WEBVTT - How Barbie Doll Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:14.760 Works dot com. Wait wait, wait, wait wait, um, we 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.000 have to talk about our TV show. That's right. We 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.080 have a television show that's coming out on our beloved 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:26.360 science channel UM. January nineteen at ten pm follows the 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:31.000 premiere of Idiot Abroad Season three UM, and after Idiot 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.720 Abroad at ten pm Eastern Standard Time will be the 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:38.760 world debut of Stuff you Should Know, the TV show. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.800 Not one new episode, but two new episodes back to back, 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:47.320 ten o'clock and ten thirty. That's right, Saturday night, January nineteenth. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:48.879 It's gonna be pretty neat. What are we doing? What 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.479 are the people gonna see? Are they gonna see a 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.320 game show, which we've been asked. Are they going to 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.920 see a a reality show which we've been asked, No, Josh, 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.360 They're seeing a scripted TV show that features the real 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:05.280 us playing ourselves along with actors on a set that 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.480 we recreated of our office. It's basically an office comedy 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:14.160 about our lives as podcasters, featuring the podcasting itself and 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.280 real knowledge and factual stuff. So we think it's a 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:21.880 good combination of fun and humor and facts and uh, 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.240 we think you'll like it. Yeah, we hope you'll like it. 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:29.880 Um that's January nineteenth, Saturday, ten pm. Uh the world premiere. 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.400 And uh, don't forget to check out Idiot Abroad season 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.920 three absolutely premier before. Very funny show. And for those 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.280 of you clamoring that you don't have TV or cable, you, 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.560 if you have a computer device, can watch this on iTunes. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.760 Now you're going to be able to purchase these, I 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.760 believe the day after each episode is released and go 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.400 to iTunes, buy it for bucket and watch it on 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:59.640 your laptop. Nice and Science Channel is so cool they're 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.000 making the first episode available for free. Yeah, that's pretty 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:07.040 awesome on iTunes, just to get your hooked. So we 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:12.880 appreciate the support. And now on with the episode, sir, Yes, hey, 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.240 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.440 w Chuck Bryant and that stuff. You should know. Two 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:25.880 of us together, the anatomically Correct Doll Models version. I 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.480 guess I called myself a doll model once in a while, 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:34.160 a little perk, you know, very looking very kin like 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:40.440 these days. Sure, um, hey man, not magic your akin, No, 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.840 we'll get to that. Like shavedkin. UM. So, I know 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.160 you know this, but I'll tell you again. Back when 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.880 I was a little pup, I had this series of 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.320 books that were very, very significant in my life, the 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.360 Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. I would get one for Christmas 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.880 every year and I would like go through it and 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.120 first hour I had it and my legs would be 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.840 numb in the bathroom. When you first got these, I 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:06.959 think I started I was about twelve. I love that 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.320 your parents knew that you were just a sponge for 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.520 information even at that age. Yeah, I don't remember how 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.680 I first came about it, but like I think somebody 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.240 got it for him and they were blown away at 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.200 how much I liked that. Um And it really helped 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:22.320 shape me in many many ways and the way I 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.480 understand things, the way I look at things like this 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.080 general knowledge. I've had some right, some wrong, but like 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.280 it's been a big deal what you do in the 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:35.760 bathroom reading. UM. So, this this episode is kind of 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.480 special to me because all this material we're doing, how 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:45.320 Barbie Doll works, almost all the materials from Uncle John's 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.119 Bathroom Reader. They got in touch with us and gave 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.520 us everything they have M Barbie, and we compiled it 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.320 into this podcast, and we actually have a special guest later, 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.360 the founder of the Bathroom Reader Institute, Gordon Jovna, is 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.320 going to be joining us on this to talk about 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.880 Barbie two. Very excited and they're also kind enough to 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.120 give us hats and I think shirts as well. Right, yeah, 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.040 because they listened to us, and we found out they listened. 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.920 I was like, you were kidding, Like the circle of 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.880 life is complete, Like we hear from Mad Magazine, Archie comics, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.839 damn interesting, damn interesting? Have we heard from crack yet? No? 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.080 We love them. They're They're the one people, the one people, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.279 the one group out there that I would like to 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.839 contact us. That's it, just the one, just them. And like, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.400 very man, I've been whole enough for Obama. I know 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.480 he listens. Don't even pretend Obama, just send us an email. 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.279 Well yeah, you know, I remember when they released what 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.640 was the contents of his iPod one year and we 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:41.920 were both like, oh my god, we on it. We're 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:43.440 on it, like of course we're not on it now 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.640 still alright? Um oh and before we get storry, I 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:49.560 want to give a shout out to one of our 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:53.080 horror fiction contest entrants. Remember we said, if you publish something, 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.240 let us know and we'll tell everybody. Um, Jay McMurray 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.440 submitted his story The Mind Reader. It was very good. Yeah, 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.440 that was a good one. And he's got it up 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.200 on Amazon dot com and you can search um Jay McMurray, 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:09.080 m C m U R R Y and the Mind 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.680 Reader and it will bring it up for you. Um. 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.520 He's self published. So it's pretty awesome. Awesome, So way 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:18.320 to go, Jay, thanks for letting us know. Uh so, Barbie, Yes, 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.839 it all started with a lady named Ruth Marianna who 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.080 eventually became Ruth Handler. She grew up but I guess 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:32.080 kind of poor in Denver, Colorado. Uh yeah, Well her 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.240 mom was ill, and I have the feeling that it 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.640 was just her mom. Yeah, so she ended up having 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.679 to go live with her sister at a fairly young age. Yeah, 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.000 and um, at a young age as well, met her husband, 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.360 be Elliott, and they moved to California, as New Leo 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.520 EDGs did in the nineteen thirties with you know, prosperous 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.960 land out their opportunity and they had a very long 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.680 lasting marriage and business partnership years for de great it 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.240 is great. Um. Elliott turned out to have a knack 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:09.400 for creating giftwear, specifically to start picture frames, wouldn't picture frames? 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.440 And Ruth turned out to have a knack for marketing 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.920 and merchandizing them. That's right. And uh they together for Mattel, 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.000 which sounds familiar, I imagine. Yeah, well with Harold Mattson. 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.120 That's where the matt came from. Nice and the l 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:29.320 was Elliott, very nice. That's nice. And uh they also 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.960 had a couple of kids named Barbie and Kent. Yeah, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.040 there you have it. We should just end it right 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.800 there the end. That's how Barbie works. That's pretty cool. 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:38.640 That was a nice little factoid. Well. I think one 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:40.920 of the things that I think is interesting about Barbie 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.800 is that the Barbie doll was directly inspired by Barbie 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:49.760 handler Ruth's daughter, Um Barbie used to play with Barbie, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.440 the real girl used to play with dolls. She had 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:54.920 like her little baby dolls, and she had, um, you know, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.880 little girl dolls or whatever, because that's all that was available. 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.799 But she also played with paper doll and these paper 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:02.679 dolls were kind of fashion dolls, so they were older, 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.120 mature women, and they had different outfits and apparently Barbie 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.040 was just crazy for him. So Ruth went to her 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.480 colleagues at Mattel and said, we need to come up 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.200 with a three dimensional doll that you can change outfit. 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.600 It's going to be a huge hit. And all of 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.239 the male suits poop poo did it's a boo boo, 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.280 Sit down, get me some coffee, lady exactly. And UM 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.240 she was like, all right, well fine, I'll see you 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.000 all in Hell. Yeah. Well, they did poopoo it for 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:31.120 a legitimate reason, though they said it was not possible 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.920 to manufacture it. UM. I don't think it was just 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.200 poopoo ing her idea, although there was probably some of 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:41.560 that mixed in. UM. Luckily, Europe called and the handlers 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.400 went on a European vacation and I think ninety six, 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.280 and while they were in Looser in Switzerland, they were 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.480 in some toy shop. I guess that happened to be 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.960 selling a German doll called the Lily Doll. And Lily 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.560 was based on a UM I guess you could call 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:01.680 it a body comic strip. And this doll that was 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:06.280 based on the strip was meant for men as maybe 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:10.720 the like as a host's gift for a stag party 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.280 or something like that. I get the impression you got 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.440 him in shops of ill repute at the time. Did 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.800 you look up Lily looks like Barbie, it looks like 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.440 Marlene Dietrich. That kind of ripped it off, although I 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.720 shouldn't say that because I might get sued. And we 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.960 should also say, as you'll find out why in the 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.520 Nazi distant future, that every time we say Barbie there 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:34.000 is an implied registered trademark symbol following it. All rights 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.240 to Mattel. We claim zero rights or copyrights on Barbie 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:44.520 or her products. Right. So Lily was a prototype and um, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:45.920 you know, she was a grown up lady that you 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.280 could change the clothes on. And she was like, you 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.280 know what, this is what we've been wanting, this is 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.360 what I've been waiting for. It's possible to manufacture these, 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:58.040 and I want to make Barbies at Mattel because a 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.560 woman has choices. In the fact that you can change 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.640 your clothes proves it, right. It took a little convincing, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.160 but she got Mattel. The other guys at Mattel on board. Yeah, 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.400 they resisted because the of the large breasts on the doll. Yeah, 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.679 they basically said, no, mom's gonna buy a doll with 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.440 breast for her daughter. Remember, there is nothing like this 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.000 out there at the time, at least in America and 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.160 even in Europe. The one doll that was like this 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.960 that Barbie was based on was based on a sexy 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.040 comic strip exactly, so it wasn't for little girls. So 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.000 this is a really revolutionary idea for a handler would 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:31.680 be like, no, no, Well they'll get past it, Like, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:33.960 this is what we need to do. Got Mattel on 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.400 board and debuted this thing at the Toy Fair in 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.760 New York City in nineteen nine and a zebra stripe 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:45.200 striped bathing suit. Yes, very alluring, I guess, and her 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:47.680 eyes were cast to the side. She can never meet 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:52.800 your gaze, which as a sidebar, no, like it will 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.760 never meet your gaze. The only way for no, the 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.520 only way for eyes in a painting or on a 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.760 doll to meet you is for them to already be 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.320 painted looking ahead. If they're painted looking to the side, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.439 they'll never meet you. Well, unless you turn the doll 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.760 to the sun. I'm telling you. You try you try it. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.200 You've told the story about the painting. Let's still disagree. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.360 So in the Shinto religion, um anything that has eyes, 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.080 including a doll, can capture your spirit. So in Japan 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.559 a lot of dolls are made with sideways looks so 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.840 you can't look them in the eye. And every year 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:28.640 and you keep your spirit at the right at the 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:33.559 Meiji Shrine in Japan, they have a doll burning celebration 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.840 where they burned unused, an unwanted dolls so that they 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:42.840 can't get anybody. That's an environmental nightmare. So Barbie debuts 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.560 in nine right, yes, they she goes to Sears because 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.640 they sold tons of Mattel products at the time. Sea 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.320 said this thing is too sexy. No one's gonna buy them. 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.600 It's too sexy. So uh, Mattel turned out to be 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.160 smarty Pants though, because five years later Barbie was a 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.600 million dollar dollar I guess because of all the internet 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.320 orders that they were getting, well the little kids. Finally 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.920 some stores said yes, okay, we'll take them, and little 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.040 Kids sold them. In that first year, Chuck, they sold 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.040 three hundred and fifty thousand of these things, and they 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.520 were selling them for three bucks apiece, which I looked 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.280 at three and two thousand eleven dollars. So there was 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.040 a substantial amount of sales for the first year, so 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.240 Rick Handler was proven right pretty much out of the gate. Yes, 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:29.240 that is true. Um, the cool end of Ruth story 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.320 actually not so cool because she died of cancer. But 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.000 she um eventually got breast cancer, and when she was 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:41.080 unable to find a breast prosthesis that she thought was 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.360 was good enough, she said, you know what, I'm gonna 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.679 make my own and I'm going to form a company 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:50.000 and I'm gonna call it Nearly Me. And they manufactured 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:54.320 breasts prosthesises for cancer survivors. Pretty cool. She sadly lost 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:56.600 her battle, but I think she was like in her 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:01.400 late eighties or mid eighties, and even after the Handlers 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.360 were basically forced out of Mattel after some questionable earnings 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.400 reports in the late seventies early eighties, she's still regarded 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.360 like this titan of the toy industry, legend of this 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.720 woman who like helped build Mattel from scratch and like 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.520 made it what it is today. And I think Elliott 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.280 just passed away last year. He lived into his nineties. 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.160 So we have a few stats here, Uh, New Barbie 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.080 All today sells approximately every three seconds. See just sold 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.280 one another just sold one. Uh. It is a one 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.400 point five billion dollar business for Mattel and the average 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.800 girl from three to six has twelve of these. That 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.120 is mind boggling. Number One Barbie from uh and called 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:50.480 you about twenty seven grand these days, and uh what else? 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.600 The best selling Barbie of all time was the totally 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.840 hair Barbie who had hair from head to toe. It 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.240 strikes me as strange. That's the best selling Barbie of 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.200 all time. I looked it up. It's it's for guys 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:05.920 like us. You look at this thing and say, wow, 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.880 what a redneck doll like? Has anyone been into the 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.640 Crystal Gale look since with the seventies? But I think 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.559 little girls uh enjoyed like styling the hair, all that 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:17.440 hair and all the hair that you could do all 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.880 these interesting things with. So Barbie herself, if you want 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:22.960 to know a little bit of a backstory, if anyone 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.040 ever asks you, Barbie's full name, Barbie the doll, Yes, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.560 not the daughter. We're no longer talking about the doll. Now, 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.280 we're talking about Barbie the doll in this weird fake history, 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.640 and it's strange. It's a little weird. Yeah, that's why 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:37.840 we went in and then we're coming back out for 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.760 a second. But Barbie's real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.240 apparently um, which is my aunt's name, not her middle name. 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.400 But her name is Barbie Roberts Um. And she hails 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:53.559 from not my aunt, but the Barbie doll hails from Willows, Wisconsin. Yeah. 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:58.360 And she has friends, specifically and most notably Ken Shawn Carson, 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:03.160 who was induced in nineteen sixty one. They're both pisces 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.920 I guess, like me, I think so. And they're both 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.880 early March. Well I'm mid March. Another cut office sometime 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.160 in March, though, so, but they were both born in March. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:19.000 We'll call him pisces um. And uh, Barbie has some relatives. 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.800 Her best friend is Midge, by the way, who's been 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.800 introduced a couple of times pregnant and really caused controversy 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.920 both times. Yeah, one time with an actual baby in 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.080 the belly that you could take out in the womb. Yeah. 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.240 That it was. It's looked upon and Cracked Magazine as 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:38.320 one of the horrific toys in history. I think it 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.640 was necessary and educational, Alright. What was surprising to me 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:43.960 was that she was pregnant and it caused the second 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.800 time it caused waves as recently. It's like two thousand two, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.320 two two or two thousand and six, it was fairly recent. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.240 It seems the world still has hang ups about pregnancy 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.240 for some reason. Well, it's probably a single woman pregnancy, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.360 probably not just the fact that she was pregnant. I 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.720 don't think any has he prompts pregnancy. Um, you've also 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:06.680 heard a skipper she uh was a sister she was 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.320 the little Sister's debuted in nineteen. Then there's Stacy, Todd 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:15.080 and Chelsea, who are named after the handler's grandchildren. Um, 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:19.920 and then about Ken, he's gone through some transitions over 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.800 the years. Is Malibu Kenna laid back dude, Magic Iran 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.840 Kin who will talk about a little more in death 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:31.160 shall we introduced in nineteen embraced by the gay community. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.840 And um, have you seen pictures? Oh yeah, yeah, he's 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.680 got a do you not look up your earring? Magic Kin? 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.080 Not this personing? I did uh see through kind of 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:46.360 a sheer purple tank mesh mesh and uh there's a 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.160 matching purple jacket and a medallion. Doesn't he have like 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.520 a risk like corsage or something too? I didn't see 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.680 that part he looked like a gay raver. Yeah we 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.000 can say that. I mean, like dead on a gay raver. 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.240 I don't want to into any rabs out there. And 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:07.000 apparently the whole um this, the fact that the gay 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.320 community bought a large portion of these things, was a 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:13.040 big surprise to Mattel and they're like, wait, we didn't 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.240 mean that. So they took it off the shelves. Well, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:20.600 they're pretty stupid, you know, registered trademark, registered trademark. They 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:25.280 were making big sales. Uh. There had long been joking 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.760 whispers about Kin's sexuality in pop culture, so when they 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.480 made this one, I think people thought, all right, they're 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.360 finally giving us like the real Kin. And then for 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.960 them to yanket back off the shelves, it's like come on, yeah, 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:39.960 Well that's the kind of a thread you'll see throughout 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.920 is that Mattel is very protective of Barbie's image and 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.560 by proxy Kin's image as well. Um, and apparently they 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:53.480 don't think Ken's gay. Um. Kenn and Barbie broke up once, 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.600 very famously in two thousand four. Yeah, and they got 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.760 well after blaming the Australian surfer showed up. They just 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:03.080 happened to break up then, but of course, like all 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.640 noted lovers in history, they got back together in Valentine's 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.680 on Valentine's State two thousand eleven. And apparently Barbie was 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:13.840 even on match dot com for a little while, and 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:17.919 Ken designed a cupcake for her at Magnolia Bakery and 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:22.680 posted billboards asking for Barbie's hand again and together. Of course, 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.840 she's never been married again. They got back together in 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.639 Valentine's State two thousand eleven. That's right. What about her jobs, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.480 Barbie's a fact totem. She has done a lot of things. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:39.440 Fashion model, astronaut, hundred and thirty careers totalners, been a cop, 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:44.480 a paleontologist. McDonald's franchise e was she franchise z? Because 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.280 I saw the one where she worked to the drive through? 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.360 It depends, Like if you really start thinking about Barbie, 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.600 she owned the place, Okay, but that's a big difference, 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.840 you know, of the image you're sending out, like is 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.040 she a business owner or she's slinging fries. Well, she's 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.159 also owned like tons of boutiques. Again, she owned that 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.200 hot dog sand like pretty much everything she works at 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.040 she's owned. I I that was the impression. I had 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.600 race car driver, aerobics instructor. She owned aerobics right while 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:13.919 she did it. She had a band, Barbie and the 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:18.480 Rockers that formed. That's right. I have not heard any songs, 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.400 but I should go look that up. And then animals, 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.040 she said, more than fifty pets, first of which was 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:28.120 a horse named Dancer. She said, twenty one dogs, twelve horses, 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:32.359 three ponies, six cats, a parrot, a champ papanda, a lion, cub, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.040 a giraffe, and a zebra. And that is it for 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:39.360 the fake history of Barbie. Because, um, if there's one 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:43.760 thing about Barbie, it's that she collides with society, both 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.359 in academic circles and pop culture like you said, and 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:52.639 every aspect. Barbie has her her little plastic toes dipped 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.720 in some part of our society at large for tiny 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.880 little plastic does um. And probably the group that she's 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:04.240 run a foul of the most are feminists, right, Yeah, 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.080 and uh, this article makes a great point, like feminism 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.919 and Barberly Barbarie and Barbie co evolved right about the 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.000 same time in the nineteen early nineteen sixties, is when 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.320 these things were going on. Yeah, um, Barbie came out 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.880 in nineteen fifty nine. Betty Friedan published The Feminist Mystique 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:24.400 in nineteen sixty three. Right, so there they're just right there, 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:29.440 head to head, intertwined at each other's throats for pretty 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.880 much the whole time. Yeah, because, um, a feminist will 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.800 point out Barbie is, her figure is ridiculous, she's wealthy, 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:41.679 she's vapid, she's materialistic. Girls shouldn't even be playing with 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.560 this thing because it sends all the wrong messages, possibly 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:50.040 dangerous messages. Um. And there are times when Mattel's kind 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:54.080 of made the point for feminists or just any critic 0:19:54.119 --> 0:20:00.600 of Barbie specifically ten Talk Barbie. Yeah, bad for them 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.720 sometimes with the stuff because they've made some terrible mistakes 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:05.359 a lot, I know, but you get I don't know. 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.640 You just picture like an out of touch board room 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:09.840 and they're trying to do the right thing and it 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.919 just blows up in their face over and over. So, uh, 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.920 Team Talk Barbie. Yeah, they recorded Uh this Barbie could 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.640 talk back to you thanks to a computer microchip, and 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:22.920 it would say four phrases, and they had two hundred 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.479 and seventy phrases total, and each doll got four at 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.560 random I love shopping, Let's have a pizza party, or 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.640 the one percent of dolls math class is tough, which 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.080 is a pretty high percentage for just one thing. So 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.439 like the worst thing that Team Talk Barbie could have 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.760 said ended up in the most dolls. Yeah. Uh and 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.080 of course, um that perpetuated the girls are bad at 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:50.960 math thing in the American Association of University Women said 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:55.199 we don't like perpetuating these stereotypes. Mattel said, fine, you 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.879 know what, We'll pull these and if you got one 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.560 of these, uh I don't like math doll, you can 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:03.200 send it in and get another one. But it was 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:04.760 kind of too late, and then the best thing in 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:09.920 history happened. Yeah, the Barbie Liberation Organization uh struck. They 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.600 bought hundreds of teen talk Barbies, and they also apparently 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.600 bought hundreds of talking Duke G I Joe action figures 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.200 and they switched the microchips out in them. So awesome, 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:23.640 and then they took them back. Uh. So, a lot 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:26.840 of little girls got barbies that said things like vengeance 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.639 is Mine and a lot of little boys got G I. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.040 Joe's that said things like, let's plan our dream wedding. 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.439 That's pretty great. And there's actually a really excellent version 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.520 of this saga that's told in a Simpsons episode Lisa 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:42.960 versus Malibu. Stacey, Remember that got all this background based 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:47.280 on Ruth Handler and Mattel Barbie and and this m 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.440 Barbie Liberation organization. I'm glad you mentioned that that I've 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:52.680 forgotten all about that. That's such a good Episode's a 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:59.080 good one, Lisa, lion heart. So, uh, Mattel and Um 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:05.400 and Ruth have always shot back or countered, maybe more politely. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.040 They're not shrinking violence when you know the feminists are 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:10.080 on them. No, they say, you know what, Barbie was 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:17.000 created by women. Barbie has always had you know, jobs 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.240 sometimes male traditional male jobs. Yeah, they say, she she 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.040 she breaks the plastic ceiling. Yeah, like she was day night, 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:29.879 day to night CEO Barbie, UM, Barbie for President, astronaut 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:33.640 Barbie UM. And they basically said, you know what, she's 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:38.720 never been married, she never had kids. Barbie is a feminist, right, 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.400 although I bet a lot of feminists would argue back, 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:43.160 and they have been for years. Well yeah, but some 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:47.720 feminists also actually grudgingly support Barbie as a champion of 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:50.480 women's right. So there's this one article I read by 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:54.840 by Deb Moore Hennicky. It's called rethinking Barbie. And she 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:57.760 points out that quote Kendall's come in several outfits, but 0:22:57.920 --> 0:22:59.920 really he's just there. If Barbie happens to want to 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.399 go on a date, she does not stand around waiting 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:04.840