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07 September1964
Meet my 'Barbie' doll
Author
Famiglia Barzizza
Format
8mm
Duration
1'
Credits
Music by Pierpaolo Ovarini

Barbie, the world's most famous doll, was born in the United States in 1959 and arrived in Italy in 1962. It was a huge commercial and cultural success, since Barbie was to be produced in so many variations and in more than a billion units. Her revolutionary characteristic is that of being an adult doll that is proposed to the public together with the characters, such as her boyfriend Ken, and the objects, clothes, houses, pets and cars that are part of her world and official history. Then those who play with Barbie have the opportunity to make her live a little as they wish. On 7 September 1964, little Carlotta presented her Barbie doll to grandfather Pippo Barzizza's camera. Carlotta is Isa's daughter. So here Barbie is first shown naked and then dressed in a thousand different ways, consistent with a character who wants to amaze and be admired. Finally, here is Barbie in a wedding dress. The creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, declared in an interview: "Every little girl needs a doll through which to project herself into the dream of her future, Barbie represents the fact that a woman has choices." For Carlotta, too, Barbie probably represents a model, an aspiration or simply an opportunity to yearn for the world of grown-ups, just as it does for so many other little girls and perhaps even children. However, the space for experimentation and fantasy is endless. So there are those who enjoy cutting off Barbie's and Ken's heads and limbs, and those who simply cut off her blonde hair to see if it grows back.

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