I’ll stick up for Barbie a little.
When my daughter was little, we had the Nutcracker and Rapunzel and Swan Lake movies. They made good use of classical literature, music and ballet, and had wholesome moral messages about honesty, courage, perseverance, respect for parents.
Also, Barbie in regular form is a grown-up with a job and nice boyfriend. Do you realize how few toys there are for girls that actually mention how real people work and live? Many, many toys for girls are about fantasy characters or glamour. They don’t offer any view of a realistic future for a girl, where she can imagine what life will really be like when she grows up. Barbie does that. In the cesspool of decadent or overly saccharine offerings for kids, Barbie has become one of the good guys.
And hey, now, per the posted article, we know she’s a devout Christian. :)
(full disclosure: we do own a couple of shares of Mattel stock.)
the movies seriously aren’t too bad for what they are, I’ll give ya that.
Well....we have the impression that one of the incarnations is an Episcopalian. Whether that’s a devout Christian is something a number of people would seriously dispute.
I agree with you about the Barbie movies. They are well done, for the genre, and have good values. “Unselfishness” can’t be pushed too hard to little girls! “Look how considerate Barbie is!” I would say to my daughters. “Look how she’s helping the younger children!”
My four daughters love the Barbie movies.
My girls love Barbie and love the movies, too. She is the girl who can be anything, and she always plays the heroine in their little imaginary games.
There have been times when a friend has given them an awful Bratz doll for a present and we have made a pact that she is traded in for a Barbie princess.
You’re right, Barbie is one of the good guys. She may have an unattainable figure, but she has been every career dream a girl could ever have. And, why can’t a girl look good while flying to the moon or arguing in front of the Supreme Court?