First of all, great video, love to see it. 💖Secondly, I am Ukrainian, that is, I am very white and I have not often encountered racism because there are quite a few people of color in our country. I watched the documentary and it was pretty clear to me that it was made by people who were not collectors. It's like they didn't want to show what Barbie has achieved, and what we'd like her to achieve. They wanted to show that despite her accomplishments, she always doesn't do enough, which is sometimes true, but I can't agree with that overall. I think people still confuse cause and effect. The fact that a black Barbie wasn't the first doll to roll off the assembly line wasn't because Mattel was a bad company that wanted to demean people of color. This happened because Matel existed in the society of that time, which, unfortunately, was racist. That test with the children, where they were shown different dolls, broke my heart. But it is not the doll's fault that the children considered the black one worse than the white one - this is the problem of that society. As far as I know, in general, manufacturers did not write racist phrases on doll boxes that children would repeat. I know that Mattel has a history of misrepresenting nationalities and races, but in general, as far as I can tell, Mattel didn't do anything much worse than was socially acceptable at the time. - That doesn't mean I think Mattel's actions are appropriate. I am not defending them, mistakes were made and damage was done. But kids didn't see black dolls as inferior because of Mattel, they saw black dolls as inferior because of a society that saw black people as inferior. Therefore, I agree with you, it is not the corporation's responsibility to teach children moral values. It's nice when a corporation does that - and I think Mattel does, not as much as I'd like sometimes, but enough to make an impact. But it is primarily the duty of parents to teach their children humanity and morality. If a child lives in a racist society - be it family, school or entertainment - no doll will magically help them grow up kind and accepting. And, I agree, they will never replace Malibu Barbie. She was the first, without her success there would be nothing further for the brand. I think people who believe that Barbie Malibu can or should be replaced by a person of color are a little naive, at best. I think what we have with Malibu and Brooklyn in movies together is a better option. I would not like an existing character to be broken and reworked to fit into a new mold. It is better to expand the number of characters. Also, I didn't think about it while watching, but really, the fact that they didn't touch on brand loyalty is pretty weird. Maybe it was beyond the scope of their discussion, but I don't think so. Many brands now give representation, such as Mattel's Monster high back in 2010 gave the opportunity to see different nationalities in dolls (although, as I understand, not everyone liked this kind of representation, and those dolls also deserve fair criticism), and Monster high continues to show diversity now, albeit in a different form. There is also diversity outside of Mattel, in MGA brands or other smaller manufacturers. People are asking for representation, but not supporting it, and still expect it to only increase. Mattel is still a corporation, at the end of the day they are interested in money, so it is strange to expect them to take progressive action if they are causing losses. I hope my opinion made sense and was not inappropriate. Like I said, I'm an outsider looking in on this topic. I love dolls, and Barbie in particular, and I enjoyed the documentary overall. If any of my beliefs are inappropriate, please correct me, I mean no harm.
First of all, great video, love to see it. 💖Secondly, I am Ukrainian, that is, I am very white and I have not often encountered racism because there are quite a few people of color in our country. I watched the documentary and it was pretty clear to me that it was made by people who were not collectors. It's like they didn't want to show what Barbie has achieved, and what we'd like her to achieve. They wanted to show that despite her accomplishments, she always doesn't do enough, which is sometimes true, but I can't agree with that overall.
I think people still confuse cause and effect. The fact that a black Barbie wasn't the first doll to roll off the assembly line wasn't because Mattel was a bad company that wanted to demean people of color. This happened because Matel existed in the society of that time, which, unfortunately, was racist. That test with the children, where they were shown different dolls, broke my heart. But it is not the doll's fault that the children considered the black one worse than the white one - this is the problem of that society. As far as I know, in general, manufacturers did not write racist phrases on doll boxes that children would repeat. I know that Mattel has a history of misrepresenting nationalities and races, but in general, as far as I can tell, Mattel didn't do anything much worse than was socially acceptable at the time. - That doesn't mean I think Mattel's actions are appropriate. I am not defending them, mistakes were made and damage was done. But kids didn't see black dolls as inferior because of Mattel, they saw black dolls as inferior because of a society that saw black people as inferior. Therefore, I agree with you, it is not the corporation's responsibility to teach children moral values. It's nice when a corporation does that - and I think Mattel does, not as much as I'd like sometimes, but enough to make an impact. But it is primarily the duty of parents to teach their children humanity and morality. If a child lives in a racist society - be it family, school or entertainment - no doll will magically help them grow up kind and accepting.
And, I agree, they will never replace Malibu Barbie. She was the first, without her success there would be nothing further for the brand. I think people who believe that Barbie Malibu can or should be replaced by a person of color are a little naive, at best. I think what we have with Malibu and Brooklyn in movies together is a better option. I would not like an existing character to be broken and reworked to fit into a new mold. It is better to expand the number of characters.
Also, I didn't think about it while watching, but really, the fact that they didn't touch on brand loyalty is pretty weird. Maybe it was beyond the scope of their discussion, but I don't think so. Many brands now give representation, such as Mattel's Monster high back in 2010 gave the opportunity to see different nationalities in dolls (although, as I understand, not everyone liked this kind of representation, and those dolls also deserve fair criticism), and Monster high continues to show diversity now, albeit in a different form. There is also diversity outside of Mattel, in MGA brands or other smaller manufacturers. People are asking for representation, but not supporting it, and still expect it to only increase. Mattel is still a corporation, at the end of the day they are interested in money, so it is strange to expect them to take progressive action if they are causing losses.
I hope my opinion made sense and was not inappropriate. Like I said, I'm an outsider looking in on this topic. I love dolls, and Barbie in particular, and I enjoyed the documentary overall. If any of my beliefs are inappropriate, please correct me, I mean no harm.
Those Eve dolls are really integrity playline Janay dolls from wayback then