By: Sam Bouchat
If you’ve been following Barbie on Twitter (let’s face it, you have) then you know that several years back, she and Ken had a falling out. Why the hell this matters to anyone, ever, is a mystery, but there is good news: as of Valentine’s Day 2011 the duo are back together.
Now while this seven-year advertising ploy seems like a lot of work for the setup of a $5 “Together Again” gift set, Mattel seems bent on teaching young girls and boys several things:
1) If a guy begs enough, especially over twitter (how romantic!), you’ll be taking him back. 2) Single girls, worry not! There’s a man out there to complete you!
and
3) Your love life can be quite the profitable scheme
But you can’t really fault Mattel. They’re bringing Barbie into the 21st century, into our generation, and they’re doing it with as much grace as two plastic dolls can afford.
The very fact that Barbie and Ken broke up to begin with shows the evolution of the Barbie brand, a step away from the seemingly built-in idea of Barbie representing not only one-half of a clichéd soul mate duo, but also an absolutely perfect and problem-free romance.
And while Ken is still that sports-crazed, super masculine douche bag we expect from Mattel—one recent tweet said, “What a Ken-tastrophe. Two dates scheduled for one night. What’s a guy to do?”—the fact remains that he’s beginning to represent a less extreme, hormone-driven culture. While Ken himself hasn’t changed, and, in all actuality, Barbie has not changed, the relationship between them has.
Sure, the two are back together now, but Barbie was single for an impressive length of time for an impossibly beautiful blonde with obsessive tendencies. And even when the two are, once again, an “item,” stereotyping it up in their plastic Barbie fun house, their whole existence is still in Barbie’s terms.
Can you imagine this happening in the 50’s?
Parents would have accused Mattel of teaching their children anti-Christian values, would have accused Barbie of being a harlot for choosing to see other men. Barbie would have been shunned as an unfaithful, godless and sex-crazed nymph, and Ken, either the poor victim of a disobedient wife, or the weakling who couldn’t keep his woman in her place.
Now, Barbie’s antics are seen as a rally for feminine independence, even if single Barbie is just as superficial and air-headed as hopelessly-in-love Barbie.
Though it was inevitable that the two should reignite the fire of their sexless romance—tweets like Barbie’s, “Could Ken be cuter? Snap him up while he’s single, dolls! Or should I?” foreshadowed this predictable reunion—Mattel is taking steps away from the Disney princess ideals of the 50’s and 60’s and finally adding a pinch of present-day individualism, as skin-deep as it is.
Barbie still loves pink and shopping for expensive clothes. Ken still loves football and gets any woman he winks suggestively at. These things may never change. But, as a girl who never played with Barbie dolls, who preferred Beanie Babies and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I can appreciate a socially conscious effort to drag a reluctant couple through an almost-believable turmoil.
So happy Valentine’s Day Barbie and Ken. May you successfully survive many more consumer-driven advertising schemes.
Barbie and Ken Unite!
Tyree Harris
February 13, 2011
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