Wild babies narrator12/11/2023 ![]() ![]() In that opening, a God-like narrator, voiced by Helen Mirren, observes that from the beginning of time girls have played with dolls, but, before the advent of Barbie, those dolls were all babies who needed tending. Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie is funny, smart, and nuanced from its opening moments which nail the source of Barbie's enduring appeal, especially to girls like me whose childhood was spent in a scratchy-skirted pre-feminist world. Ken's naughty behavior surely was some sign of pre-adolescent sexuality bubbling up, but back then pushing "kissing Ken" out the door is our way of solidifying the all-girl world of pink and possibility we want to remain in for a good long time. One of us has a frisky Ken who likes to knock on the imaginary doors of our doll-case houses and try to kiss the Barbie who's foolish enough to answer. The only interruption we respond to - and quickly - is Ken. A man stops to boast that he's been on the Sing Along With Mitch show, which was filmed in Rockefeller Center. "I used to sew my doll clothes out of handkerchiefs" sniffed one woman. But back then, they were just annoying intrusions into our play. Later on, I'll read the work of urban activist Jane Jacobs and realize these kind of random exchanges were part of what she called the "ballet" of the streets. The grown-up passersby sometimes stop to comment on our sidewalk tableau. Our pony-tailed Barbies were always trading outfits with each other: the iconic black-and-white bathing suit, the dress with a white chiffon portrait collar and the black strapless evening gown with long white gloves. None of us have Barbie's Dream House yet, but, pooled together, we have lots of clothes, those now "vintage" clothes. ![]() ![]() We have our Barbie carrying cases all lined up in a row, the way we imagine our houses will be someday, when we grow up. People are coming home from work in "the city," exiting the nearby subway and walking by us, four little girls sitting on the sidewalk in front of my apartment house. It's a late afternoon in the summer of 1962 in Sunnyside, Queens. ![]()
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