Product Description

How are images of the body mediated through cultural signs? How does sexual stereotyping work? In what way are these themes bound up in modern consumerism? This book uses one of the most popular accessories of girlhood, the Barbie doll, to explain key aspects of cultural meaning.

Some readings would see Barbie as reproducing ethnicity and gender in a particularly coarse and damaging way - a cultural icon of racism and sexism. Rogers develops a broader, more challenging picture. She shows how the cultural meaning of Barbie is more ambiguous than the narrow, appearance-dominated model that is attributed to the doll. For a start, Barbie’s sexual identity is not clear-cut. Similarly her class situation is ambiguous. But all interpretations agree that, with her enormous range of lifestyle `accessories', Barbie exists to consume. Her infinitely plastic body mirrors an infinitely plastic self that resonates with postmodern notions of fluidity, multiplicity and localised meanings.

Barbie is a hugely versatile cultural icon who helps crystallize for the reader, whether researcher or student, the range and texture of core themes in contemporary society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #748465 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Good theory, lack of support
Rogers' "Barbie Culture" is an ambitious attempt to understand how Barbie acts as an icon in American culture. Her attempt succeeds at suggesting a number of interesting theories as to how children and adults understand, interact with, and interpret Barbie. However, she fails to adequately support her ideas. Instead of providing good evidence, Rogers strings together paragraphs of quotations from other authors. She also fails to detail the theories of other authors she draws upon in creating her analysis.

Her ideas are good, but executed poorly. This book is good if you are looking for ideas to use when studying Barbie's effects on our culture, but not good for providing a detailed analysis of Barbie's position as an icon.