Playing with Barbie Doll-Like Femininity in the Contemporary West
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Playing with Barbie Doll-like Femininity in the Contemporary West Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Critical and Cultural Theory Jennifer Dawn Whitney January 2013 DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCESS I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… 2 Abstract In the winter of 2009, Barbie celebrated her 50th birthday. The occasion was marked with all the pageantry befitting a debutante, starlet, or modern-day princess. Lavish parties were hosted in her honour, and fashion models impersonated the doll on the catwalk. Luxury brands created limited edition Barbie products—from cosmetics to cars—to commemorate the milestone. And, at the height of the revelry, the plastic doll even underwent ‘plastic surgery’ in order to squeeze into a couture pair of birthday stilettos. Taking this distinctive cultural moment as its starting point, this thesis examines how the Barbie doll’s complex and indefatigable cultural presence is understood in Western popular culture. A range of media and industries engage with representations of the doll: advertising, consumer, and celebrity cultures; the fashion, beauty, and cosmetic surgery industries; music; reality television; social networking; and pornography. This thesis interrogates how these media and industries, and the discursive practices therein, reproduce images and narratives of Barbie as a uniform and idealised representation of white, affluent femininity in the West. However, as her birthday celebrations suggest, Barbie is also written as a ‘real’ girl. This thesis also interrogates this narrative of ‘realness’ as it helps to explain why the doll has remained relevant for over 50 years, while complicating readings of her position as a uniform cultural object. Moreover, while Barbie is being portrayed as a ‘real’ girl, popular culture narratives also present ‘becoming Barbie’ as an achievable goal for young women and girls. Motivating this research throughout is the question of how such a referential relationship reinforces and destabilises constructions of the feminine subject in our postmodern and posthuman times. 3 Acknowledgements The inspiration, research, and writing of this thesis were made possible with a combination of love, encouragement, and a variety of critical perspectives. I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr Jane Moore, for her tireless personal and professional support. Dr Neil Badmington, Dr Becky Munford, and Professor Chris Weedon have been invaluable mentors, to whom I am also especially grateful. I appreciate all the new friendships I have made with colleagues, faculty, and staff throughout the School of English, Communications and Philosophy, the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, and the Assuming Gender team. The kindness and wisdom shared in each of these communities continues to motivate me. I would like to thank Tiffany and Rachel for providing the sparkle that inspired this doctoral research. I am forever appreciative of Hazel and Brian, whose generosity has provided me with countless warm meals, cosy quarters, and bottomless cups of tea. And, I would like to thank my parents, Leslie and Don, who always believed in me. Lastly, I am so grateful to Rhys whose love, thoughtfulness, and endless musings keep me going every day. 4 Table of Contents Introduction: ‘In a Barbie World’……………………….……………………………………….8 I. Chapter Outline………………………………………………………………………..…20 Chapter One: ‘Really Real’: Barbie, Aspiration, Authenticity, and the Feminine Subject………………………………………………………………………………24 I. Talking Dolls: Humanist Narratives of Barbie………………………………..24 II. ‘Keepin’ It Real’: Barbie’s Narrative of Authenticity………………………...35 III. ‘I can be…’: Barbie and Feminine Subjectivity……………………………….50 a. ‘Get Your Sparkle On’: Barbie as a Real and Aspirational Figure…………………………………………………………………………………….52 b. An ‘Impossible Ideal’: Barbie, Embodiment, and Feminine Subjectivity…………………………………………………………………………….64 c. ‘Barbie is us’: Deconstructing Barbie’s Humanist Representation………………………………………………………………..……..74 Chapter Two: Beyond Fake: Becoming Barbie and the Posthuman Subject…………………………………………………………………………………..……….….80 I. All Dolled Up: Cultural Appropriations of Barbie……………………...…….81 II. Barbie Conscious: Technology and the Narrative of Improvement……………………………………………………………………………...84 III. ‘Scripted Reality’: Rewriting the Technobody….………………………………95 IV. ‘A Lifelong Sentence’: Bodies as Scripts, Bodies as Archives…………………………………………………………………………………….105 a. A ‘Cyborg Myth’: The Posthuman Body as a Fictional Text………………………………………………………………………….....….……107 b. ‘Fleshly Confessions’: The Body as Archive….…………………..……….112 5 Chapter Three: ‘Life in Plastic is Fantastic’: Beauty and the Barbie Doll…………………………………………………………………………………….……..…….…119 I. ‘Ubiquity Made Visible’: An Introduction to Plastic….…………..………..119 II. ‘Doll Parts’: Models, Mannequins, and Machines….…..………..…………124 III. We’re Plastic But We Still Have Fun’: A Popular Culture Reading of Plastic Corporeality…………………………………………………………………….141 IV. ‘Too Much Makeup, Too Much Hair’: Barbie Doll-Like Corporeality and the Feminine Abject..……………………………………………..………………..…153 a. Snip ‘n Style Barbie: Labiaplasty and Idealised Femininity in the West….……………………………………………………………………….…………157 b. ‘Fill the Void Up with Celluloid’: Corporeal Plastic and the Feminine Abject…………………………………………………………………………………..165 Chapter Four: ‘It’s Barbie, Bitch!’: Nicki Minaj, Black Barbie and the Posthuman Subject….………………………………………………………………………174 I. ‘Where My Bad Bitches At?’: Contextualising the Fame of Nicki Minaj……………………..………………………………………………………………...174 II. Some Assembly Required: The Making of Harajuku Barbie……………………………………………………………………….……………...183 III. ‘Bitch, You Ain’t No Barbie’: Race, Authenticity and the Commodification of Difference….……………………………………………….189 IV. Playtime Has Just Begun: The Possibilities of Harajuku Barbie……...198 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………206 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………...…….211 6 She was sunshine, Tomorrowland, the future made plastic. —M.G. Lord1 1 M.G. Lord, Forever Barbie (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1994), p. 43. 7 Introduction: ‘In a Barbie World’1 Tiffany was my childhood best friend and my most intimate Barbie doll confidant. Living two houses apart in suburban Los Angeles made it easy for us to meet up after school, dismissing the trials of the playground and the classroom for the glamour, high fashion, and fun of our fantasy Barbie doll world. This playtime began on the wooden floor of her bedroom when we were five years old. Interspersed with riding bikes and games of tag, Barbies were part of a varied and idyllic upbringing. As we grew older, playtime with Barbies became our daily obsession; it was a permanent fixture we looked forward to with eager anticipation. Over time, our dolls were shaped into lasting characters in a nearly decade long soap opera that revolved around our dreams for the future, as well as the family and neighbourhood dramas we witnessed every day. When I was eight years old, my parents acquired a caravan, which our family religiously piled into for a few weeks each summer to explore some enclave of the great outdoors in the American West. Apart from those summer adventures, the caravan sat idly in the drive. Upon much persuasion, my mother and father agreed to turn a blind eye as Tiffany and I (and later my little sister, Rachel) transformed it over each school year into a tiered cityscape that we called Barbie World. The caravan housed for us all the magic of girlish make-believe; our dolls, and all their accoutrements, were aspirational figures, while the caravan, plastered with tween heartthrob posters, represented a world of possibility. In my memory, Barbie World was a sanctuary. It was an inventive and creative space, only disturbed by ever- increasing homework and the occasional raid from neighbourhood boys. 1 Aqua, ‘Barbie Girl’, Aquarium (Universal Music, 1997). What began in childhood as a space of make-believe fantasy fun shifted in our early adolescence. We continued to commiserate in Barbie World, but by the time we were thirteen, it had become our secret shame. Other girls our age began wearing makeup, drinking winecoolers, having romances, and attending unsupervised house parties. We were still interested in creating intricate plotlines and designing fashionable ensembles for our dolls, while experimenting