marriage, an obvious political issue. (Barbie has also run for
president on an undisclosed platform.) In response to
questions about how Barbie, America’s highest-profile
working woman, has handled the #MeToo and #TimesUp
movements, Culmone mentions “empowerment.” That’s an
adult conversation, she says, whereas Mattel’s approach to
teaching pre-K children about the horrors of the living
world is by informing them, in myriad ways, that they can
be anything they want to be.
She also mentions Barbie Vlogger, a YouTube series in
which Barbie the Character takes to her webcam to share
anecdotes from her life in Malibu. I do not mean to be rude,
but the animation is bone-chilling: a teen avatar whose
movements and mannerisms are identical to that of a living
and breathing human person. The content, however, is
nuanced, as Barbie candidly discusses everything from
personal boundaries to her favorite classes in school.
In one video, the tenor of Barbie’s voice drops, as CGI
sunlight streams into her bedroom. “I woke up this morning
feeling a little blue,” she confesses. “No real reason. Just—blue.” She goes on to list coping mechanisms that have
mood-boosting benefits, like journaling.
“I’m known for being an upbeat person. But I’m not,
always. I don’t have to always be upbeat and positive. To
camouflage myself to fit into a mold of how I should feel or
think, well, that doesn’t help anyone.”
This is by no means an exhaustive discussion on treat-
ment for depression (it would be hard to imagine Barbie
comparing the side effects of Prozac versus Wellbutrin), but
the message is clear to young people: It’s OK to be sad
sometimes. “She is certainly not perfect,” says McKnight.
“She has flaws. She is showing vulnerability.”
Barbie is lucky to have an extensive support system. Ken
has been her male accessory for the better part of the past
60 years, save for a brief intermission in 2004, when the pair
broke up. (The general public believed this to be a publicity
stunt for the brand in response to declining profits, but we
notice that it also dovetailed with the impending financial
and housing crisis of 2006.) Like the tortured soul she is,
Barbie declined to use this time as a period of introspection
and instead spent it rebounding with an Australian, Blaine,
the summer of the breakup. Despite Blaine’s rash guard, six-
pack, and undeniable exotic appeal, Barbie rejoined Ken in- Blaine can now be found pre-owned on Amazon.
As interviews with Mattel executives throttle me between
the world of make-believe, where the sun is always shining
and Barbie is both your pediatrician and your unopposed
candidate for president, and present-day Los Angeles,
where it is damp and gray, it becomes difficult to distinguish
between what is real and what is fabricated. My three-year-
old niece thinks Belle from Beauty and the Beast is a real
princess, who lives close enough to the Cleveland Zoo to
casually visit. She’s still too young for Barbie, but if and when
they meet, will she think of her as a projection of her future
self, as a flawed confidante, or as a thing to put clothes on?
Mattel has, for better or worse, decided to bring Barbie to
life by giving her a voice and a platform. She’s no more real
to people than Beyoncé or Rihanna, or any other person who
is inaccessible to the public, available only through the lens
of Instagram, TMZ, or a merchandise line at Target; a person
who serves as a proxy for a more exciting, more glamorous,
more vibrant life. When Barbie speaks, her voice sounds
human. My niece doesn’t know the difference.
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