when barbie was bad uxeta labrit
The comic write Reinhard Beuthien created a character called Lilli in 1952 for a strip in Bild Zeitung newspaper. His intention was to create an open character for the general public, but Lilli’s character and way of being got her male followers right from the start. Lilli was a sexy, frivolous young woman who lit up men’s darkest fantasies with her blond hair. We’d bet that Nabokov had her in mind when he wrote Lolita in 1955. In the same year that Lolita was published, Lilla left the two-dimensional corset of the newspaper and they started making the doll. Thanks to her thin neck, long legs and, above all, the sexy way of looking she had, Lilli’s doll became an erotic symbol. The Lilli doll was sold in shops and bars, mostly bought as a joke for giving to men about to marry. At first they had brought it out as weird newspaper off-spin, but it was so successful that this moved production from Hamburg to Hong Kong.
Ruth Handler, a tourist from the States, was visiting Lucerne with her husband Elliot and their children Barbara and Ken when she say the Lilli doll and was fascinated by it. She immediately realised what the secret of the doll made for grown-ups was and bought half a dozen Lilli dolls. The secret? Thanks to watching her daughter Barbara cutting beautiful and sexy women out of magazines, Mrs Handler knew that, after a certain age, girls like dolls who look like women and not like children. On returning to the States, she suggested that the small company her husband managed, Mattel, should make a similar doll. It took her some time to convince her husband and the company designer, but in 1958 they bought the patent from the Germans and, after making a few changes, went into production in the US. The Stateside doll had a black and white swim suit, darker, curly hair ... but she still had a cunning, sexy look. They also changed the name in honour of their daughter Barbara: Barbie. When they presented the doll at the international toy festival in 1959, the femme fatale like doll wasn’t to the shopkeepers’ taste and they only sold a few of them. But young girls fell in love with the doll. They sold out as soon as they reached the shops. Some parents weren’t so keen on the doll, but even so they sold 350,000 in a year.
As happens in the States, business is stronger than dignity and they toned down the first Barbie. They whitened her teeth, increased her bust but also covered it up and, unfortunately, got rid of her sexy look and gave her a Disney touch. And to complete the lobotomy, in 1961 Mrs Handler gave Barbie a well-behaved boyfriend: Ken. Yes, that’s right, her son’s name. Am I the only one who sees a bit of incest in that? We’re not at all interested in success and the way she became a model of the American Way of Life for some women, but once Barbie was bad and we wanted to tell you that.
Ruth Handler, a tourist from the States, was visiting Lucerne with her husband Elliot and their children Barbara and Ken when she say the Lilli doll and was fascinated by it. She immediately realised what the secret of the doll made for grown-ups was and bought half a dozen Lilli dolls. The secret? Thanks to watching her daughter Barbara cutting beautiful and sexy women out of magazines, Mrs Handler knew that, after a certain age, girls like dolls who look like women and not like children. On returning to the States, she suggested that the small company her husband managed, Mattel, should make a similar doll. It took her some time to convince her husband and the company designer, but in 1958 they bought the patent from the Germans and, after making a few changes, went into production in the US. The Stateside doll had a black and white swim suit, darker, curly hair ... but she still had a cunning, sexy look. They also changed the name in honour of their daughter Barbara: Barbie. When they presented the doll at the international toy festival in 1959, the femme fatale like doll wasn’t to the shopkeepers’ taste and they only sold a few of them. But young girls fell in love with the doll. They sold out as soon as they reached the shops. Some parents weren’t so keen on the doll, but even so they sold 350,000 in a year.
As happens in the States, business is stronger than dignity and they toned down the first Barbie. They whitened her teeth, increased her bust but also covered it up and, unfortunately, got rid of her sexy look and gave her a Disney touch. And to complete the lobotomy, in 1961 Mrs Handler gave Barbie a well-behaved boyfriend: Ken. Yes, that’s right, her son’s name. Am I the only one who sees a bit of incest in that? We’re not at all interested in success and the way she became a model of the American Way of Life for some women, but once Barbie was bad and we wanted to tell you that.
