• Barbie's Reinvention From Dumb Blonde to Post-Feminist Icon
  • Barbie, the movie New trailer of the movie starring Margot Robbie

Neither impossible model measurements, nor elegant heels, nor platinum blonde hair. Barbie, the most iconic and best-selling doll in history, has been bent on breaking her own mold for years. And he has done it again. This morning the first version with Down syndrome was presented in the United States, developed in collaboration with the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), the association that offers support to Americans with this disability and their families.

"We are proud to introduce a Barbie doll with Down syndrome to better reflect the world around us and further our commitment to celebrating inclusion through play," Lisa McKnight, executive vice president of Mattel, said in a statement. Kandi Pickard, president and CEO of the NDSS, said: "This means a lot to our community, which for the first time can play with a Barbie doll that looks like them.

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Culture.

Barbie's Reinvention: From Dumb Blonde to Post-Feminist Icon

  • Writing: VALENTINA SOTTA Madrid

Barbie's Reinvention: From Dumb Blonde to Post-Feminist Icon

The development of this new Barbie, a model that is integrated into its Fashionista line, has lasted for more than a year. The result is a doll where every element has been taken care of down to the last detail. The face has a more rounded shape, smaller ears, flatter nasal bridge and almond-shaped eyes. And the palms of the hands have only one line. Physical traits, all of them, characteristic of women with Down syndrome.

In addition, this doll incorporates a necklace with three arrows representing the third chromosome 21, the 'extra' chromosome whose presence genetically determines this syndrome. The dress has butterflies and the colors yellow and blue, symbolic elements all of them. And she wears pink orthoses, a kind of orthopedic anklets that some children with Down syndrome use to stabilize themselves.

To support its launch in Spain, Mattel will have Mariana de Ugarte as ambassador. This influencer and writer is the mother of Marianita and Jaime, two children with Down syndrome. "I think it is wonderful that this line has been created that what it does is favor what we seek, which is the acceptance of diversity," the statement said.

Line of Barbie dolls that integrates this new versionMATTEL

With this initiative Mattel wants to continue demonstrating that it is committed to representing all types of children who play with their dolls. Gone are the times when Barbie could only be tall, thin and blonde. Out complex. Now she can be short or curvy, suffer from alopecia or even have vitiligo. And disability is also included in its catalog. Barbie can be in a wheelchair, use a prosthetic leg or hearing aids to hear.

Barbie can also be seen as a symbol of female empowerment. At 64 years old, he has held more than 250 professions. As its slogan says, "it can be anything it wants to be." And she has been an astronaut, policeman, doctor, soldier and even candidate for the presidency of the United States. One of the latest examples was when, in 2021, she became a vaccinologist to honor Sarah Gilbert, one of the scientists who was involved in the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for the coronavirus.

The professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, Asunción Bernárdez, author of the essay Soft Power, heroines and dolls in media culture, believes that Barbie has always been a disruptive toy. "For the first time the girls played with a model of an adult woman who could be a projection of them in the future. Before, they played only with babies [i.e. dolls]. Girls no longer had to be mothers," this expert told EL MUNDO months ago.

Also this year the famous doll will make the leap to the big screen. Barbie, the film directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird and Little Women), will be released on July 21, 2023 with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the roles of Barbie and Ken flesh and blood. In the latest trailer, presented to the rhythm of Fun, Fun, Fun by the Beach Boys, both characters greet each other on an idealized Californian beach. However, it also introduces us to the couple in a convertible that is headed, as a sign suggests, 'to the real world'. "Did you bring your skates?" she asks. "I never go out without them," he replies.

That move from the stereotypical to the real world has a lot to do with Mattel's strategy over the past few decades. Barbie with Down syndrome is another step in that direction.

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