Regardless of the criticism she soon became a trend setter. She was a model for women in both dress and action, again just like Barbie. Some people disputed that "Gibson Girl" as a national standard for feminine beauty. They felt she would disturb social order but in fact most women welcomed the change (Gibson Girl, 2010). The caricature image became very popular representing American girls.
Life as Plastic Both today and yesterday's society have created a mold that young women are expected to fit in to. Tall, tan and slender girls are often looked at as the beautiful members of society. The positive and wonderful qualities of both women and men are often overlooked because of physical appearance and image. Marge Piercy accurately portrays the unreachable standards placed on women to be beautiful from adolescence into adulthood by her use of fluctuating tone and effective symbolism in her poem “Barbie Doll”. The poem follows a young girl from her childhood to her adulthood in a third person omniscent point of view.
In addition, she witnesses her daughters grow up with Barbie influence. Smiley believes that Barbie dolls can be role models for young girls, and she also thinks girls like Barbie because with the doll they can discover new things, girls define their femininity, and it is their liking during childhood. Jane Smiley states that young girls like Barbie dolls because they can try on a no-holds-bared (376). Smiley’s daughters are in the childhood stage when they are often curious to try something. Smiley says, “Both of them learned how to put makeup before kindergarten” (376).
Regardless if it’s 2012 or 1950, young girls struggle with self-confidence issues. Marilyn Monroe was not the skinniest girl ever and she loved her body. She put out the message that tall, short, skinny, fat, white, or black you should always love the body you were given. One of her famous quotes was, “I’m living proof that you can still be adored by thousands, even
(Motz)” Barbie, who is this plastic figure, beautifully made and without any imperfections has created an image for young girls to look up to. She has become a role model, and a fantasized figure that many girls dream of looking like one day. “Barbie is seen as a typical young lady of the twentieth century, who know how to appreciate beautiful things, and at the same time live life to the fullest. The adventures of Barbie offers glimpse of what they might achieve one day. If Barbie has a message at all of us, it is to ignore the gloomy outlook of others and concentrate on all those carefree days of youth.
For generations, Barbie has been the doll that most young girls aspire to be. Barbie can be many different things at the same time such as a business woman, a party girl, and a mother whose whole existence revolves around beauty. So, is Barbie the ideal woman? The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, shows the dangers of false standards and the consequence of their applications, in the lives of teenagers or young girls. In other words, this poem shows the outcomes of dissatisfaction with one’s self as a result of societies expectations for women.
Images drawn by Charles Dana Gibson of the “New Woman” emphasized athleticism and slimness, unconfined by the stiff petticoats of the past; these became known as the Gibson Girl image. These drawings were used in magazines and served as a model for other women to emulate (Bowles, 2011 Sec 2.3). The Gibson Girl portrayed an image of freedom for suffragists who had encountered hostile environments as they struggled to attain political independence. The Gibson Girl was strong-willed, confident about her future, and able to do as she pleased. In my opinion, the Gibson Girl is equivalent to the models young girls and women look up to in today’s time as inspiration to be strong-willed, confident, and free.
This was the first time a first lady had been a stylish trendsetter. Women everywhere wanted to copy her style. Other groups and people also helped to define women’s fashion. A subgroup known as the hippies also inspired women’s fashion. By mid-decade miniskirts had become very popular.
In the first stanza, the "girlchild"(1) is born. The shackles of classic femininity are given to her even in her early youth. The "miniature GE stoves"(2), "irons"(2) and "dolls that did pee-pee"(3) are all items of her oppression into the classic submissive role of a demure housewife. "Wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy"(4) spark the idea that to be a woman you must be pretty and done up. At the end of the stanza the tone changes during perhaps the most fragile part of a young girl's life, during the "magic of puberty" (5), a classmate tells her she has "a great big nose and fat legs" (6).
Terry is very stubborn, and willing to work hard to be the best actress for her parts. Out of all the other girls she stood out the most, her drive and faith in being on the stage is just inspirational. * Jean Maitland is a beautiful woman, but her conceited personality and bad character ruin her good looks. She is a very well dressed woman who is very proper, but only seems to care about her fame and future. She isn’t a very good Broadway actress, but her good looks are the only thing that gets her noticed by picture producers.