls, leading to a risk that girls who attempt to be like Barbie will become anorexic.
Is Ruth Handlers' creation ultimately empowering or victimising? How can i show this victimisation?


Being in the early stages of my project i am looking to find the most popular type of doll, which will then serve in drawing in a wider audience for my final piece, and in deciding what i want my final piece to be..and achieve.
As initial research i went on the hunt for any kind of dolls, here are a couple of photos I captured in the studio of 'Rachel' the doll I bought in a charity shop.