Not Rated. On VOD
A quarter century after its debut, the documentary “Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour” returns, and it is as ahead of its time as ever. Written and directed by Susan Stern, the documentary explores the Barbie phenomenon in ways that would cause conservative school board members, not to mention Mattel executives, to blow their stacks. In a new, expanded director’s cut released in anticipation of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming feature film “Barbie,” “Barbie Nation” starts out by demonstrating how some (very rich) Barbie collectors might think nothing of spending $4,000-plus in the late 1990s for a rare model of the doll at auction.
The doll was launched in 1959 by Mattel and its visionary co-founder Ruth Handler, who believed correctly that girls would respond positively to an “adult” female doll and use it to help them express their own dreams and desires. Then, an off-camera voice reminds us, that Barbie was also “every drag queen’s dream.” Barbie soon became a sometimes scandalous sensation, if not “a cult.” We are reminded that a somewhat more sexy German adult doll named “Lily” preceded Barbie. What Handler and parents did not anticipate was the “Pandora’s box” of fetish and sex-related issues Barbie and her male counterpart Ken were going to unleash upon a generation of children.
Handler, who died in 2002, tells us that she was inspired by the adult paper dolls that she saw girls play with. In making such a doll in three dimensions, Mattel created a doll with breasts, although she and Ken had no genitals. “Barbie Nation” is full of Barbie memories not suitable for children. We hear one young man speak of his childhood habit of making new outfits for Barbie. Soon, after the doll’s launch, Mattel did the same thing. We see a Barbie dressed in what looks like an outfit that designer Bob Mackie might have designed for Cher. A young woman recalls using Barbie and Ken dolls as the Virgin Mary and Joseph for a Nativity scene. Are you ready for BDSM Barbie? We see girls going Barbie ga-ga at an FAO Schwarz. Handler and her husband were raking in a billion a year from Barbie and her growing list of accessories. We see a “soldier” Barbie, a rock-and-roll Barbie, a doctor Barbie, a pilot Barbie and a Black Barbie (eventually Barbies of color proliferated).
Did Barbie present young women with an “impossible ideal?” Well, yes. Did naughty brothers undress their sisters’ Barbies? Did Ru Paul love Barbie? (an ecstatic yes). At an art show, we see a Frida Kahlo Barbie, a gold-painted Barbie, a blood-soaked “Carrie” Barbie, a crucified Barbie and Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan Barbies. In 1986, Andy Warhol painted Barbie’s portrait.
Oddly enough, Stern makes no mention of “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,” a brilliant, controversial 1987 cult film by Todd Haynes (“Mildred Pierce”) in which all the characters are depicted by Barbie and Ken dolls. A mix of interviews and archival footage, “Barbie Nation” is a fearless, presciently gender-conscious examination of the Barbie phenomenon. I’m glad it has been revived to pave the doll-mania way for Gerwig’s $100 million-plus comedy, arguably a feature-length Barbie commercial. ”Barbie Nation” is the perfect prep, and it might even be the better film. We’ll see.
(“Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour” contains mature themes and disturbing images)