Feminism and Cultural Identity Essay Example for Free

Feminism and Cultural Identity EssayBarbie, a worldwide viral boo cognize for her interest in adult-fashioned roles, indirectly constitutes the way American girls should kick upstairs up to be. With the creation of this doll came the thirst and need to sell it. Therefore, plainly one pas seul of the Barbie doll is not sufficient. Mattel Inc., famous for its numerous toy creations yet infamous for its many controversies, has made Barbies boyfriend, sister, cousin and even her dog. Consequently, Mattel created Barbie collectibles that included the Barbie Dolls of the World. In this collection, the creation the notorious PR Barbie as Frances Negrn-Muntaner states in Barbies Hair Selling Out Puerto Rican Identity in the Global Market, has developed confusion, furiousness and as well indifference in the Puerto Rican society.In Sandra Cisneros essay, Barbie Q, Barbies values are as she physically is, merely plastic. She is a mean-eyed fashionista boyfriend stealer with emphasis on the theft part. Barbie has made society assume that girls and womens interests are only based on their looks and men. At the same time, girls around the world are getting persuade into thinking that is what they were made to do and how they are meant to be. Because Barbie dolls are used by small girls who may be in the process finding who they are, these girls may grow up with these sexist values in their lives. With this being said, young girls are offered a very superficial way of life, the life of a Barbie, which may be pretty and cute from the outside but its a very fake one. With this, society has created a twisted way of how a girl or woman should be analogous. On this essays last paragraphs describes where the protagonists dolls come from a flea market.The doll she had credibly was damaged by a fire, but as she describes the damages it shows that in a way the child accepts not only the dolls flaws, but her own. With this, she will not let society pay back perfection. And the search for perfection will be her own, not what society has taught. An different essay that embarks the same issue with Barbie dolls is the preliminaryly mentioned by Frances Negrn-Muntaner. In this essay, Negrn, states that when Mattel brought the new Boricua influential person to the Barbie Dolls of the World collection, Puerto Rican the great unwashed from both the island and migrants in the United States had distinct yet connected opinions of the doll. Island intellectuals criticized the dolls Americanized ideal of what a Puerto Rican should be and is comparable, this being a wavy-haired mulatta. Still, Puerto Ricans living on the island bought the doll and made it one of the approximately sold.On the other hand, Islanders now living in the United States considered the doll straight-haired and white. The Puerto Rican Barbie offers young girls a mis mood of what a Puerto Rican really is. The Puerto Rican Barbie was conceived almost in the 21st century with the manneris ms of a 19th century jbara (a country-side woman). The idea behind Barbie Dolls of the World was that American girls learned about different horticultures in the world. Since Barbies are sold worldwide, there is an issue that is developed instantly. The American corporation Mattel has a big plight making sure that the conception of the dolls is loyal to the culture it corresponds, an issue that they did not pay attention with proximity for the Puerto Rican Barbie doll.Thanks to this doll, people from around the world see Puerto Rican identity as country mulatto men and women. When in reality, Puerto Ricos race is a mix of African, Spanish and Tano (natives) The lingering design that the Puerto Rican Barbie was essentially white and that its mulattoness was a cultural masquerade was reinforced by the boxs ethnic origin story for Puerto Ricans My country was discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus who claimed it for Spain.In only mentioning that the island was discovered by Col umbus, Mattel and its allies connote that all Puerto Ricans are fundamentally Europeans and banish the influence of Natives and Africans to the back of the bus. The dolls box, to a certain point, limits the explanation of the Puerto Rican race and the consumer to his or her understanding and knowledge of the Puerto Rican culture, or any culture for that matter. The owner of the Barbie doll, or society passes to intend what the box primarily says.Usually, stereotypes are a general knowledge of a country or a culture. This not being the case on the Puerto Rican conception of the Barbie doll, she is put as an olive skinned, jbara with a bomba dress, that in reality looks like a European dress with encaje (lace). If the doll was a jbara (low phase countryside woman) with a bomba dress, why did it have lace when it is a sign of a high-class European wardrobe? The dolls main concern is for you to like the special white dress I am wearing. It is very typical of a dress I might wear to a festival of a party. states Frances Negrn-Muntaner. The Puerto Rican doll is a complete stereotype of what a Puerto Rican is. If the box said that the doll is wearing a traditional outfit, or explained how our culture developed, it would be a different story. Nevertheless, the doll is put in a 19th century context when it was almost created within the new millennium.Clearly, Puerto Ricans must have passed through modernization or what Puerto Rican intellectuals call Americanization. Also, the dolls features are the ones of a mulatto, when Puerto Ricans have a mixture of African, Tano and Spanish. Puerto Ricans ethnic background is omitted with this doll. However, the most controversial issue with this doll wasnt its skin color or its fiesta wardrobe, it was its hair, as the essays title says Barbies Hair. Frances Negrn-Muntaner shows variant Puerto Rican opinions on the dolls hair but the most outrageous states as follows Lourdes Prez, a Puerto Rican Chicago-based, San Juan-raised interior decorator, was horrified at what she saw I dont care that shes white. Puerto Ricans come in all colors. But when I saw that hair, I thought Dios mo, we just passed a terrible legacy to the next generation.Despite exasperated responses from some Puerto Rico-based (white) men- this woman is saying that the prevalent lack of respect, the lawlessness, drugs, driving conditions, domestic and child insult arent as terrible a legacy as a straight-haired Barbie Lourdes Prez then was pointed out by Louis Aguilar as a Puerto Rican woman who probably spent countless hours straightening her hair before going to the office or school. She was described as a woman ashamed of her grifera. Prez contradicts herself in the previous quote because she emphasized, Puerto Ricans come in all colors and yet criticized what big hair the doll had. Puerto Ricans, as previously informed, are a mix of 3 bloods Tano, Spanish and African. Therefore, the issue that the Puerto Rican Barbies hair provoked is illogical. What Mattel should have worked on better, were its features and the box historical background. Because Barbie is a globalized toy, it is important that the alliance portrays the culture justly so people wont generalize when in contact with another culture.The representation of Barbies as women helps re-create stereotypes because girls that play with these dolls are in the wooden leg of life where they are in the process of formation as a human being. The dolls profession or wardrobe will be what the child wants to grow up and be or know. Barbies as women are key to generalization and dolls should be what a kid wants it to be, not what a company wants women to be. In a way, Negrn-Muntaner suggests in Barbies Hair that cultural stereotypes affect not only how people around the world view Puerto Ricans but likewise how Puerto Ricans view themselves. A sort of indifference has been created with this doll. Puerto Rican folk know that the dolls historical background is c ompletely disfigured yet they still go out and buy the collectible Barbie.That is to say, Puerto Ricans have passed to not care about how other people view them. People around the world see Puerto Ricans like the doll peasants wearing bomba dresses with European lace, that meant the person is in a higher social class. Its a bad combination of what we are. By reading these materials it has been clear learned that it is very important that people know have a deep sense of they are and where they come from. Also, not to generalize a culture with a doll meant for a specific country. It is essential that we, as Puerto Ricans, become proud of our roots and get to know where we come from.We cannot limit our knowledge of what a Puerto Rican is and where he or she comes from to a doll. It is also necessary that girls own up to a Barbie, not the other way around. A Barbie is not a effigy of what a girl should grow up to be. We are not perfect or plastic and we are not meant to be it either. This is where society fails. Most people dont let their children know that they are perfect in their own way. It is most important that we let others know the wrongs that come from generalization and stereotypes. These, on with prejudice, paralyze and deactivate intelligence because people wont let it flow or let he or she get influenced by other cultures and learn. 1 . Mulatto is the race mix of Spanish and Tano. 2 . African-Puerto Rican dance that the lower class performed. 3 . Known as big perverted hair passed African folk.