- Mattel Barbie’s
- King Arthur: The Icon
- English Language Learner’s
Mattel Barbie’s
Context/Description:
I’ve been thinking a lot about Barbie’s lately… especially this last week… and for the last couple of weeks I have been starting to organize my intents for doing a collection of Barbie Narratives by request of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections section of the HBLL. It made me think of this e-mail I received a while ago. I found it in my archives of saved e-mails and looked at this forwarded message again this past week. Below you may see and read it. Then I will proceed with the analysis and so forth.
Mattel recently announced the creation of a limited line of custom-made Barbie dolls specifically made for the SALT LAKE CITY market:
"Park City Barbie"
She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey, and a four million dollar home. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic, ex-model Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version of Barbie.
"Draper Barbie"
The modern day home-maker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar Minivan and matching Juicy Couture gym outfit. She gets lost easily, has no full-time occupation, and her favorite hobby is taking crafting classes at the Quilted Bear.
Traffic jamming cell phone/Blackberry sold separately.
"Kearns Barbie"
This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, an OJ Simpson knife, a
1995 Chevy Silverado with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only
available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable
bills) unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.
"Cottonwood Heights Barbie"
This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of a black BMW convertible or black Hummer H2.
Included are her own Starbucks cup, platinum credit card and country club membership. Also
available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to
afford any of them.
" West Valley Barbie"
This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too
small, a NASCAR t-shirt and Tweety Bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud
Light and a Toby Keith CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's
butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately, and get a confederate flag
bumper sticker absolutely FREE!
"Emigration Canyon Barbie"
This collagen injected, practically plastic Barbie wears leopard print leggings and your choice of tops from Bebe at the Gateway. She drinks cosmopolitans and serves hot hors d'ourves while entertaining her attorney friends. Percocet prescription available, as well as newly built high-rise condo. Charcoal gray Range Rover sold separately.
"Magna Barbie"
This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Rose Park Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, Lee Press-On nails and a see-through halter top. Also available with a mobile home, furnished entirely by Furniture Warehouse on Road Redwood.
" The Avenues Barbie"
This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup, granny glasses and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow. She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Avenues Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.
"Rose Park Barbie"
This Barbie now comes with a stroller and 2 infant dolls. Optional accessories include an oversized NFL Team shirt, GED and a UTA bus pass. White boy Gangsta Ken and his 1979 low-rider Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.
"Provo Barbie"
This celestially beautiful Barbie comes complete with skirt and sweater set from Talbots, modest heels and a Sandra Dee hair-do.Optional accessories include GMC Suburban with seating for twelve, Amway Double-Diamond Dealer benefits card, and a laminated temple recommend. Elder's Quorum President Ken sold separately, along with children Ken Jr. and Skipper (children sold only in bulk packs of 8 or 10).
*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
Analysis:
Honestly, I’m laughing too hard to make an analysis of this thing!!! It uses sarcasm and stereotyping for one thing, but what intrigues me the most is the variety of ways it has projected Barbie’s gender—even to the extent of lesbian Barbie’s; and although it doesn’t explicitly say so, the innuendo is definitely there. Each Barbie depicted satirically here seems to be commenting on the fact that Barbie does not extend to many facets of real life for women. I do have to say though, that as sad as it may sound, I think Mattel would make billions more than they are making now if they marketed the “Kearn’s Barbie” just because there are a lot of communities like that and it’s a product I see as being interesting to both boys and girls who are starting to border the age of forsaking the doll culture for the teen culture. Mattel could extend their age reach with that product—partly perhaps because Barbie for the first time has a gun. However, I don’t think parents would fly for that idea…
And for one last analytical comment on it, I think whoever put this forward together did an excellent job at stereotyping the typical Provo Molly Mormon, dressed in white and ready to go holy, holy, holy. I’m not saying what they’ve done is right—I actually have a high pet peeve for stereotypes—but they’ve done a wonderful job of tapping into the dominant culture of the areas mentioned in the Barbie captions from what I know of those areas in Utah. The Barbie depictions are ironic, but entertaining nonetheless.
Lesson Plan Ideas:
I put together and taught a lesson about stereotypes last semester for teaching the book The Outsiders to eighth graders. I could definitely create a lesson plan with this Barbie E-mail document to teach about stereotypes, but I think that in a greater light I would use it to teach the concept of community to my students. Although the images do stereotype heavily, they also capture an essence of the community they stand for. I think it would be fun and interesting to split up students into groups to research about the towns closest to them (with one getting the town where the school is located), and then to have students use the information they find to create artistic representations of the type of Barbie and Ken doll that would best represent the majority of the demographics they have discovered from their research. How will they market their ideas and finished products to their employer (the teacher)? How would your Barbie or Ken doll change if you wanted it to sell to the people inside that community as opposed to those who are outside of the community? Students could also make “community” floats in their groups to pull in a school community sponsored parade (in fifth grade I remember my school put on a class parade for different countries we researched and it was fun and informative—the concept of science fair on wheels, but with emphasis to communities here in my teaching application). You could also have students put their Barbie and Ken ideas on display in the school library. This idea can do in multiple directions and that’s partly why I like it so much.
King Arthur: The Icon
Context/Description:
I had to participate in a group presentation on King Arthur for one of my other classes. We each took on a different cultural perspective including Celtic, French, Product Media, Film media, and Popular Culture. I chose the latter point (we each came up with our own emphasis we wanted to explore) and I taught a mini lesson Wednesday on King Arthur as a Promotional icon and incorporated many principles that I have learned from this class.
Analysis:
The lesson progressed very well, and I especially liked how the historical frames of reference built upon each other from ancient to modern. My emphasis was on King Arthur as an economic icon and marketing tool. In my research and preparation I put together a PowerPoint which was added to the overall group PowerPoint. I walked my audience through the connection between what a media icon is and what it does (as opposed to a literary symbol) and then walked them through looking at and analyzing some of the logos that have been created with King Arthur or the Arthurian Legend as it’s backbone. The class really got into it. My only lament was that the time constraint did not allow for anyone in my group to give the full depth to our topic.
Lesson Plan Ideas:
Really I have a lesson plan already in blueprint form. What I would do is expand upon it and create an actual 45 minute lesson plan because the Arthurian Legend themes pop up constantly among other cultures and literary works. I would conduct more think alouds and critical analysis of the images I assembled on the screens of my portion of the PowerPoint presentation. I would expand my bibliography of references and construct the full blown lesson plan in its entirety for future use. We made a handout from our original presentation which I would make copies of for my students because it summarizes the main points from my team members discussions. My original submitted portion of the handout gave a wonderful caption (everyone’s captions were condensed to fit the scope of the 8’1/2 by 11 handout dimensions) but this is what my original caption read which is still saved on my computer to give you an idea of what I’ve done already with this idea (all references were posted on the handout regardless):
McQuade, Donald & Christine. Seeing & Writing 3. “Logos, Flags, and Escutcheons.”
Sklar, Elizabeth S. King Arthur in Popular Culture. “Marketing Arthur: The Commodification of Arthurian Legend.”
Lull, James. Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. “Popular Reception.”
“Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there has been an increased popular reception of King Arthur and the Arthurian Legend into contemporary society. King Arthur has transcended literary text and been transformed into a collective icon—an icon that is easily recognizable but an icon which does not degrade the meaning of the original text. Rather, King Arthur’s iconic adoption has enhanced the meaning of the original text and helped to sustain the legend throughout the decades. As we explore this icon, please keep in mind the following tenets of an icon as set forth in the essay “Logos, Flags, and Escutcheons” (FYI…an Escutcheon is “a term used in heraldry for the shield displayed in a coat of arms;” Wikipedia.com). An Icon…
- …is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon
- …doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies
- …is rarely a description of a business
- …derives it’s meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around
- …is less important than the product it signifies; what it means is more important than what it looks like
An icon helps create communities, an icon keeps the audience’s appeal in constant motion, and an icon is used for expression, influence, stableness, and the construction of identities. King Arthur has been successfully utilized as an icon for these and other pertinent purposes but with the primary motivation being the increase of capital wealth overall.”
English language learner’s
Context/Description:
I was reading an article for my Secondary Education ESL Endorsement course. The article is titled “The World Outside and
“During the segment of the beginning ESL core dedicated to social studies, an attempt was made by the teacher to cover some of the content covered by the regular sixth grade. In order to cover the topic of communities, for example, the teachers had students draw maps of their communities and neighborhoods. Because the very complex explanations for drawing maps were given in English, the newly arrived students were seriously confused (Valdés; BEEDE booklet, Appendix D: 7).”
Analysis:
I thought it was interesting that in order to teach the concept of communities to English Language Learner’s, the teacher in this situation had the students “draw maps of their communities and neighborhoods.” Using visuals is a great concept to apply for teaching ESL students (because many of them are visual learners) but visuals are not helpful in teaching the concept of communities if they are used out of context, or in this case, not accessible concepts to your audience. In the example above the teacher realized the visual strength of the activity but underestimated the complexity of the task she had appointed her ESL students. The nature and purpose of the activity was noteworthy, but of a fickle foundation.
Lesson Plan Ideas:
In thinking about teaching the concept of communities to my own class of ESL students someday (whether as a core class, pullout, or mainstreamed based program at my school and so forth)—I would use the Guided Practice approach: I do, they watch; I do, they help; they do, I help; and they do, I watch (I created a graphic organizer once for this concept but it won't let me upload it to this--sorry). I believe that if I started by showing the ESL students maps of communities and redrew one, then showed them another map and had them help draw, then another community map for them to draw themselves while I help them—that then I could present them with the idea of creating an artistic map of their own communities and neighborhoods on their own, and that it would be less confusing than the approach that the teacher in the quote above tried to apply to the situation. But I also acknowledge that having ESL students bring in cultural artifacts to talk about in class would probably be more effective than drawing maps in the first place primarily because coloring doesn’t reinforce communication—talking about artifacts and communities does. In my ESL endorsement class we have often had to bring in artifacts to discuss—and we have talked a lot about the difference between written and social English when it comes to teaching ESL students.
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