A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.

Monday, March 09, 2009

COMM 390: Barbie gets her AARP card

At 50 you're eligible to join the American Association of Retired Persons (don't ask me how I know this), and today Barbie -- the doll -- turns 50. Mattel Corp. is observing the occasion with suitable ceremony ... and media hype.

In a class on gender images in the marketplace, how can we not observe this birthday?

Toy News, an online trade magazine, has a story on Mattel's promotional activities with links to British media coverage ... one that I kind of liked was a headline in a London tab called The Sun that says:
You're looking good at 50, doll

Let's go to the Google News directory and find some more.

One that looks intriguing is a New York Times op ed piece headlined "Islamic Revolution Barbie" by freelance writer Porochista Khakpour. She moved from Iran to the U.S. as a child, and she has a different take on Barbie.

Another sometimes overlooked angle is written up in "Boy Toy" by Troy Patterson in Slate.com. The subhead says it all: "Ken's sad and lonely life in Barbie's shadow." It also deals with gender images.

1 comment:

ginawaffles said...

Hey Doc. I found this website about Barbie, I thought you might find the article interesting. It sort of goes along with the debate we had in class about the tattoo Barbie, which lead to other various discussions. This is quite entertaining if I do say so myself. Enjoy! -Gina

Blog Archive

About Me

Springfield (Ill.), United States
I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.