On dolls and skintones

[mmymoon]

So there was a big event over in loli valentines with a million billion secrets, yay! See, subculture can be nice and welcoming if it tries...

La la, sort of tangentially, this valentine made me happy, for one, seeing a non-youth rocking of my styles, but also... because she has a darkskinned "mini me" BJD.


Okay, so, I don't know about anyone else, but I always had issues with Blonde Barbie when I was a little kid. I wasn't particularly fond of dolls as a child, being an action-figure-loving sort who would rather make whatever toy go on adventures than brush its stupid hair. But I was so tickled when someone gave me Hawaiian Barbie (Meko? Meeko? Miko?) and she had a deep olive tan, and black hair, and a chubby-cheeked face. I identified with her figure to an extent that I could never project onto the doe-eyed blondes my sister had.

People can be affectedly PC with kids and toys, but this was something that honestly bothered me when I was a child. I was obviously not "the fairest," and really couldn't project myself into white, blonde dolls. I know I'm not the only one who felt that way as a child, either. (Which is why I think various shades and lifestyles of toys AND CARTOONS really are important. It doesn't have to be dead-on, but kids can be grateful just to have a toy that in some way resembles their life whatsoever. People come in different colors, lifestyles, dis/abilities, and so do children.) Similarly, I've always been slightly unsettled when people do art of me that makes me super-pale, because that's so... not... me. It'd be like drawing me flatchested, or with straight hair.


So yeah. A while ago, I was looking at someone's "mini me" (self-portrait doll) that was some standard super-pale ball joint doll (when the person was fairly dark skinned) and just... thought that was kind of weird and sad. I know, from a technical standpoint, that darker resins are more difficult/expensive to cast. But I'm just really sort of happy that there are finally more colors of resin other than "SNOW" and "flesh."


... Jenny and Licca sure aren't Asian-featured dolls. What do all the poor kids in Japan do? Are there other, more realistic dolls that real children actually play with, or is it just an accepted suspension of disbelief, kind of like how baby dolls look nothing like actual babies?


And uh, before you ask: YES, the only baby dolls I ever had were anatomically correct. In various skintones. Yeeeeep. Non-realistic baby dolls disturbed me: it either had to be bizarrely stylized or fairly realistic. I was like that, even as a child.

Comments

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

Re: Jenny and Licca, I think that, just like most anime characters dont actually look asian, that somehow little kids just relate to them regardless.

but I do very much know what you're saying. I always related more to the brunette barbie "friend" than I did to Barbie. Somehow Barbie in my head was like that popular pretty girl in class that was never nice to me. lol. (so unfair to barbie! she never did anything to me!)

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

I wondered about that... is it the cartoon culture, as it were, with EVERYTHING being cutesy? I mean, I grew up in the 80s, but there was NO WAY I was relating to the blonde. Even in things like She-Ra, where she -- personality-wise -- was totally the most like me. (I think I thought of myself as... Angela? Heh. Although I liked toy-version Glimmer, because she had CURLY purple hair.)

But I can't help but think that if I were a little Japanese kid, Jenny just wouldn't cut it. I was so happy to finally get one that looked like me.

Poor Barbie, I thought that, too -- she has always seemed like the mean popular girl, though! (Even though she could just as easily have been the ditzy-but-nice blonde archetype, like Legally Blonde/Clueless/Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls, etc.) Even now... despite the Tarina Tarantino branding, and despite the fact that I own a billionty dolls, I can't... quite... become a Barbie Girl. I'm just too brunette, deep down in my soul. I've got the perky pink, but also the black.

[batchix.livejournal.com]

Jenny/Licca's the same sculpt as those skippers they came out with in the mid-80's.. i still have the dark haired/skinned/brown or green eyed friend named Courtney. I was CRAZY for that doll. I got a jenny about five years ago on a whim and was like, "Huh! same face!"

I was crazy about my Jem dolls. Pink, blue, purple or unnatural red hair just made them so ambigious. they were "pretend". I had blonde barbies but I was like you and didn't like them as much. My mom and grandma went out of her way to get me dark haired and brown eyed dolls. I loved Miko, she was my FAVORITE. She's actually in my apt here awaiting the day when I feel up to re-rooting her since I brushed out most of her hair. I loved her till her leg fell off too and managed to chew through her ankle so I recently put her on a newer barbie body with a matching skin tone.

Mattel fails for me with the exception of she-ra and he-man. I'm a hasbro kinda girl. XD

[ashbet]

I can't remember the name of Barbie's "Hispanic friend" (dark curly hair, gorgeous blue metallic hobble dress, full lips), but I loved loved LOVED her, far more than my neglected blonde ski-slope-nose Barbies. Her skintone was close to mine (I tan like crazy when I'm out in the sun, and I was constantly outside as a little kid) and I loved her curly hair :)

I think I still *have* that doll somewhere, although she'd be in with Kira's childhood things at this point.

-- A :)

[batchix.livejournal.com]

was it theresa? :D I had a few of her. I liked her okay but it irked me because so many people thought I was hispanic growing up. XD They still do!

[twotone]

Jenny is, shockingly enough, NOT EVEN JAPANESE. This really screwed with my mind when I first realized that my "Barbie from Japan" (I believe mine actually was a Takara Barbie, before they lost the license and renamed her Jenny) was actually supposed to be from (IIRC) California.

Licca is half-Japanese half-French, but honestly her Japanese relatives don't especially look more Asian than her French relatives. Part of the problem (?) may be that Japanese people don't think of themselves as having colored skintones, except for when they're being down on themselves. And they don't really think of themselves as having small eyes or especially chubby faces (although I have seen some Japanese people, possibly including my relatives, say that they prefer Jenny to Barbie because she has more rounded-features and a more modest bust).

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

As I recall, they also had Jenny sculpted closed mouth, 'cause it ain't polite to show your teeth? One of the things I liked about her, as it stopped her from having Barbie's idiot grin.

Funny about Jenny's "modest bust" now that Japan *also* has those hobby dolls with boobies bigger than their heads.

[twotone]

Well, Jenny and Licca are traditionally sold to children, whilst hobby dolls are marketed towards adult hobbyists. So it is unhealthy for Japanese children to want big-boobed dollies, but perfectly natural for grown men* to want their dolls to have giant squishy boobs.

*I am aware that many female doll fans and doll-customizers enjoy the large variety of dolly bust-sizes available in Japan. I am also fairly certain that the greater portion of custom-made giant-boobed dolls were originally created for for male fans with very specific fetishes. Ditto the "pregnant pre-teen with giant boobs" custom dolls.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

You're aware that Barbie was based on a fetish doll (Bild Lili) designed for men? The circle is now complete.

And of course, people *still* aren't cool with Barbie's figure. Though I think the sleaze factor of the Bratz helped take a bit of the heat off in recent years.