from the Major Arcana of The Barbie Tarot

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It's Barbie's 50th Birthday. She dates back to a naughty German doll, Bild Lilli, marketed by the Hamburg tabloid Bild-Zeitung, which Barbie's designer, Ruth Handler, saw for sale in Switzerland; Handler was convinced she could be morphed into a popular doll for little girls.

American dolls had all previously been infant dolls, but Mattel saw a market for a doll with which girls could imagine themselves as a glamorous, stunningly-dressed young woman.

Vleeptron has previously posted (here and here) about the strange consequences of Barbie's replacing the traditional popular Brazilian doll Susi (who had shape, color, curves, mass, volume).

In the toy trade, the doll or action figure is called "the razor," and the clothes and the accessories and little machine guns are called "the blades." As you can see in these stunning Tarot Cards (these are all from the Major Arcana), you can buy lots of blades for your Barbie.

Barbie's career has not always been a smooth and happy one. Talking Barbie had to be recalled and re-voiced for saying "Math is hard!"

(Well, it is hard. Rilke or Plato or somebody said that all valuable things are hard.)

Oddly enough, even when the math teacher is female, girls do more poorly in U.S. math classes than boys; up to and into undergrad college, the curriculum and culture have traditionally chased girls away from and turn them off to mathematics, leaving all the high-paying math-intensive jobs for males.

In 2005, the president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, suggested (in public) that (in Wikipedia's words) "intrinsic differences in the abilities of men and women were a factor in why there were more male than female scientists and engineers." ("Neuroscience is hard, too!") Harvard's trustees replaced him with the historian Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust.

In 2004, Barbie and Ken broke up, and Barbie hooked up with the 20-ish Australian surfer dude Blaine (sold separately). "Business Week" editor Patricia O'Connell suggested the shocking breakup was a marketing ploy to reflect Demi Moore's hookup with Ashton Kutcher, whoever he is.

Okay, now to the Barbie Tarot, created by Michelle Erica Green, who explains this remarkable project:

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... here are a few notes on the construction of the deck. I used Rider-Waite imagery and parallels for the most part, largely because the images and most apparent meanings are well-known and comfortable for many Tarot readers including myself, and also because in most historic decks the numbered cards of the Minor Arcana are decorated with pips rather than illustrations. Here are the original Rider-Waite Tarot cards, so named because they were illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith at the direction of Arthur Edward Waite for Rider Inc.

The majority of dolls in my Barbie deck are from the modern era of Mattel, even though Barbie dolls have been around for nearly 50 years. This is partly because it is so much easier to get interesting and clear photos of the more contemporary dolls, but also because Mattel has provided far greater variety not only in costuming but in the ethnicities and facial detail of the more recent Barbies. And -- purely as a matter of taste -- I prefer the more subtly made up, smiling Barbies of the modern era to the pursed lips and stylized makeup of the earlier Barbies, though it's a shame that such lovely features as rooted eyelashes are now quite rare.

Because there are so many more Barbies than Kens and because there have been several Barbie series devoted entirely to princess dolls, I decided for the Minor Arcana court cards to use princesses and princes rather than pages and knights. In addition, all of the king cards portray a couple rather than a man alone, because in the world of Barbie, what is a king without his Barbie, anyway? As a result of these changes, the parallels with imagery on the Rider-Waite deck are not as direct, though I have attempted to maintain the meanings.

I suppose that, as a feminist, I should justify my interest in Barbie in the first place, since her face and figure have never been remotely realistic or attainable for women and the doll has been criticized as setting poor standards for girls. I think that what gives girls a negative self-image are the barrage of media images of real live women who starve themselves and reconstruct their faces in the name of fashion; I don't think little girls have any more trouble discerning that Barbie does not represent a real woman any more than a plastic blinking baby doll could ever be mistaken for a real baby.

Moreover, despite a regrettable lack of diversity in the Barbie play line until recently and some really stupid marketing choices ("Math is hard"), Barbie has achieved every school and career goal she has ever set for herself. She has attended dozens of universities, played on both college and professional sports teams, become a doctor, lawyer, teacher, astronaut, paleontologist, ambassador, photographer, movie star, Army captain, artist, dentist, dog trainer, musician, firefighter, Shakespearean heroine and President of the United States, all while helping to raise her younger sisters, carrying on lifelong friendships and maintaining a romantic relationship of many years' duration. G.I. Joe's achievements don't come close.

All images of Barbie dolls, the background imagery from the boxes and the names Barbie, Ken, Teresa, Stacie, Christy, etc. are copyright and trademark Mattel Inc. All Rider-Waite card images are copyright US Games Systems Inc. The card designs, text and interpretations are mine. No infringement is intended and no profits are being made; this is a labor of love. Feel free to save these for your own personal enjoyment, but please don't repost them or hotlink directly to the images.