ABSTRACT
Playing Barbies in the fifth grade consisted of lugging plastic cases laden with "outfits" to the playground and constructing scenarios around Barbie and "getting" Ken. Physiologically, Barbie had perky breasts, a tiny waist and long, slender legs. Much has been written in a feminist framework about the doll, discussing the unrealistic body shape and so on. Mattel had transformed toys, especially dolls, and Barbie became "us." Little girls were frenzied to own a Barbie, each one coming in her own long, thin box, wearing a black-and-white striped swimsuit. Discussing what Barbie doesn't have is easier than discussing what she does have. The list is much shorter. Barbie doesn't have a locomotive, a battleship, a rocket, or an Uzi. Barbie's other identities lie in ethnic and historical roots. Not satisfied with the existential Barbie, Mattel allowed Barbie to revisit—ergo, rewrite—the past through a series of historical dolls.
