[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-141699-en":3,"doc-seo-141699-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},141699,5909887254083,"\tWilliam","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",2,"Literature","The Wonder of Barbie: Popular Culture and the Making of Female Identity - Article 3","An essay examines how Barbie, as a prominent popular-culture doll, shapes female identity through representation rather than through its function as a child’s toy. It critiques feminist aesthetic and philosophical concerns raised by Barbie’s mimicking of the female form, treating Barbie as a “prop” that enables identity exploration. The discussion compares Barbie’s open, play-like interpretive space with advertising and television, arguing these media create closed systems that reinforce deterministic and negative archetypes for women.","Essays in Philosophy  \n\n| Volume 4\u003Cbr>Issue 1 Feminine Politics in Popular Culture: The\u003Cbr>Construction of Gender | Article 3 |\n| --- | --- |\n\n1-2003  \nThe Wonder of Barbie: Popular Culture and the Making of Female Identity  \nLenore Wright  \nBaylor University, [Lenore_Wright@baylor.edu](Lenore_Wright@baylor.edu)  \nFollow this and additional works at: [http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip](http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip)  \nRecommended Citation  \nWright, Lenore (2003) \"The Wonder of Barbie: Popular Culture and the Making of Female Identity,\" Essays in Philosophy: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 3.  \nEssays in Philosophy is a biannual journal published by Pacific University Library | ISSN 1526-0569 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/  \nEssays in Philosophy  \nA Biannual Journal  \nVol. 4 No. 1, January 2003  \nThe Wonder of Barbie: Popular Culture and the Making of Female Identity  \nThe popular doll, Barbie, has evoked a steady stream of critical attention since her debut in 1959. Though Barbie serves primarily and properly as a toy for children, much of this attention has been generated by the secondary role she plays in popular culture—artifact of female representation. Barbie is no ordinary toy. She mimics the female form. She stands for woman within the games of make-believe in which children involve her. She functions as a tool for self-imagining. It is Barbie’s secondary nature as a representation of woman that creates special quandaries for feminist aestheticians, quandaries that are both cultural and philosophical. 1 Included among the former are America’s attraction to public personas, the influence of the acting industry on female representation, and the tacit roles iconic figures play in shaping the attributes of female beauty. The philosophic issues raised by Barbie’s presence in children’splay include the ideas imbedded in the concept of ‘play,’ Barbie’s aesthetic and ontological status as aprop in games, and the effect of games and props upon gender, self-identity, and self-imagining. These concerns and issues have become intertwined in discussions of self-identity. Further examination may help to distinguish the cultural issues from the philosophical issues that female representation raises.  \nMy aim in this paper is to explain and critique how female representation in popular culture shapes female identity. I begin by explicating the representational relationship among the following popular culture items: (1) toys that are depicted as female (2) images of women in advertising, and (3) televised representations of women. This is no small task. By adapting the analysis of games put forward by Kendall Walton in Mimesis and Make-Believe, I argue that Barbie qua representational female toy functions as a “prop” in the world of make-believe games. As such, Barbie allows children to explore identity without stipulating rules for identity-formation, thereby encouraging them to “play” with their senses of self in an empowering way. Next, I examine the depiction and posturing of women in print advertising and compare female to male representation in the advertising world. I focus particular attention upon the flawed views of women conveyed by bra advertisements, e.g. Maidenform Bra ads. I then discuss the challenges these images pose for selfidentity, and I argue that unlike the games evoked by Barbie, advertising fosters a closed interpretative system, a system that promotes deterministic and negative views of women and female identity. Finally, I look briefly at key representations of women on television (dated and recent) . I contend that like advertised representations of women, women of television are subject toa closed interpretative system that “reads” them against established female archetypes: nurturer, vixen, or victim. To combat the negative effects of these representations of women in advertising and on television, I argue that women must engage female representations in popular culture as children engage props in their imagina","cbCaigFfb8FFn4DZ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigFfb8FFn4DZ","pdf",318077,6,1,26,"English","en",105,"# The Wonder of Barbie: Popular Culture and the Making of Female Identity\n## Barbie Dolls and Female Representation","[{\"question\":\"What does the essay argue about Barbie’s role in shaping female identity?\",\"answer\":\"Barbie functions as a representational “prop” in make-believe games, letting children explore identity without fixed rules, supporting a more empowering sense of self.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper compare Barbie with advertising and television regarding interpretations of women?\",\"answer\":\"Advertising and television are argued to foster closed interpretive systems that promote deterministic, negative views and read women against established female archetypes.\"},{\"question\":\"What main representations of women does the essay discuss in media?\",\"answer\":\"It discusses female representation in toys, advertising images (including bra advertisements), and televised portrayals, focusing on how these depictions affect self-identity and self-imagining.\"}]","The Wonder of Barbie: Popular Culture and the Making of Female Identity - 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