feliceThis Barbie movie has brought back some pretty deep seated memories for me and for a lot of my friends.
My whole writing group has been madly texting with Barbie story ideas and it’s pretty hilarious to think a doll could arouse such passion.
It’s turns out there are 2 Barbie camps – those that were into her and those that were kinda Barbie Haters. I am betting the psychologists phones are ringing off the hook as women in their 50’s and 60’s attempt to explain their relationship with that perfectly flawless little doll.
I didn’t know back then why I didn’t like Barbie but now I do. I remember wanting to mess Barbie up — I was obsessed with figuring out how her legs attached and dismantling her was fun. You could screw off her head which was kinda fun too.
I’m not sure why I didn’t care about Barbie dolls but I mostly didn’t like dolls anyway. They freaked me out. They looked like they could start talking at any time and that was really creepy. I never wanted any dolls to sleep in my room. I made my Nana remove her antique porcelain dolls from the room– they were frightening to sleep with.
Barbie dolls were everywhere but I didn’t have to have one. She didn’t look like anyone I knew. She was truly unrelatable. I was a tom boy and her accessories were very girlie.
I can’t remember feeling apologetic about not playing with Barbie, and when a friend would ask me to play with her doll, I would suggest a game of Trouble instead.
Since the Barbie movie has come out, I have to admit it has has triggered me. Perhaps a bit extreme, but I’ve searched into my cavernous memory and what keeps coming up is,
“No wonder I didn’t like Barbie, I’m an Imperfectionist, and I can’t imagine Barbie making me feel super happy with all her perfectionism.”
Barbie may have been my first rebellious stand. My mom bought my 3 sisters and I a few of them. None of us remember liking those dolls but we do remember that we trashed them and left them in a pile – naked! Twisting off their legs, cutting their hair and tossing them into the discard pile in our playroom was a clear memory.
Hey, our playroom was filled with way better stuff like Twister and a Bongo Board and bumper pool. We didn’t play with Easy Bake Ovens, we preferred Operation and dissecting body parts, dogs that walked on leashes powered by batteries and Pogo sticks.
Growing up I loved to play “secret” games with my best friends next door. We would make up stories and play them out with our stuffed animals. I loved putting on plays for the family and making up songs. I never could color in the lines, but I loved finger painting. There was not alot of predictability or perfection in those activities and that may explain why Barbie and I didn’t really hang together.
There was a girl who lived up the street and she had a perfect Barbie house, a Barbie trunk of clothes, her Barbie’s hair was always brushed and flawless, and she loved to invite me over to play. I couldn’t wait to undress the Barbies and the Ken. I was fascinated with Barbie’s boobs. I didn’t like her hair, it was stiff.
I didn’t really like Barbie or that girl up the street so much. Her bedroom furniture all matched and her house was in perfect order. Her Mom was a nervous uptight lady and my friend was super nervous too. I saw her years later, all grown up and she was the same. She was groomed perfectly, was very rigid and no fun.
I guess this sounds like I’m a tad judgemental of perfectionism. I know that’s not a great thing to be judgemental. It’s just that pefectionists make me nervous. I worry around them that I’m going to screw up. I have noticed as I’ve gotten older that friendships with perfectionistic people can be challenging for me.
This may explain why my career path has been as a writer, teacher and entrepreneur, none of which require perfectionism to succeed.
I started thinking that Barbie just didn’t fit into the world that I love such as animals., bright colors like red and orange together, I’m think stray hairs look sexy, love the messy look. People who know me refer to me as Lucy.
I guess that’s why I love to write – When I start wrtiing a piece, I’m never really sure where it will go, but I love the unfolding process.
I love to cook and change recipes along the way, I don’t like to measure and bake.
When I see someone with flawless make-up or hair I feel compassionate as I think how hard it must be for them to have be so perfect.
So Barbie, I’m not sorry we were never buddies, you were not a missed opportunity for me and I can’t wait to see the movie because apparently the writers had Barbie issues as well which are LOL funny.