Wednesday, March 17, 2010

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

There are many things which fill me with anger. Other drivers. John Boehner. Things that make no sense. John Boehner. The Texas Board of Education. The Itawamba School Board. Drunk people on a Wednesday afternoon. John Boehner. But there's one thing that sticks most in my craw, today.

Mad Men Barbie.

Now, normally I'd be content to dismiss this as yet another marketing scheme, like, say, Mad Men Transformers, My Little Mad Pony Men, or Lego. But this is beyond the pale.



Barbie Joan.

Mattel: This:



Does not equal this:



Not here. Not anywhere. The only way in which these two could possibly be confused is by inhuman tentacled alien explorers from the Andromeda Galaxy who, without frame of reference, might confuse the two for being in the same genus.

There are a perishing few unapologetically curvy actresses in the state of Hollywood, and the sight of one being reduced to an impossible caricature just FILLS ME WITH RAGE. I want to kill them with fire.

1 comment:

  1. While not as egregious as the horrific erasure of Joan's actual size, the dolls also exaggerate the width of the men's shoulders -- especially Roger. But this does not excuse or equal what was done to Joan. It reminds me of what some museum shop company did to the Venus de Milo and Aphrodite (http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/01/30/refining-fine-art/). And, of course, it starts early with pre-schoolers: Dora the Explorer (http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/03/19/dora-the-explorers-makeover-gwen-and-i-saw-it-comin/) and Strawberry Shortcake (http://contexts.org/socimages/2008/06/16/strawberry-shortcake-extreme-makeover-edition/).

    ReplyDelete