‘Barbie’ premieres: “It is a mime for collectors who have followed her since childhood”

Movie theaters are dyed pink with the premiere of “Barbie,” the film directed by Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Accompanied by Christopher Nolan’s new release, “Oppenheimer”, and the action tank “Mission Impossible 7” with Tom Cruise, the historic doll is imposed at the box office, in the networks and in our outfits. For Nicole and Lara, Argentine collectors, that devotion to the doll is not limited to a month, a movie or the agenda. At what point did the massive toy become a life companion for them? If Barbie is a figure that transcended generations all these years, what does it mean to them? Why does your arrival in the cinema mark a before and after? Filo.news spoke with them to learn a little about their history.***
Lara is now 32 years old and is a visual arts teacher with a specialty in painting and engraving. Like treasures, he kept his first Barbies in their original boxes. “Among others I still have intact the Barbie Sparkle Beach,” he recalled in dialogue with this medium and continued: “When I became independent I have given myself different Barbies, Blythes, Bjds, until I have my small collection. ” As she confesses, it was never her intention to collect them: “My favorites in the affective are the first ones that my parents gave me, although I must admit that the ones I like the most are those of the Holidays collection, ‘Christmas collection’, with their party dresses and their design boxes, “he commented about his chosen ones. The one he wants to get is the Barbie Bob Mackie Circus, “I’ve been tracking it for a while,” he says. For her, it is a hobby that she lives with passion, and that she shares with other collectors: “I know several, I even had virtual meetings.” For Nicole, the love for Barbie goes back to her childhood, specifically at 5 or 6 years old. “My mom took us to a shopping mall and bought me my first and only Barbie I had in childhood, because they were very expensive… I remember that it came out 80 pesos, it was around the 2000s out there, “he recalled to this media. When he was 24, while studying for the career of psychopedagogy, he came across a Youtube video of a video from Mexico that collected and restored second-hand dolls. In that channel she rediscovered her interest and curiosity for Barbies: “I was fascinated and said ‘how I wish I could do the same’, but I didn’t have much time.” Today, at 28, she works as a therapeutic companion in a kindergarten. Coincidence or fate, one day he came across a bag of toys that had been thrown in a house, and took it to work with the children: “Among those toys I found a Barbie in very bad condition and I said ‘well, if I can restore this doll and it fits me, I start collecting’. I changed all her hair and it was like new.” This is how he remembers the beginning of his passion for the Barbies collection. Today she has around dolls: “Each one keeps a particular story. Sometimes I can know who those dolls belonged to, and giving them a second chance makes me very happy.” In fact, that word is what he chooses to define the Barbies: “For me they are synonymous with happiness because it reminds me a lot of my childhood, I remember when I saw Barbie’s commercials on television or when with my sister we dreamed of having the little house and things like that, it is to return to my inner girl”.***
This cultural phenomenon that both share was changing over time. Nicole finds two opposite faces: on the one hand, she referred to the evolution of the market: “My most sincere opinion is that it lost a lot of quality, that splendor that the dolls had before was left aside, with their pompous dresses and spectacular makeup. Now they are simpler, Mattel makes some attempts that have something of what those dolls were, but I understand that maybe today children choose other toys or prefer maybe more technology. That’s why I think Barbie doesn’t try as hard to invest as much as she used to.” On the other hand, he celebrates that we no longer see only the “tall blonde with blue eyes, the only image that was had”: “Today you can see that there are bare Barbies, with prosthetics, wheelchair … I feel like it’s a very positive thing, because every child can identify with a particular one,” she said. In this sense, she highlighted inclusion and generational change: “Barbie was the first doll that took girls out of playing the game of being mothers and allowed them to be whatever they wanted to be. I don’t think it’s just for girls. Today that vision is opening up a little, and colors do not define a particular gender. I think those prejudices come more from other generations, hopefully they do not continue to be imposed and the boys are free to play with what they want.” At fairs, in networks, theion for collecting dolls grows steadily. “I think there are quite a few collectors in Argentina, but it’s a complicated item because there are few places to get them. After the pandemic, the dolls increased their price a lot,” Nicole analyzed.For all this, the film is a reason for celebration and a before and after in the representation of the doll, which arrives for the first time to live action. What do you expect from the film? What will be his legacy? Why is it important?“I hope the plot is interesting, that it is not discriminated against. I spent many years waiting for a Barbie movie with real actors,” Lara reflected, while Nicole concluded: “I think it’s a very good opportunity for new generations to know in depth everything that is the world of Barbie, I feel that it will have a very good arrival. It’s a pampering for all collectors who have followed Barbie since our childhood.”

Original source in Spanish