Barbie, the world’s most famous blonde, moved into her new temporary vacation home in Berlin last week. The Barbie Dreamhouse Experience opened on May 16, 2013, in Berlin’s central district of Mitte. For a stiff entrance fee of 22 euros visitors can view over 350 Barbie dolls. They may peruse the symbol of fashion and femininity’s walk-in closets, learn to be models, and to strut their stuff on the runway. They may also bake virtual cupcakes in the pink kitchen or do their own makeup to look like Barbie.
The giant Barbie Dreamhouse stretches over 27,000 square feet. Modeled after Mattel and EMS Entertainment’s Barbie mansion in Sunrise, Florida, the dollhouse is predominantly pink and contains endless closets.
Barbie moved into Berlin amid protests. Though the exhibition’s opening had been keenly awaited by some of the city’s little girls, the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience garnered massive criticism from German feminists, anti-capitalists, and members of the public. The controversial topless feminist protest group, Femen, burned a cross with a Barbie doll strapped to it. The doll’s naked torso bore the inscription, “Life in plastic is not fantastic.” A Another group protested, “Pink Stinks,” and the Linksjugend demonstrated against children being manipulated for financial gain.
Did you know that the American Barbie and German Bild Lilli are more than a little related? That’s right. Bild Lilli had her start as a sexy cartoon character in 1952 and was first marketed as a doll in in Germany in 1955. Aside from a few minor modifications and without obtaining copyright and patents to produce Bild Lilli, the American toy company, Mattel, began to manufacture almost identical dolls in 1959. They just named their dolls Barbie.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
