-Mayday Parade, "You're Dead Wrong"
When I was younger, I absolutely loved Barbie dolls. Her dollhouse, the countless outfit combinations, her fancy limousine, and all her fancy things were so desirable. To little girls, Barbie's luxurious life was so idealistic and envied. But as life goes on and trends come and go, the trend of Barbie DOLLS has faded away, and the toy is not as popular. Rather, the trend is revealing its popularity in a different form.
Many girls believe that they must resemble the ideal "Barbie" look (to some degree) in order to fit in. To achieve this look, one must have a perfect figure, which consists of a small waist, a big chest, and wide hips. Prager assures this statement in "Our Barbies, Ourselves" by stating, "There are millions of women who are subliminally sure that a thirty-nine-inch bust and a twenty-three-inch waist are the epitome of lovability" (para 3). How do women obtain this unrealistic perception of beauty? From a very young age, Barbie was always there to play dress-up. To paint her nails with a felt-tip marker. To buy her more friends and a perfect boyfriend. According to www.hubpages.com, children's "early experiences have a significant, lasting impact on their cognitive and social development." Basically, a child's environment influences them significantly because their brains are rapidly maturing and they are induced with the aspects of their environment. This could be a reason explaining why people are immensely obsessed with beauty. If a child is given a Barbie doll to play with, and he or she covets her dream lifestyle, then they are more likely to desire this lifestyle at an older age because they have been influenced directly.
Although Barbie dolls brought me a lot of joy when I was younger, they are harmful if they create an unrealistic idea of beauty in someone's mind. Barbie dolls are meant to be played with. Hopefully young girls today can solely interpret this one aspect of the toy.
Good Job with the research.Also I feel like this is something that parents need to supervise since a child learns its values and character are built at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post. Your "baleful" diction was unusual and really effective in proving your point. I also liked how you researched and used hubpages to raise your ethos. Great job! :D
ReplyDeleteGreat job with your research, Sarah! You really hit a key point that childrens' brains are molded at such a young age, therefore its easier to target them to influence them with a picture of an ideal, yet unrealistic, beauty standard .
ReplyDelete