Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Last year, the "Barbie" movie sparked a hot-pink renaissance and gave people whose childhoods didn't include the fashion doll a glimpse into the Barbieverse and brought a wave of nostalgia for those who grew up with the doll.
Though the blockbuster introduced (or reintroduced) viewers to childhood favorites like pregnant Midge, "weird Barbie," Alan and Video Girl Barbie, one doll who didn't make an appearance was the first Black Barbie.
Instead, she got her own documentary that premiered Wednesday, Juneteenth, on Netflix.
"Black Barbie: A Documentary" tells the story of the first Black doll to carry the name Barbie — previously, Black dolls in the Barbie universe were friends of the blond Barbie with names like Christy, Julia and Francie. Mattel released Black Barbie in 1980 and, after that, continued to release Black dolls who shared the name Barbie with white Barbie dolls, though, retailers didn't always choose to sell them, according to the documentary.
"Black Barbie" features interviews with women who worked at Mattel and Black women who are leaders in their fields, speaking about how their lives were influenced by their dolls — the dolls they had and the dolls they didn't have.
Directed by Lagueria Davis, the film highlights Davis' aunt who worked for Mattel from its early days and worked behind the scenes to set the stage for Black Barbie to happen, as well as the Mattel designer who created her.
There were few Black dolls before the civil rights movement. Women in the documentary recalled playing with white dolls as children. The documentary shares how psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark performed the infamous "Doll Test" that showed how segregation impacted Black children, and how their reactions to dolls reflected it. The experiment played a role in the Supreme Court's historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
Seeing a woman who looked like themselves and their mothers in Barbie helped women like American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland and Shondaland producer Shonda Rimes, among others, choose to pursue their careers, they said. But the work isn't done making our dolls reflect the diversity in our world — children featured in the documentary still see blond Barbie as the "real" Barbie.
"Black Barbie" is eye-opening. It does get mildly political at times, but many people interested in dolls or pop culture history in general will find it educational, interesting and worth the watch. It does not have any inappropriate language or themes; however, it does explore themes of racism. But it takes a matter-of-fact approach to history rather than feeling like it's finger-pointing, and it celebrates the improvements and achievements that have been made in society since the first Black Barbie was introduced.
In that sense, it left me as a viewer feeling inspired rather than discouraged.
