Astronaut, architect, CEO: As times changed, so did Barbie

Love her or hate her, Mattel’s iconic doll will outlive us all

It makes you wonder about the state of things when the blockbuster movie of the summer is about a doll. “Barbie” has beaten out Tom Cruise’s latest “Mission Impossible” movie, and Harrison Ford’s 80-year-old version of Indiana Jones, with the biggest opening of the year. Maybe that can be explained knowing Barbie is only 64. She could sing to the world the Beatles verse, “Will you still love me when I’m 64?” and the answer seems to be a resounding, “YES!”

I never played with dolls as a child so that wasn’t a manifestation at the time of my being gay. I had other indications like doing fl ower arranging. I won a blue ribbon for one arrangement and did window displays for local stores. But I knew about Barbie. Now as I move toward my dotage, I have a good friend who owns two bars called Freddie’s, one in Virginia, and one in Rehoboth Beach, and he is infatuated with Barbie. I also enjoy photographing the ‘Barbie House’ on Q Street in Dupont Circle, which has various entertaining displays of Barbie dolls in the yard, depicting the issues of the day.

When Barbie was introduced by Mattel in 1959, girls loved her, and they all wanted her. She came with beautiful clothes, long blond hair, and a perfect fi gure. You could get all kinds of accessories for her from jewelry, clothing, even a Barbie kitchen. Clearly young girls at the time were expected to learn to cook. It was the end of the 1950s and that was our culture.

But as our society’s norms changed, so did Barbie. She was an astronaut, an architect, and a CEO. In 1961, Mattel introduced the world to Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. You could get Ken with either blond or dark hair, and he wore a red bathing suit showing off his perfect plastic body, just lacking genitals. Outfi ts for him included a tuxedo. Things went along fi ne for Barbie and Ken for years. Barbie seemed to treat Ken as an accessory, like a new fur, or a bracelet. I always thought of the two of them like the perfect children of a TV couple like Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Bland and pretty. But then my dreams, as a totally closeted boy at the time, were not about Barbie or Ken, but rather of the Nelson’s real younger son, Ricky. Mattel kept up with the times and the fi ght for civil rights by introducing Christie, a doll of color, as Barbie’s friend in the later ‘60s In 1993, Mattel issued a new version of Ken: Earring Magic Ken. Ken was now wearing a mesh shirt, exposing his abs. He had an earring and necklace. Years later Katie Dupere would write in her column, “The true story of Mattel accidentally releasing a super gay Ken doll,” “After the doll’s 1993 release, activist and writer Dan Savage, who at the time was working for queer-focused newspaper The Stranger, wrote a piece about the doll’s decidedly “ gay” look. In the story, Savage particularly focused on the doll’s necklace, a circular chrome pendant hanging from a silver chain. Savage wrote that the necklace “is what ten out of ten people in-the-know will tell you at a glance is a c*** ring.” Barbie and Ken and their friends changed with the times. Barbie and Ken never married; just stayed boyfriend and girlfriend for 43 years. Then the day before Valentine’s Day 2004, Mattel began a large-scale publicity promotion by issuing a press release telling the world Barbie and Ken were breaking up. This was national news, covered among other places by the “Today” show. Then at Toy Fair 2004, Mattel introduced Blaine, a boogie boarding Australian hottie who they said was now dating Barbie. One thing Barbie has never done is have children. I see her as the precursor to Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in “Sex And the City.”

In interviews about the movie, Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, tells Ryan Gosling, Ken, she is moving on from him being merely an accessory, which is what Mattel introduced him as. You could buy a Barbie mink stole, a new Barbie dress, a Barbie bracelet, a Barbie oven, or Ken. Totally interchangeable.

With this movie, whether you love or hate Barbie, you can be assured she will outlive you, especially if you are a man. Mattel has sold more than 1 billion Barbies and we can be confi dent that future generations will continue to add to Mattel’s bottom line as we wait to see where Barbie goes next.

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