Barbie "I can be a baby photographer". Now that's a hoot and a holler. Especially that you can get it in two different "flavors". But I worry that the black one is called "African-American". Isn't that discrimination against, say Haitian blacks? Or African-Europeans? Or all of the other numerous colored peoples who don't happen to be US citizens and of African descent?
For the boys, there is the "war photographer" doll. Sorry, it's an "action figure". I want one. I love the perfect cameras, actual Nikons and Canons. For some reason, there's no black version of this one. I'm a little upset about that.
16 comments:
They should go back to the days when they only came in white, and if you wanted anything else you were fucked. It's a lot simpler.
Whatever happened to Cabbage Patch dolls? "Barbie" has been done to death already...
- Ray.
(gave up my Blogger acct.)
Somehow, I have a feeling "Action Man the child photographer" might very promptly be declared politically incorrect by the morality leagues... ;-)
I have several gripes about toy human reproductions: girl dolls always have huge heads of an impossible shape and a wire-thin body (the Bratz® merrily took it to a further extreme), while boys' "action figures" all have steroid-enhanced muscles and for increased contrast a head way too small. (Typical example: the WWE action figures.) Non-caucasian dolls are desperatingly rare: "African" and other ethnic Barbies usually are just made in a different color, there are practically no chinese, hindu, african, middle-eastern, eskimo, etc. characters that look half-decently realistic. Oh, and what's with the "Tomb Raider" mega-boobies syndrome? My Resident Evil Ada Wong (came with an amazing plant creature) has bosoms as big as her cranium. Each.
I have managed to find several non-stereotypical items for my private collection. Including women with relievingly realistic bodies. It shows immediately: they're the same height as the Barbie standard, but won't fit into their pro-anorexia clothes!
Why collect them? Because I see them as an affordable art form. I have a Doctor X model from the regretted Action Man realistic series ("Axel" has gone all "toon, young and hip cool" today), who has a big fat belly. And several "men" with faces way different from the sempiternal square-jawed cliché, courtesy of lesser-known brands of surprisingly good quality. One looks gay (pretty amazing to have found that one in Lebanon), one seems to have the Egyptian type, and one Black man with normal African face and hair that's a pleasure to behold. Now I need an India type guy, one from the far East with non-manga eyes, and a few assorted women.
Sheesh, even Fulla the Islamic doll, complete with her abaya for outside-the-home fashion, has a moronic Barbie-like face, with that nose which Michael Jackson sought to surpass. Have you ever noticed how ridiculous their profile looks?
Ah well, I suppose it's the same evolution in mentalities as natural non-sexual nudity. One day it'll be here, and our children (grandchildren?) will wonder what could have ever got into us.
Oh, and I also collect the clothes and accessories which look made with love for detail, although I focus much less on cameras. :-)
Mine is more for palpable personalities.
Hey, you were right, that "war journalist" looks fantastic! I understand you: since you're living below your means, if you like it, just buy it.
I'm quite careful about all my spendings (life in Lebanon, the crisis, etc.), but I folow that same advice for myself. If it's not unreasonable, and I know I'll never regret it, I buy.
Ray, you stopped blogging??
Okay I thought African-American barbies were only sold in the US. We've always thought it was a bit exclusive. The black Barbie, we seem to remember, was called Christie or Crystal or some such. It's the same with the Latin Barbie, she could pass for S American, Spanish, Italian, Greek....
Pascal, did you get your Out and Proud Ken, or your Biker Dyke Barbie? There was a whole range a few years ago of custom clothed dolls here in N Cal. I did see a trailer trash doll too, but not derived from Mattels doll, just a cheap fashion doll. interesting article
Oh that war journalist was a good chuckle. Especially the pose behind the GI while using a FOX news camera.
Guess about why you can't get a dark-skinned (a.k.a. African-American or Haitian-American or African-European) military figurine for the war-photographer kit: because in the USA there's a mild worry that the politically correct types will complain if you depict a dark-skinned man in a military uniform. Here the army is sometimes considered "last chance" for people who can't finish high school level education, and is also a consistent career option for poorly educated dark-skinned men, especially from the South. So the PC crowd has decided that it's "offensive" to say that a dark-skinned man is an army guy, because that must mean you are "discriminating" against dark-skinned people by assuming that they "can't get" an education or fulfill any career better than mere mud-digging army moron.
Not that I agree with the assessment, just suggesting what the PC crowd might have intimidated the manufacturers away from.
Final,
Talk about "deafening silence", hunh? It's like those holes in cartoons, in doors or walls, that are exactly the shape of the character that went through them. Makes the thing that's not shown stick out by its very absence!
Or, in another classic example, the bullets drawing the shape of a character's that's just been miraculously missed. "Dark-skinned people don't get shot in the US Army". Move along, people, nothing to see here.
"Pascal, did you get your Out and Proud Ken, or your Biker Dyke Barbie?"
In LEBANON? Oh, you crack me up! :-D
But I saw many "politically incorrect" dolls in articles from MAD Magazine. Including Drunk Homeless Ken.
I could make my own "special" dolls", but I really don't have the time. I already have several ongoing action figure customising projects waiting in a closet to be completed.
It's already a small miracle when I manage to find the female characters of a given series, most of the times they aren't even imported here, according to toy shop owners: "There is at most one in every carton, and it's sold almost immediately." Typical example: X-Men the movie. No Jean Grey or Storm, barely a few of the monster-looking Mystique.
It's as if the arab world was afraid that boys playing with girl characters might turn gay in masses!
I once saw a 10" Joker toy from the Batman animated series, and on the back of the box there was a piece of black tape on one of the pictured collection's models. I checked, and all boxes had the same piece of tape at the same place. I lifted one, and beneath was concealed Batgirl, the sole feminine model of the toy series!!!
I love my country, I do, honestly. But how can I envision staying and living all my life in a country that hates me for being un-primitive?
The subliminal message is clear: "If you don't like our medieval ways, you're free to leave!"
I wish I were free to LIVE. This place is mentally suffocating. Either you meekly go along with the slipknot, or it strangles you.
Perhaps that's why, since the war begun in 1975, HALF of Lebanon's Christians emigrated with no intention of return. Drain of the disgruntled elites. Last week I even met an old man who's planning to leave. "Too evolved for our own good"...
(These numbers are simple math: in 1975, we were 50% of the population. Today we're 33%. Endangered species alert!)
Pascal commented: "I already have several ongoing action figure customising projects waiting in a closet to be completed."
Hey, keep us posted on the progress! I love projects.
"I love my country, I do, honestly. But how can I envision staying and living all my life in a country that hates me for being un-primitive?"
Hmm ... in this corner of the globe, whenever something is pushed as "the civilised solution" it's always something that increases socialism and reduces individual liberty. For this reason I personally much prefer the "primitive".
"Perhaps that's why, since the war begun in 1975, HALF of Lebanon's Christians emigrated with no intention of return."
They must have ended up here. For this is a rare country where every corporation is forced to subsidise the Church. Yes, I even I, through my company, pay the salaries of the priests and bishops. The idiocy is mind numbing. Nietzsche, we miss you.
Pascal,
I had a friend who was into Pony Girls. I started making a Barbie for her. I did a prototype on Skipper, it was very good. And good fun doing it.
Say, do they still make designer Barbies? The Vera Wang wedding dress was gorgeous. (we had a 12yr old niece at the time).
Alex
I suppose one of these days I'll post those projects on my blog (link on my profile page).
It seems that placing action figures in a scanner can give great results. Now all I need is a working scanner. And things to scan, of course. ;-)
I've just read your linked article, Alex. I *was* interested.
"Barbie may have a sense of humor, Mattel's attorneys do not."
Uh... tell me they didn't just admit being hypocrite doublespeakers there? Wait, they DID.
Basically, what Mattel lawyers say, is that you can buy toys from their company, but you can't use free artistic expression to make statements with said toys under the fair use rationale or even clear parody. They're not simply selling you a doll, they're selling you an IMAGE, entirely made up from scratch by their advertising department, and although you paid good money for said image, only they ever own it.
They WANT Barbie to be an icon of American society. But... exclusively an icon for the parts of American society which they like. "White trash? That's not MY America! I don't WANT to see it. Take those homosexuals away from my delicate eyes, you perverted Jerry Springer fan! My baby, Barbie, is a pure and innocent blonde bimbo airhead, I mean, dynamic modern young woman, who's been platonically dating the same guy for decades (even getting pregnant) without getting married, and recently dumped him on a whim for some random surfer dude. Um, wait, that didn't come out right! Um, George Bush may have a sense of humor, the President of the USA doesn't. Um, I mean... PASS!"
A woman pediatrician I worked with once expressed great displeasure at the Pregnant Barbie doll, not at all out of prudishness, but for one very specific reason: the way the baby "comes out from the mom's belly" is blatantly unrealistic, and can easily give little girls (who are also future mothers) a hugely distorted image of what reality's like. "Good idea, utterly lousy application."
She would have been happy if that Barbie had a vagina for the baby to be born through. Might've been a bit of a technical challenge, though...
Ironic, no? I mean, a Lebanese practically saying to the USA, "Me civilize you."
(My fellow countrymen will get the historical joke.)
Basically, what Mattel lawyers say, is that you can buy toys from their company, but you can't use free artistic expression to make statements with said toys under the fair use rationale or even clear parody.
I wonder if MAD magazine got in trouble for Bag Lady Barbie and a few others they did back in the day.
Reply to "Ray, you stopped blogging?"
And the answer is: "Only on Blogger -
I had a hit counter on it, and I was the only one visiting the site :(
But I still blog on the local community blogsite here in Vancouver,
(http://www.urbanvancouver.com/) and
I hope you check it out periodically.
That article I read of the interview of the Technorati VP saying that 99%
of the 109.2-million blogs they track are done in obscurity or very nearly so made me ask myself "Why Me?". And the answer was "One blog's enough." How much rejection do I need??? - Ray.
"I wonder if MAD magazine got in trouble for Bag Lady Barbie and a few others they did back in the day."
A good question.
"One blog's enough. How much rejection do I need???"
LOL! Woody Allen would be proud of you.
Ray reported: "... 99% of the 109.2-million blogs they track are done in obscurity or very nearly so made me ask myself "Why Me?".
Here's a tip for you: Don't "blog". Rather, just create a web site and write on its pages. People will arrive at your site and go "Wow! A web site that's not a "blog". How novel! Gotta bookmark it for later perusal."
If for some reason you can't do that, an alternative strategy would be to call your "blog" a weblog. People will go "What's that? A weblog? We blog? Hmm ... since it says "we" I better bookmark it and keep an eye on it in case there's something about me."
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