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Living Barbie: 50th anniversary

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Living Barbie: 50th anniversary

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LIVING BARBIE: 50
TH
ANNIVERSARY

by

Cristina E. Bishai

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(BROADCAST JOURNALISM)

May 2009

Copyright 2009 Cristina E. Bishai

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract iii

2. Living Barbie: 50
th
Anniversary 1

iii
ABSTRACT

She has a net worth of over $1 billion, and holds countless jobs including
dentist, astronaut, and police officer. Her face has graced movies, books and
television. She has aroused controversy with her image and revealing clothing, and
she does this while transcending for five decades. She’s Barbie, the first ever fashion
doll.
First introduced at the 1959 New York Toy Fair, Barbie has developed from a
plastic doll into an empire. And she flies off the toy shelves into the hands of children
every three seconds.
But behind her lavish hair and flawless features are hidden secrets: her
connection to a German sex doll, her unrealistic proportions and her struggle to
remain politically correct. Living Barbie: 50
th
Anniversary explores the controversial
life of Barbie, the fans who support her and the 50 years of Barbie history to discover
how she became the most sought after woman in the world.

1
LIVING BARBIE: 50
TH
ANNIVERSARY

Music form 1959 commercial
Shots of original Barbie (replica)

End with a scene from a commercial.

Barbie you’re beautiful, you make me
feel my Barbie doll is really real

Someday I’m going to be exactly like
you, ‘til then I’ll know just what I’ll do,
Barbie beautiful Barbie I’ll make
believe that I am you. You can tell its
Mattel, its swell.

Joe Blitman
Barbie Dealer

Photography courtesy of Barbie Four
Decades of Fashion, Fantasy, and Fun
Marco Tosa

Its starts out being a piece of plastic and
.it really represents where we have been
in the last 50 years.
Sonja Fisher,
Barbie Collector, Host of ‘How to Expert:
Barbie Collecting

Tilt E! Hollywood Barbie

To me she is somebody who can do
anything and everything in the entire
world. She can be a computer person,
she can be a stewardess, she can be a
princess, she can be a movie star, she
can be on the red carpet. You know all
things that Barbie can do and I think
she’s super woman.

MG Lord,
Author, Forever Barbie

Photograph Barbie

To me Barbie represents a lot of things
to different people that look at her….
Some people see Barbie as an
amazingly successful global brand to
others she is the subject of a work of art
to children she is the figure on to which
they project their adult selves. When
someone tells you what he or she thinks
of Barbie you learn more about the
person than you do about the plastic.

VO

Tilt 1959 Barbie doll

STANDING 11 ½ INCHES, BARBIE
FIRST TOOK THE WORLD BY

2

Montage 1959 Barbie replica
Feet
Legs
Bust
Eyes

Wide 1959 Barbie replica

Forever Barbie, MG Lord
STORM IN 1959. SCANTLY
DRESSED IN HER SIGNATURE
BLACK AND WHITE SWIM SUIT
AND HIGH HEELS, BARBIE WAS
THE FIRST DOLL TO REPRESENT
ADULT WOMEN.

BY AGE 50 BARBIE HAS EARNED
A NET WORTH OF MORE THAN $3
BILLION AND LEAPS OFF TOY
SHELFS INTO THE ARMS OF
CHILDREN EVERY THREE
SECONDS.

BUT BEHIND HER LAVISH HAIR
AND FLAWLESS FEATURES ARE
HIDDEN SECRETS: HER
CONNECTION TO A GERMAN SEX
DOLL, HER UNREALISTIC
PROPORTIONS AND HER
STRUGGLE TO REMAIN
POLITICALLY CORRECT.

DESPITE THE ANIMOSITY SOME
MIGHT FEEL TOWARD HER,
OTHERS CENTER THEIR LIVES ON
BARBIE MAKING HER THE MOST
SOUGHT AFTER WOMAN IN THE
WORLD.
Barbie 1959 commercial begins
Barbie’s small and so petite, her clothes

3
and figure look so neat her dazzling
outfit rings a bell at parties she will cast
a spell. Purses, hat and gloves and all
the gadgets gals adore. Barbie dressed
for swim and fun is only $3 the lovely
fashions range from 1 to $5, look for
Barbie where ever dolls are sold.

Three versions of Barbie. 1959 replica,
1990’s Barbie, 2008 Barbie

BARBIE THE TEENAGE FASHION
MODEL FIRST GRACED TOY
SHELVES IN 1959, BUT THE STORY
OF BARBIE’S CREATION BEGAN
YEARS BEFORE SHE APPEARD ON
THE SCENE.

Joe Blitman
Barbie Dealer

Photograph Ruth Handler

Back around 1950 when Ruth Handler
the founder of Mattel was observing her
8 or 9 year old daughter playing with
her paper dolls and she look at this and
thought wouldn’t it be great to three
dimensionalize this and turn it into a
toy. She was told by the research and
development people that it couldn’t be
done cost effectively so she sort of put it
on the back burner.

VO

Photograph Lilli doll

6 YEARS LATER RUTH HANDLER
CAME ACROSS AN 11 ½ INCH
DOLL IN A SHOP IN
SWITZERLAND. SHE WAS CALLED
LILLI.

MG Lord
Author, Forever Barbie

Well this trampy creature huh. Now
doesn’t she look a lot like number one

4
Lord hold up Lilli doll Barbie? I should say so.
Joe Blitman
Barbie Dealer

Now Lilli was a comic book character
in Germany. She was sort of a gold
digger. Not quite a call girl but she lived
off the generosity of wealthy men.

MG Lord
Author, Forever Barbie

Photograph German Lilli advertisement

This is she, she was based on a
character in sort of a down scale
German newspaper called the Bild
Zitung which was like our national
enquirer I mean Lilli was a floozy I read
I speak German and I read three or four
years of cartoons and virtually everyone
involved Lilli swapping sexual favors
for money… my favorite cartoon the
one I like the best shows Lilli in the
apartment with a friend and she is
holding up a tiny newspaper the Bild
Zitung I believe over her naked body
and the caption is we had a fight and he
took back all his presents. So you get
the picture.

VO

Lill doll

THE LILLI DOLL WAS CREATED
AS A PORNOGRAPHIC GAG GIFT
FOR MEN. LILLI ADS STATED
THAT SHE WAS “THE STAR OF
EVER BAR” AND “THE MASCOT
FOR YOUR CAR”

Joe Blitman
Barbie Dealer

It was kind of a thing you would get as
a party gift, as a joke. And she was
dressed in casual wear, ski wear,
evening gowns or whatever and she was
very voluptuous and very hard looking.

VO HANDLER PURCHASED THREE

5

Forever Barbie, MG Lord

Lilli doll and replica 1959 Barbie
DOLLS AND GAVE ONE TO HER
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
TEAM.

THE ORIGINAL BARBIE DOLL
PREMIERED AT THE NEW YORK
TOY FAIR IN 1959. SHE WAS
NAMED AFTER RUTH HANDLER’S
DAUGHTER BARBRA—AND SHE
BARED A STRIKING
RESEMBLANCE TO THE LILLI
DOLL.
Joe Blitman
Barbie dealer

It was not an immediate success with
buyers. They thought the doll was
salacious and too voluptuous. Sears
wouldn’t even carry it.

MG Lord
Author, Forever Barbie

One of my favorite exchanges involves
a mother looking at different versions of
the doll… and she says well I might
give my daughter the one in the
wedding dress but her eyes bug out, not
the one in the sweater ha-ha.

VO
Barbie’s New Country Camper commercial

HANDLERS COMPANY
DISCOVERED THAT KIDS LOVED
BARBIE, BUT MOTHERS HATED
HER, SO MATTEL DECIDED TO
MARKET DIRECTLY TO
CHILDREN.
MG Lord
Author, Forever Barbie

They were the first toy company to buy
advertising on television. They spoke

6
directly to children without parents as
an intermediary and that step
radicalized the toy industry… And
speaking directly to children was
critical when Barbie came out when
Mattel issued the Barbie doll four years
later in 1959.
VO

Forever Barbie, MG Lord

BY THE SUMMER OF 1959 YOUNG
GIRLS WERE GOING WILD FOR
BARBIE. BUT SOMETHING WAS
MISSING.
Joe Blitman

Ruth Handler started out with this idea
of making the doll a blank slate in terms
of personality… what they discovered
over the first couple of years was that
kids…were writing to her in record
numbers saying what they wanted. They
wanted her to have a car, they wanted
her to have a house, they wanted her to
have a job other than being a teenage
model and most of all they wanted her
to have a boyfriend, which really
reprised Mattel because they never
thought of the idea of doing a boy doll.

Nat POP 1961 Ken Commercial
It all started at the dance. Barbie the
famous teenage fashion model doll by
Mattel felt that this was to be a special
night. And then it happened, she met
Ken and somehow she knew that she
and Ken would be going together. So
now Mattel brings you Ken, Barbie’s
boyfriend.

VO

Commercial continues…

JUST LIKE BARBIE, KEN, WAS
NAMED AFTER THE HANDLER’S
SON KENNETH. HAVING BOTH

7
DOLLS MEANT THAT MATTEL
WOULD DEVELOP A NEW
ADVERTISING STRATEGY.
1961 Ken commercial continues…
Just think of all the fun you’ll have
taking Barbie and Ken out on date,
dressing each one just right.

Joe Blitman
Barbie Dealer

It was a huge success and what they
realized at that point was that they
needed to give her more of a
personality, define her more. And
suddenly she was from Willow,
Wisconsin, she had parents and two
years later she had a little sister and then
she had a best friend Midge.

VO

Forever Barbie, MG Lord

BARBIE’S SUCCESS CONTINUED
AND BY 1965 MATTEL’S SALES
EXCEEDED 100 MILLION
DOLLARS. HER SECRET WAS
ADAPTING TO CURRENT STYLES
AND FASHIONS.
VO

Francie Commercial clip

AND DURING THE MID 1960S
BARBIE FASHIONS BEGAN
CHANGING. HER BEST FRIEND
MIDGE DISAPPEARED FROM THE
MARKET TO REVEAL NEW DOLLS
WITH HIPPER STYLES.
MG Lord
Forever Barbie

Well if you take a look at the original
Barbie, she is the emblem of glamour in
the 1950s and she couldn’t even fit a lot
of the clothes in the 1960s. It was the

8
time when rail thin models like twiggy
were becoming popular and Barbie
couldn’t wear those clothes. She had a
sister she had a cousin Francie who
could wear the mod Carnaby street but
Barbie was kind of from another time.

1966 Francie Commercial
This is Francie. Long hair real lashes
and bendable legs. She’s mod, you
know, like new and all her clothes are
mod too. Real kicky things. Granny
gowns, groovy jumpers and stockings
like wild. Francie is Mattel’s modern
new teenage doll. She’s what’s
happening. You can tell its Mattel she’s
groovy.

VO

1967 commercial twist n turn Barbie

THEN BARBIE WENT THROUGH
HER FIRST, DRASTIC MAKEOVER
WHEN MATTEL INTRODUCED
THE NEW TWIST N TURN BARBIE
IN 1967.
1967 commercial
What kind of girl is the new twist n turn
Barbie? Whatever kind of girl you want
her to be. She’s got a beautiful new face
and new hair style and all kinds of new
outfits so you can add to her wardrobe
and a new twist n turn waist so you can
pose her in whatever way you want.

MG Lord
Author, Forever Barbie

The doll had to evolve some way and
also Mattel had to sell more dolls so
Mattel in the middle 1960s it came out
with an alternative version of Barbie
called twist n turn.

9
VO

Tilt new Barbie design

FROM THERE MATTEL
INTRODUCED A BARBIE WITH
BENDABLE ARMS AND LEGS.
AND BY 1976 SHE HAD HER LAST
DRASTIC MAKEOVER GIVING
HER A WIDE OPEN SMILE AND
PAINTED EYES THAT LOOKED
STRAIGHT AHEAD.
MG Lord
Author Forever Barbie

Photograph Malibu Barbie

Pan 1959 Barbie replica, eyes

I think Malibu Barbie which was the
first doll that defiantly looked straight
ahead… The eyes that were down cast
and to the side of the original Barbie
sort of reflect her origins… But the
change in Barbie’s glance was a
reflection of the sexual revolution.
Because in 1970 you could have that
body and look defiantly straight ahead.

VO

Vertigo shot, Sonja Fisher with collection in
background

BUT AS BARBIE GREW OLDER, SO
DID HER FANS. AND BY THE 1980s
A NEW GENERATION OF BARBIE
COLLECTORS EMERGED.
Sonja Fisher,
Barbie Collector Host: Expert Village:
Barbie Collecting

When I was a little kid my mom and
dad used to buy my sister and I tons of
Barbie’s for Christmas… And I enjoyed
Barbie so much because I could do and
be whoever I wanted with Barbie and it
kinda started to parlay as I got older into
collecting them.
VO

Photograph Barbie convention

ALONG WITH BARBIE
COLLECTING CAME THE FIRST

10
ABC News Special: The Secret Life of
Barbie
BARBIE CONVENTION. FISHER IS
JUST ONE OF THE MORE THAN
100,000 BARBIE DOLL
COLLECTORS, HALF OF WHOM
SPEND $1000 A YEAR,
ACCORDING TO MATTEL.
Sonja Fisher,
Barbie Collector Host: Expert Village:
Barbie Collecting

Well I have 550 dolls. So if you average
per doll maybe $40 per doll at 550
you’re looking at a pretty sizeable
amount of money. And if you sold it, it
would probably be worth a little more.

VO

Tilt, Fisher’s collection
Model Barbie doll

FISHER SAYS HER COLLECTION IS
WORTH AN ESTIMATED $25,000.
Joe Blitman
Barbie Dealer

Pan, photograph 1960’s style Barbie’s

You know collectors spend anywhere
from a hundred dollars a year to several
hundred dollars a year. In terms of new
dolls. If they collect vintage from 59-72
that could be anywhere from 100 to 10
thousand dollars a year. It just depends
on how aggressively they are building
their collection.

VO

Tilt Happy Holliday’s Barbie

Close up text Happy Holiday’s
Barbie Face

AND IN 1988 MATTEL BEGAN
CATERING TO THIS NEW BREED
OF BARBIE COLLECTORS BY
INTRODUCING THE HAPPY
HOLIDAYS BARBIE AND OTHER
COLLECTABLE LINES, WHICH
SHOWCASED ELABORATE
FASHIONS.

11
Sonja Fisher
Fashion does play a lot. Especially in
some of my collecting books. They
have a breakdown of all the clothes that
she can actually purchase.

Joe Blitman

Montage: Barbie and Fashion

Barbie doll with black background. Her
outfit changes as doll remains in place.

Montage shows a variety of fashions
including wedding dress, swimsuit and
gown.

If it weren’t for fashion there wouldn’t
be a Barbie doll. The clothing is the
locomotive that pulls the train and has
been for years…and it’s mostly what
collectors respond to. All the dolls
naked look alike, it’s really how they
are dressed that differentiates them.
Sonja Fisher opens a storage shed.
Well I’m going to show you my storage
shed. I’ve got lots of Barbie’s in here.
It’s a mess so beware.

Actuality moment of Fisher looking through
shed. She pulls Barbie's and stacks them on
the floor.

Fisher pulls a Barbie from storage
This is like an older doll too. I got it
from a girl that was selling Barbie’s.
This is the troll Barbie back from 1992.
Yeah I have years ranging from the 60s
to the present day. More focusing form
the 70s on.

Close up gold label replica doll
Oh it’s a replica. It debuted in 1968 in
the number 1800 series…. And it’s a
gold label doll. I don’t have a lot of the
gold label ones or the platinum ones
because they are more expensive.

VO

GOLD LABEL, PLATINUM LABEL,

12
Shots of gold label, platinum label and black
label dolls
BLACK LABEL AND PINK LABELS
ARE JUST SOME OF THE NEW
CATEGORIES MATTEL HAS
CREATED FOR ITS COLLECTOR
EDITION DOLLS.
Sonja Fisher

Fisher holds a Cher, Black Label doll in her
hand. Close up Cher doll

Black label dolls are more like
sensational dolls for collectors. They are
a little bit different they come out here
and there. You don’t really see them
very often. Pink that is more of the
collecting dolls, and then gold label
dolls which have about 20 thousand
dolls worldwide you have silver label
which has 50 thousand worldwide and
the platinum which is only a thousand.
So those are the ones that you really
want to collect.
VO

Tilt new style Barbie doll

FISHER SAYS HER COLLECTION
SHOWCASES HOW BARBIE HAS
CHANCED OVER THE DECADES.
Sonja Fisher
I think it shows how much we have
evolved over the years. It represents
American culture. There is over 50
years of Barbie.

VO

Krystal and Madeline play Barbie board
game.

Both laugh
KRYSTAL AND MADELINE SMITH
ARE SOME OF BARBIE’S NEWEST
COLLECTORS. TOGETHER THEY
HAVE ABOUT 70 DOLLS, AND
THEIR COLLECTION KEEPS
GROWING.
Krystal Smith
Barbie collector and website designer

I really like fashion I actually started
collecting Barbie dolls because I like

13
the miniature stuff. I think it’s really
cool.
Loretta Smith
Mother, Krystal and Madeline Smith

She wants to be an artist slash singer
slash graphics designer. And they got
me collecting. I don’t want to take all
their glory, but I have a number one
doll. Ha-ha.

VO KRYSTAL’S LOVE FOR FASHION
HAS EVEN MOVED TO DESIGNING
HER OWN MINIATURE FASHIONS.
Krystal Smith
Barbie collector and website designer

I made this dress. I dyed the fabric so it
would look blotchy, or whatever. And I
cut it out. I made this pirate hat too. Ha-
ha.
VO

Pan of girl’s room. The room is bright pink
and Barbie dolls line the walls.

The two girls sit at a table working on a
laptop.

Close up of website
KRYSTAL AND MADELINE ARE
DOING MORE THAN JUST
COLLECTING DOLLS. KRYSTAL
SMITH STARTED HER OWN
BARBIE WEBSITE WHEN SHE WAS
9 YEARS OLD.

THE SITE RECEIVES MORE THAN
700 HITS A WEEK AND FEATURES
BARBIE DOWNLOADS,
CUSTOMIZED GRAPHICS AND
EVEN VIDEOS.
Nat pop Krystal and Madeline video Happy birthday Barbie! (sing)
VO

Tilt of Barbie doll in swimsuit.

BUT DESPITE THE DEDICATION
OF FANS, BARBIE’S HAS NOT

14
ALWAYS BEEN VIEWED AS THE
PERFECT FEMALE ROLE MODEL.
HER MATURE CURVES AND
DISPROPORTIONAL BODY HAVE
SPARKED CONTROVERSY FROM
THE MOMENT WAS FIRST
INTRODUCED IN 1959.
Joe Blitman
There have been a number of
controversies with Barbie over the
years… You had a Barbie in the mid
90s saying math class is tough. A
teacher Barbie that didn’t have
underpants.

MG Lord

Photograph, Growing up Skipper doll

Growing up Skipper is one of the most
grotesque things I have ever seen.
When you moved her arm back this doll
made really bizarre noises and she
sprouted up about a quarter of an inch
of developed breasts. And then the
really creepy part was, if you pushed the
arms forward the breasts went away
again, very creepy.

VO

USA Today: Barbie deemed threat to Saudi
Morality

Photograph, Fulla doll

AND IN 2003 BARBIE WAS EVEN
DEEMED A THREAT TO
MORALITY OF SAUDI ARABIA’S
RELIGIOUS POLICE. IN RESPONSE,
THE FULLA DOLL WAS
INTRODUCED.
Joe Blitman
Iran and Saudi Arabia have their own
version of Barbie, which is their ideal of
womanhood. Which is woman’s sort of

15
strap down bound with tape over her
mouth and everything.

VO

Tilt Barbie

Forever Barbie, MG Lord
BARBIE CRITICS GENERALLY
HAVE ONE COMPLAINT: HER
UNREALISTIC PROPORTIONS.

ACCORDING TO A GROUP OF
RESEARCHERS AT A UNIVERSITY
IN FINLAND, IF BARBIE WERE
REAL SHE WOULD LACK THE 17
TO 22 PERCENT BODY FAT
NEEDED FOR A WOMAN TO
MENSTRUATE. OTHER STUDIES
SHOWED THAT GIVEN HER
PROPORTIONS, IF BARBIE WERE
LIFE-SIZED SHE WOULD STAND 5-
FOOT-6, WEIGH 100 POUNDS AND
HAVE A 39 INCH BUST.
MG Lord
Author, Forever Barbie

Close up Barbie Slumber Party Set

Scale set to 110 pounds

Small cardboard book, one side reads
“HOW TO LOOSE WEIGHT”

Other site says
“DON’T EAT”

You learn a lot about dolls when they
go to sleep at night. Barbie’s Slumber
Party Set came with a bunch of plastic
curlers a bathroom scale permanently
sets to 110 and this really is
irreprehensible, it’s just a really ill-
conceived joke, and a small book that
said on one side how to lose weight and
on the another, don’t eat, ha-ha. Ken in
contrast, his set of pajamas came with a
glass of milk and a sweet roll ha-ha. It is
I’m mean that is a powerful message I
don’t think that is something where
paranoid people are projecting on to the
doll that’s definitely troubling.

16
VO

Barbie montage

Old design to new design.

Bust

Waist

Feet
TO COMBAT THESE ARGUMENTS,
MATTEL CHANGED THE RATIOS
OF BARBIE’S BODY IN 2000. HER
BUST SHRUNK, HER WAIST
WIDENED TO REVEAL A NEW
BELLY BUTTON AND HER FEET
GREW.
Sonja Fisher
Barbie Collector, Host How to Experts:
Barbie Collecting

Barbie is supposed to be for fun. It’s
supposed to represent women to a
young child. It’s not like when you say
sexy that she has everything atomically
correct. It’s at the point where a child
can relate to but not the point where it’s
overboard.

Joe Blitman
Barbie Collector

Barbie doll dressed in thick jacket
In terms of Barbie’s physic there is an
actual reason for it. If her dimensions
were real she would be like 35-18-
33…you need to have a doll be that size
because when you put clothing on it, it
looks normal. Because she is 1/6
th
scale
but fabric is not 1/6
th
thinner of our
fabric. So you have to make her smaller
in the waist so she doesn’t look
pregnant.

MG Lord
Well you know I have never really
bought the argument that Barbie is to
blame for eating disorders….
Femininity is the problem and Barbie is
the scape goat. I think that others blame
this 11 ½ inch object for messages that
they give themselves to children about
how women should look.

VO
Photograph Barbie doll with a nail through
head

THAT BLAME SOMETIMES ENDS

17
IN SOME VIOLENT RESULTS.
Joe Blitman

Photograph
Barbie doll on ground covered in dirt

You see dolls with cigarette burns and
it’s very hard to find things that have
been taken out of the box that are in
great shape because it’s just enormous
abuse. I think kids take out their
frustrations out on their toys and if you
have a Barbie it’s cutting the hair or
decapitating it or a hack saw to the arm,
it’s a lot of societal anger kid’s style.

MG Lord

Photograph
Barbie doll nailed to cross

Children rarely play with dolls the way
the manufacture intended them to and a
lot of young girls, older girls, teenage
girls, who are angry about society and
oppressive notions of femininity take it
out on Barbie because she is an emblem
of those things… and they destroy the
doll cut its hair and mutilate it basically.
It’s an expression of anger against what
the doll represents.

VO
HER POPULARITY CONTINUES TO
MOVE BEYOND DOLL SALES.
AND AT 50 BARBIE HAS EVEN
STARRED IN MORE THAN 10
MOIVES.
NAT POP
Barbie in the Nutcracker, 2001

Nat pop Barbie in the Nutcracker
VO

Montage Barbie over the years

History Channel: The History of Toys

SINCE HER CREATION, MATTEL
HAS SOLD MORE THAN ONE
BILLION DOLLS AND IT IS
ESTIMATED THAT 99 PERCENT OF

18
AMERICAN GIRLS OWN A
BARBIE. MAKING BARBIE THE
MOST SOLD FASHION DOLL OF
ALL TIME.
Joe Biltman I think where ever we’re going Barbie
will be right there. Either 6 months
behind or 6 months ahead. It’s the secret
of her success. She is just the perfect
mirror of us.
Music

Tilt
Barbie 1959 replica
Some day I’m going to be exactly like
you. ’til then I know just what I’ll do.
Barbie, beautiful Barbie, I’ll make
believe that I am you.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract She has a net worth of over $1 billion, and holds countless jobs including dentist, astronaut, and police officer. Her face has graced movies, books and television. She has aroused controversy with her image and revealing clothing, and she does this while transcending for five decades. She’s Barbie, the first ever fashion doll.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Bishai, Cristina (author)

Core Title Living Barbie: 50th anniversary

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Journalism (Broadcast Journalism)

Publication Date 04/28/2009

Defense Date 05/09/2009

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Barbie,Bishai,Cristina,documentary,Dolls,impact,OAI-PMH Harvest,Toys,womens roles

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Birman, Daniel H. (committee chair), Cookson, Shari (committee member), Saltzman, Joseph (committee member)

Creator Email bishai@usc.edu,cristinabishai@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2139

Unique identifier UC1282019

Identifier etd-Bishai-2737 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-221522 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2139 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Bishai-2737.pdf

Dmrecord 221522

Document Type Thesis

Rights Bishai, Cristina

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu