8 - Tuesday, January 9, 2006
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
What happened
to my Barbie?
Too easy.
Stand and delivered
SWANK AVOIDS PITFALLS FOR UNEXPECTED TRIUMPH
By IMRAN SYED
Daily Arts Writer
For an actress like Hilary Swank, having a
movie open in January - the first weekend, no
less - can't be a good thing.
Withaudiencesfocusingon **'*
expanding Oscar contend- F
ers from the previous year Freedom
("Munich" and "Brokeback Writers
Mountain" last year, "Chil- At Showcase
dren of Men" and Let- and Quality16
ters From Iwo Jima" this Paramount
year), the first weekend of
the new year is generally when the studios can
dump their garbage new releases with the least
attention. That's probably why, in the past five
years, the number of Academy Award winners to
star in a film released in the first two weekends
of January is exactly zero.
Considering this, "Freedom Writers" is a
pleasant surprise. Based on a true story, the film
stars Swank ("Million Dollar Baby") as Erin
Gruwell, a young teacher who begins work at
an underperforming high school in Long Beach.
Suffering the birth pains of court-mandated
integrationand the aftereffects of the L.A. riots
of the early '90s, Woodrow Wilson High School
is a war zone. Gangs of several ethnic groups
(whites, blacks, Latinos and Cambodians) wage
war against each other, and the school is simply
another arena for their hatred.
As Erin works to neutralize the student vio-
lence, her efforts are stonewalled by the school
administrators - led by a poisonous Imelda
Staunton ("Vera Drake") - who believe it's their
job to teach onlythe gifted kids and simplybaby-
sit everyone else.
But like every assiduous ideologist before her,
Erin only becomes more convinced of what has to
be done as more and more people tell her to take
the easy way out. Sacrificing her free time, mar-
riage and potentially even her job, she puts a per-
sonal stake on resolving her students' problems.
Like nearly every against-the-odds under-
dog story in recent years, "Freedom Writers"
is platitude-heavy and dragged down by the
need to resolve the massive problems it pres-
ents. Though the gang members in Erin's class
read "Anne Frank" and find that it's "dope," for
example, we're still left with the sense that not
all will turn out well for the students.
Even with its gift-wrapped resolution, how-
ever, "Freedom Writers" doesn't denythe harsh-
ness of real life, and that makes it somewhat
unique. The film's final saving grace is the mere
fact that its storyline is a true one - the cease-
less efforts of one teacher actually did save these
particular kids from lives of crime and poverty.
Several even went on to college.
In attempting to maintain a sense of reality
in a movie that should have a more convention-
al happy ending, "Freedom Writers" is easily
darker than its genre's counterparts. And that's
where Swank's naively exuberant take on her
role becomes important. She doesn't fall into the
trap of matching her portrayal to the grim mood
of the film and appropriately serves as the coun-
terforce to all the negativity that other char-
acters bring to the table. Her acting is simple,
perhaps not much different from her real-life
personality, but it exacts the same prescience
of human tendencies that made her best perfor-
mances legendary.
After a season of film that disappointed great-
ly (see: "The Black Dahlia," "The Good German,"
among others), we have in "Freedom Writers"
another film that defies expectation, though this
time pleasantly so. This is but further proof that
what studios think is the best, even at winning
awards, is usually way off the mark. How fitting
that a film about overcoming low expectations
brings some quality to a time defined by cin-
ematic garbage.
i'mnot ashamed to admit that
I for the better part of my child-
hood, I was a Barbie person.
While some kids had a corner for
their molded-to-perfection dream
house or a chest overflowing with
fluorescent pink miniskirts, I had
an entire room dedicated to the
world of Barbie. I lost
hours, days even, invent-
ing and reinventingthe
lives of my dolls, and I
can safely say that I'm
not alone.
Grossing $1.9 billion
annually, the consumer's
dollar has voted. Barbie
has yet to be replaced, CARO
but it hasn't been for lack HAR
of trying. For decades,
feminist groups have charged the
doll with crimes of fostering unfair
expectations for young girls in a
male-centric world.
Sure, Barbie's taken on the roles
of cheerleader and flight attendant
more than once, but she's also held
five different positions in the U.S.
military, performed surgery and
even ran for president in 1992. If
the modern feminist movement
champions had a choice, Barbie
should be its queen. According
to Lenore Wright, a writer and
philosopher atBaylor University,
Barbie can be seen as "the symbol
of female emancipation because she
works and does not have to depend
on men for her wealth and posses-
sions," but this empowering per-
spective is rarely the common one.
No toy is perfect, butBarbie
is one of the few that has vigor-
ously maintained its popular appeal
- and for more than her diverse
career paths. Any one of the thou-
sands of bubbly faces at a Barbie
collectors' convention can tell you
that the power of Barbie is anything
but tame.
After naming a Barbie after
herself as a kid, Wright came to an
enlightening realization: "I could
become one of them, and they could
be extensions of me. I began think-
ingin rudimentary ways about self-
identity."
Barbie serves as a measure of
comparison, and whether it's a real-
istic one or not is irrelevant in the
minds of children trying to make
sense of their lives. What other
toy instantaneously summons up a
comprehensive society upon open-
ing the box? Simply put, Barbie is
an exception to the rule.
Unfortunately, not everyone
agrees. The Barbie Liberation
Organization - yes, it's an actual
group - has been a long-time
opponent of Mattel's shining star.
In 1989, the group went so far as to
replace the voice boxes in 300 talk-
ing Barbie dolls to supplant cheery
shoppingslogans with their femi-
nist agenda, including the phrase
"Dead men tell no lies." Maybe I'm
beingtoo sensitive, but that seems a
bit extreme.
Activist groups aside, my big-
gest Barbie pet peeve comes from
the creator itself. The innumerable
attempts at calculating Barbie's
exact measurements have generated
little agreement among profession-
als, but her size sparks frequent and
fervent debate nonetheless. Some
claim that her delicate feet would
never support the weight of her
body, and others put her measure-
ments at an unnatural 38-18-34.
Regardless, nothing aboutBarbie's
appearance inherently dictates
her personality or her lifestyle.
The same could be said of Wonder
Woman or Scully from TV's "The
X-Files," but Barbie typically
receives all the blame.
So in 1997, Mattel
4 ? decided it was time for
a change and proposed
to give Barbie a "fresh"
makeover in order to cre-
ate a more realistic image.
Barbie's revamped style
LINE -including an expanded
waistline and reduced
'MANN cup size - dropped her a
few notches down my list of nostal-
gic favorites. (I won't even mention
the quandary of one billion fashions
that no longer fit Barbie's drasti-
cally modified frame.)
Let's be clear about something:
Barbie isn't supposed to be real.
She's a doll, and the people playing
with her are more than aware of
that fact. Not only am I disappoint-
ed in the company for bending to
the will of the "progressively mind-
Who ever said
Barbie is supposed
to be real?
ed," but who are they to determine
what the normal body standards
should be for young girls? Within
the doll's-alterations is an implied
responsibility to depict the ideal
woman, a role that Mattel should
never have been forced to take on.
Not to saythatBarbie is an
innocent victim of feminist harass-
ment. It's undeniable that the
Malibu-Barbie image is less than
role-model material: sexually
inviting beachwear, a glossy smile
permanently painted on her face
and a carefully bent elbow awaiting
the arm of her surf-dude sweet-
heart, Ken - Barbie does have her
moments of pronounced superfi-
ciality. And though recent years
have given rise to a racially diverse
Barbie gang, the collection isn't
exactly an accurate depiction of the
American melting pot. But accept-
ing valid criticism is far different
than representing the downfall of
the nation's youth, of which Barbie
deserves to be exonerated.
The anti-Barbie battle is general-
ly one of unfounded adult fears and
the desperate need to pinpoint an
object of blame. For many, Barbie
has become the elusive answer to
questions of body image insecurity
and the housewife mentality, but
a children's toy can hardlybe ren-
dered accountable. The likelihood
of Barbie turning the next genera-
tion of youngsters into credit-card
dependent chicks is about as prob-
able as the Teletubbies turning
them gay.
She's atoy-store goddess. Get
over it already.
- Hartmann can be reached
at carolinh@umich.edu.
0
IJUDGE & DON HERZTFELDT
PRESENT
The Anim ion Show Boxset: Volumes 1 & 2
-ON DYD JAN. 16-
Personally programmed by Mike Judge
(Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill,
Office Space) and Academy Award'
nominee Don Hertzfeldt, the first two
years of The Animation Show brought
together award-winning animators from
all over the world on the big screen.
DVD Boxset includes additional films
not included on the tour. Each volume
is also available separately at
AnimationShow.com.
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