Aka how can we sell more dolls without actually designing and building anything new. As the article says there are now blind and diabetic Barbies too.
Mattel ❤️ invisible disabilities
I don’t know how popular Barbie dolls are now but I will never knock the availability of more representative dolls or diminish the emotional impact of seeing oneself represented in toys, media, etc.
This is the tricky part of representation, and it goes beyond just Barbie here. How do you represent an autistic character without just having them turn to the camera and tell the audience, “I, [character name], am officially and canonically autistic”? That often feels ham-fisted and shallow, pandering even, but anything less than that and you’ll have endless debates over whether a character that could be read as autistic-coded but never explicitly says it out loud counts or not.
Aka how can we sell more dolls without actually designing and building anything new. As the article says there are now blind and diabetic Barbies too.
Mattel ❤️ invisible disabilities
I don’t know how popular Barbie dolls are now but I will never knock the availability of more representative dolls or diminish the emotional impact of seeing oneself represented in toys, media, etc.
I’ll leave
You missed the opportunity
“See yourself out”
This is the tricky part of representation, and it goes beyond just Barbie here. How do you represent an autistic character without just having them turn to the camera and tell the audience, “I, [character name], am officially and canonically autistic”? That often feels ham-fisted and shallow, pandering even, but anything less than that and you’ll have endless debates over whether a character that could be read as autistic-coded but never explicitly says it out loud counts or not.
Medical History Barbie with Character References, we can do differential analysis
It’s Not Lupus Barbie.
Insomnia Barbie and Allergy Season Barbie waiting in the wings
Crohn’s Barbie