Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie

For all of its 59 years of life, Barbie - the worlds' most famous doll - has always been a controversial figure. When she was "born" in 1959 Barbie was the first ever doll shaped as a woman (with breasts, even!), as up to this point in time children's dolls had only been babies. Scorned by the male buyers for toy stores, but very quickly adopted by mothers everywhere, Barbie never looked back... that is, until now, as we learn in the new doc "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie."

Young girls may never have given any real thought to the significance of their favorite toy, but very many adults did. Barbie was criticized for being white, blonde, skinny, feminist and sexist, igniting heated discussions about gender roles, white supremacy, and body image. This, however, certainly did not dent sales, which in 1959 were $351000. Less than 10 years later the figure rose to $500 million, making Mattel a Fortune 500 Company. Later still, Barbie's sales peaked at $1.9 billion.

This new documentary from filmmaker Andrea Blaugrund Nevins goes behind the scenes as Mattel faces up to the reality of plummeting sales and comes to recognize that Barbie is in need of a rebirth of some kind. Whilst over the years her wardrobe and accessories have been constantly updated in line with fashion trends, nothing else has changed at all. Evidently, altering her body shape to something more realistic has been up for discussion regularly over the years, but has always stymied by the bosses with the excuse of, "This just isn't the right time."

Intent on finally introducing Barbies who are curvier (the word "fatter" is never used) and taller, the team at Mattel team start planning Project Dawn with its very own "War Cabinet," a group who know that the continued existence of company relies on getting the more contemporary Barbie exactly right.

At the same time in 2016, the Mus�e des Arts D�coratifs in Paris is devoting a major retrospective exhibition of Barbie. It's a very important event, but again it is honoring her history at a time when Mattel is desperate to ensure her future.

Nevins' charming film presents a well-balanced viewpoint that nevertheless becomes a flattering profile on the whole Barbie team. The only one who gets short changes is Ken, Barbie's long-suffering (and very obviously closeted) boyfriend who, in a blatantly act of sexism, is dismissed as a mere accessory.