Looking back, the animation was always a little unsettling, and the more movies you watched, the harder it was to tell each character apart. But by the power of nostalgia, those 90 minute features hold an important place in the hearts of most Gen Z's.
When I was in grade 1, a student who had recently immigrated from China enrolled in my school. She didn't speak a word of English but, like me, had spent the first six years of her life religiously studying Barbie movies. We navigated the language barrier by reenacting our favourites at recess, which sparked a life long friendship.
And sure, maybe Barbie wasn't as influential on your childhood as it was on mine, but she's been around for over 60 years, and she's indubitably left an impression on the majority of today's youth.
It might not have been a good impression, though.
There's a lot of controversy about Barbie's unrealistic proportions. Barbie has represented perfection and ideals for women around the world since 1959, and she is constantly criticized for promoting an unachievable body image for young girls. Her waist is tiny and her face is always caked with makeup.
Galia Slayen put it perfectly in her 2011 article, The Scary Reality of a Real-Life Barbie Doll: "If Barbie were a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions".
And it's not just her body that evokes dysphoria in young girls. Slumber Party Barbie was released in 1965 and was sold with a number of accessories, including a scale, a mirror, and a little diet book entitled "How to Lose Weight: Don't Eat!"
I'm the first to admit that these expectations are disturbing and toxic. Slumber Party Barbie is completely inexcusable.
But the Barbie that kids are growing up with today is not the same Barbie that kids grew up with half a century ago.
Most of us remember back in 2016 when Mattel released its new line of Barbies which came with 3 new body types. We now have tall Barbies, petite Barbies, and curvy Barbies. But it didn't stop there. We have Barbies with hijabs, Barbies with wheelchairs, Barbies with cellulite. Barbies now come with seven different skin tones, 22 different eye colours, and 24 different hairstyles.
When I think of today's Barbie, I don't think of a skinny, ditzy blonde. I think of a celebration of real beauty.
And yes, Barbie is far from perfect. But she's improving every year.
A few months ago, a video popped up on my YouTube feed that completely illustrates my point. It was by a channel called Barbie Vlogs.
It was probably curiosity and nostalgia that led me to the video. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it- I think I just wanted to know what had happened to the foundation of my childhood. But once I had clicked on one episode, I was instantly hooked. Before I knew it, 3 hours had passed.
It was a 3 minute animation called Feeling Blue? You're Not Alone. It was formatted like a standard vlog channel: Barbie starts her camera, sits down at her desk, and starts talking to her subscribers.
At that point, I expected a makeup tutorial or a slime video, but I kept watching.
Barbie opens by confessing that she woke up that morning feeling blue. "No real reason that I can think of" she says, "just blue". Then she gives viewers a list of her favourite strategies to deal with her sadness. She journals every night before bed. She organizes her room. She exercises. She talks to people. She even has a Buddhist meditation that she demonstrates on camera.
She goes on to admit that sometimes these strategies don't work, and discusses what happens then.
But I won't spoil everything she talks about, because I highly recommend watching the video yourself.
The next day, I told my friend- the one I played Barbies with at recess in grade 1- about the YouTube channel, and I'll admit, I received some backlash. For someone who grew up on the Princess and the Pauper, it's hard to even acknowledge the new Barbie. But I found this channel really powerful, because it tells girls what they need to hear. Not just that they should be skinny, wear makeup, and think about boys, but that it's normal to be sad, and it's normal to not know why, and it's normal to not feel normal.
I love that there's a free, accessible, realistic role model for today's kids to follow. And I know that as our society becomes more educated, Barbie will continue to improve.
And that's why Barbie is more than just a doll.
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