Black Canary Barbie: Offensive?
We may finally have the next Mary Jane’s exposed thong statue. Apparently some people are getting bent out of shape about the new Black Canary Barbie, which you can see at right.
The Sun, a paper in the UK, ran a story under the header "S&M Barbie is lashed by the public."
Makers Mattel say Black Canary Barbie, out in September, is based on a DC comic superhero of the same name.
But religious group Christian Voice said: “Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far.
A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it’s filth.”
Let’s just go ahead and put the brakes on the outrage train right there. This is one group of people who know nothing of the context of the character and are offering a kneejerk opinion.
Someone please send Christian Voice a copy of All Star Batman and Robin so they can see what actual filth is.
Now hang on. Why should they have to know anything about the context of the Black Canary character? There are lots more people who know who Barbie is than know anything about Black Canary.
I was fascinated a while ago to read that there were Harley and Ivy Barbies; talk about not knowing the context – imagine the outrage if religious right-wingers knew anything about the backstory behind Gotham's two most notorious lipstick lesbians…
Have these Christian Voice folks ever seen a Barbie? She's been dressing rather — how shall I put this — down-market for decades.
"Down-market"… I like that.Anyway, as the parent of a young girl who has just begun to wade into the marketing ocean that is Barbie, I can say that I'll almost certainly buy this for her. She will, of course, promptly discard the fishnets for a (slightly) more demure party dress. While not playing with the doll, it'll most likely be naked. So, which should the Christian Voice be more concerned over? Fishnets and tarted-up costume, or starkers? Or, I don't know, world hunger and faceless corporations stealing from the needy? Just a thought.
They probably should have gone with the classic/original costume. It's a better one anyways.
Just a plug for my next column, which will tackle this subject.
Looking forward to it!
Bratz dolls dress even trampier.