Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll [Paperback]

M. G. Lord (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

Since Barbie's introduction in 1959, her impact on baby boomers has been revolutionary. Far from being a toy designed by men to enslave women, she was a toy invented by women to teach women what-- for better or worse-- was expected of them. In telling Barbie's fascinating story, cultural critic and investigative journalist M. G. Lord, herself a first-generation Barbie owner, has written a provocative, zany, occasionally shocking book that will change how you look at the doll and the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The original "Barbie," an 111/2 fashion model doll with an hourglass figure, was introduced to the American public in 1959 and has been a bestseller ever since. In this witty and perceptive study Lord, a columnist for New York Newsday, chronicles Barbie's history and her relevance as a cultural icon. Ruth Handler, co-owner of Mattel Toys, modeled Barbie on a sexy plastic German pin-up that was sold to men in tobacco shops. The popularity of Barbie and her ever-expanding wardrobe with preteen girls led to the development of "Ken" and "Midge" dolls and a line of African American fashion dolls. Lord's comprehensive research includes interviews with toy-makers, an eclectic group of Barbie collectors, visual artists and feminists who disagree on Barbie's impact on young girls. The author sees Barbie, whose careers have included surgeon, pilot and astronaut, as a female role model, and credits her childhood play with Barbie as helping her cope with her own mother's mastectomy. Illustrations.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

If you think Barbie is just a child's plaything, you'll think again after reading this fascinating, funny, and far-reaching biography of the pointy-breasted, slim-waisted, high-arched gal who changed the way we think about dolls and ourselves. Lord, who writes for Newsday, approaches the story like an investigative reporter. She unearths Barbie's low origins as Lili, a slutty doll sold to German men as a gag gift, and goes on to cover the Barbie story on numerous fronts: creative, commercial, and sociological. She interviews Barbie's designers, critics, collectors, even a woman who has undergone more than 50 cosmetic surgeries so she can look like a Barbie doll. Feminist thinkers including Camille Paglia, Betty Friedan, and Susan Faludi also weigh in with opinions. No doubt about it: Barbie is a gal who engenders intense feelings. As Lord puts it, "For every mother that embraces Barbie . . . there is another mother who tries to banish Barbie from the house." Cheerleaders, career women, bulimics, and mythmakers can all hang their hats--with justification--on Barbie's well-coiffed head. Lord, for example, makes a convincing case that Barbie is a pagan symbol, a queen surrounding herself with such drones as the penis-less Ken. We can buy that easily enough, but when Lord describes Barbie as "an incarnation of the One Goddess with a thousand names . . . an archetype of something ancient, matriarchal, and profound," she might be going just a wee bit over the top. For less high-minded readers, who just like Barbie as a doll, Lord lists almost every Barbie ever marketed, from Day-to-Night Barbie to Barbie Loves McDonalds to Gymnast Barbie, who's flexible body was capable of all sorts of workouts. The photographs are terrific, too, especially, the close-up of the original Barbie with her sly eyes and arched brows. Forever Barbie is better than most biographies of real people. What a doll! Ilene Cooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802776949
• ISBN-13: 978-0802776945
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #837,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

M. G. Lord is a cultural critic and investigative journalist. She is the author of the widely praised books Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, a family memoir about Cold War aerospace culture, and "Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll." Her latest book is "The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice."

"For MG Lord, it's curvaceous, charismatic icons of femininity that hold her imagination hostage...What Lord did for Barbie, she now does for La Liz in 'The Accidental Feminist'...Lord takes her readers on a chronological journey through the actress's signal performances, analyzing each film with a theory scholar's eye for telling detail, brightened with bloggerly brio, emotion, and use of the first person...When watching her significant films in succession, you see that, as Lord maintains, each serves as a cinematic Rorschach of social changes percolating through postwar society, in which Taylor stars as the protean blot...With 'The Accidental Feminist,' MG Lord makes the intriguing case that for Elizabeth Taylor, too much as never enough--not for the woman, not for the actress and not for the society that produced the theater of her life." The New York Times

With Shannon Halwes, Lord is also co-writing the libretto for composer Laura Karpman's "One-Ten," an opera commissioned by the L. A. Opera about the 110 Freeway on its 70th anniversary. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review and that paper's Arts & Leisure section, and her work has also appeared in such publications as Travel + Leisure, Discover, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Yorker. A graduate of Yale, Lord was for twelve years a syndicated political cartoonist and columnist based at Newsday. She teaches in the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I love it! Too bad it�s out of print December 24, 2001

By Linda Talisman

Format:Paperback

This is not a "pro-Barbie" book, or an "anti-Barbie" book. It is an exploration of all aspects of Barbie the author finds significant. Topics include:

The history of Barbie's creation, her marketing and engineering by Mattel.

The differences between male and female executives in handling of the Barbie line.

Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator, and other prominent women in Barbie's life such as Charlotte Johnson, who designed her clothes in the early years, Judy Shackelford, Mattel's first female vice president, and Jill Barad, the marketing director & later Mattel COO, who pioneered the "We Girls Can Do Anything" advertising campaign in 1984.

A history of Barbie and ethnic identity (unfortunately someone had clipped pages out of this chapter in the library copy I read, so I can't say too much about it.)

Explorations of symbolic, sexual, & psychological meanings of the doll.

I found this book fascinating. A very enjoyable read. While it explores both the positive and negative views women have had of Barbie, I especially enjoyed the positive, including Barbie's history as a single independent career woman, the powerful career women involved in her creation, manufacture, & marketing over the years, and the somewhat fanciful but enjoyable discussion of her as a mythical archetype of the feminine.

I like when this book ventures into realms of the bizarre, like the exploration of Barbie's image in the context of fetishism and pornography. I suppose some people might be disturbed or offended by this, however.

I was frustrated by the lack of a list of illustrations, since photographs appear throughout the text, & are often mentioned later in the book. It's hard to go back and find the picture she's talking about.

I was confused by the author `s seeming lack of awareness that people might read the book 6 or more years after its publication. For instance, she refers to women of the Barbie generation as "women under 40." I had to think to realize this included me, since I'm not under 40 now, but I was when the book was published in 1994. The confusion will increase as years go by.

This is too bad, since the book is a unique treatment of Barbie in cultural context, and should be read well into the future by students of popular culture as well as individuals who like to ponder such things. Unfortunately, it's out of print. This makes it unlikely that a 2nd edition will ever appear, which is also too bad, since I would love to know what the author has to say about innovations subsequent to its publication, such as Barbie's new more lifelike proportions, and the introduction of her belly-button.

Some people might find this book too intellectual, or possibly over their heads. Probably many people who like to ponder the meanings of popular culture are anti-Barbie, and might be turned off by the book's positive spin on the doll. Barbie enthusiasts might be put off by the negative spin, as well as the stranger explorations. I love the book, but I have to admit it's not for everybody. Maybe that's why it's out of print. But if you are open to both sides of the Barbie controversy, and like to wax philosophical and think about things, this book is definitely for you.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressively skewed. September 29, 2005

By Bart King

Format:Paperback

On the one hand, this is an impressively researched book written with humor and intelligence. I'd love to see a new edition tracking some of the more recent developments in Barbie's empire. But some of Ms. Lord's arguments drift unpersuasively far into psycho-sexual realms. When she used an obscure 43 minute 1987 documentary as her three-page focus for the conflicting causes of eating disorders, she completely lost me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Some are writers, and some are *good* writers February 20, 2009

By Billie Rae Bates VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Though I read the book because I was interested in the subject matter and was doing research for a writing project of my own, what really struck me here was the talent of the writer. M.G. Lord is a rare combination for a writer. She has both the mechanics and the heart down-pat: She can construct a sentence or turn a phrase like nobody's business, AND she digs into and presents the most relevant content with good judgment. The broad array of cultural references at the tip of her consciousness alone is quite impressive. I enjoyed the book, and even laughed often at the edgy humor.