Life in plastic, it's fantastic

Barbie Girl, a pop tune by the Danish-Norwegian band named Aqua (formerly known as Joyspeed), was an instant hit when released in 1997. The song sold eight 8 million copies. Barbie girl was written by two of the Aqua band members Claus Norreen and Soren Rasted.

Barbie Girl is a hyperbole of what the standard of women should be. The exaggeration is shown through the lyrics and the video. The music video was directed by Peder Pedersen and Peter Stenbaek. The video shows a day in Barbie’s life. In the video, Barbie has everything from her Barbie’s Dream House, Barbie’s Dream Car, and her perfect boyfriend Ken. She does her day-to-day things from her bath, feeding her pet, and doing her hair and getting dressed. The hyperbole is shown in the way things are done. These daily chores are done in a ditsy way; if you pay attention closely the video is fact. The dog isn’t real. She says in a ditsy way, “oh, I knocked the dog over.” It was the stereotypical barbie girl once again.  During the whole video Ken is trying to get Barbie to “party with him” - the stereotypical dynamic.

In the lyrics of Barbie Girl, Barbie is described as a “blonde bimbo girl”. Blondes already have the known reputation of being ditsy and not very intelligent, and the fact that the lead singer (Lena) says this as if being referred a blonde bimbo girl is a complement isn't the smartest thing to say. A conversation takes place within the song between Barbie and Ken and they say:

Barbie: I'm a blond bimbo girl, in a fantasy world,

Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly.

Ken: You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamor in pink,

Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky.

Barbie: You can touch,

you can play,if you say "I'm always yours"

The conversation between Barbie and Ken shows that Ken wants Barbie in a sexual manner and Barbie is okay with that, just as long as Ken says nice things to her (e.g “I’m always yours”). The conversation also shows how some men feel that they can have whatever woman that they want, just by saying things “women like to hear.”

Another conversation between Barbie and Ken says:

Barbie: Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please,

                  I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees.

       

 Ken: Come jump in, bimbo friend, let us do it again,

    Hit the town, fool around, let's go party

This conversation shows how submissive women are portrayed. Barbie is basically asking Ken to make her do whatever he wants and not what she wants. The phrase “...I can beg on my knees…” shows that she has no problem begging a man instead of being independent. Ken, in this context, is displaying how he just want to have a good time. He degrades Barbie by referring to her as a bimbo. He insults her intelligence and shows that he wants nothing to do with her, plus all Ken wants to do is “party”.

Controversially speaking, Mattel (toy manufacturing company) sued Aqua for basically misrepresenting Barbie by calling her a “blonde bimbo girl”. Aqua replied saying that Mattel put derogatory label on the song and not the band. The judge ruled that the song was protected under the First Amendment and the case was dismissed. Sixteen years since the release of the song, Mattel has embraced the song and actually used it during the relaunching of Barbie (with revised lyrics, of course). Isn’t funny how Mattel sued Aqua over the the same song used in the relaunch of their product?

It’s hard to believe that Norreen and Rasted wrote Barbie Girl with no connection to the product of Barbie. The lyrics says “I’m a Barbie girl, In a Barbie world…” and “Imagination, Life is Your Creation…”. Barbie considers the place in which she lives in as Barbie World. Also, the initial purpose of Barbie was to be set as a portal for girls to live their dreams and make the ideal that exist in their imagination come to life. The original Barbie was to a be a blonde, so the fact the “blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world” lyric is not related to the product of Barbie is highly unlikely in my head.

The phenomenon of the “Barbie” has taking a new turn recently. Ukrainian, Valeria Lukyanova, has had surgery so she could look like a real life barbie. Lukyanova started her process in 2007 and now she’s a full blown doll. She has received  breast implants and she states that she has been on
a fluid diet for a year before switching to a water diet.(rumor has it that she several ribs removed to get the barbie-esque figure)  She eats only blended shakes of raw fruits and vegetables
to keep her waist trim. Now, she plans on giving up food altogether to live on sunlight. Lukyanova is a very spiritual person.

Well once you talk about Barbie, you have to talk about Barbie’s dream guy Ken. Justin Jedlica, had devoted his life to becoming the real life Ken. Justin Jedica has had over 100 plastic surgeries and has spent over $100,000. He's had five nose jobs, a brow lift, pectoral implants, chin work, buttock work, and other surgeries. Ironically, Jedlica and Lukyanova do not get along. Jedlica apparently stated that Lukyanova looked “fake looking” and he she didn't  like that so much. Lukyanova responded that she’s only had one surgery unlike Jedlica.


Personally speaking, my daughter will not viewing the Barbie Girl video. I wouldn’t want my daughter singing the lyrics “You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere”. A child’s mind could be manipulated so easily by what is being seen, due to the fact that children repeat everything that they see. When I was younger, I sang the lyrics to Barbie Girl. When I got older, I finally understood what I’ve been singing.