Normal women are used to being made to feel inferior by fashion mags but now even the likes of First ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni are getting the makeover treatment from the Japanese edition of Bazaar. So how does one improve upon two women already known for being gorgeous with an impeccable sense of style? You make them into a blond doll. Literally.
In this bizarre piece (See what I did there? I’m awesome.), a big-eyed blond-haired couture-dressed doll takes the first ladies’ places in several iconic photographs. If this spread had come out in any of the western editions of this magazine, cries of racism would abound. Yet the Japanese did this. And they Stepford-ized Carla Bruni and Jacqueline Kennedy as well as Ms. Obama. While the replacement doll does look vaguely manga, she’s certainly not Asian. All of which leaves me with… no explanation. Welcome to the never-good-enough club, ladies!
If I were Michelle Obama, I’d be very very disturbed by this one. And not the least because that doll’s outfit is clearly upstaging President Obama. Has a first lady ever done puff-sleeved animal print at a press conference?
Even J.F.K. looks like he’s laughing at this chick. But maybe that’s just because if you put her on the same step as him, she’d tower over him in height.
That there is threatening to be plastic cleavage in an amount not seen since Debbie Did Washington. Will no one think of the children?! (Well, not her of course – she can’t even look at the children. Or maybe she just doesn’t bend that way.)
At last, I get it! You can’t see her reflection in the mirror! Ergo, Barbie’s a vampire succubus who accomplished a soulless domination of world politics! It’s all a subtle metaphor for the decline in international relations!! Or maybe it’s just lazy photoshopping.
You got a better theory?
As if we don't have enough media telling us we need to be tall, thin (but with curves still!), blonde, and at least somewhat good-looking.
Apparently it's gotten to the point in some countries that they've given up looking for real models, and just replaced them with dolls…I guess that's sorta better, since we realize we can't add "plastic" as one of the terms in the above list? We (as a society) realize that, right?? Maybe it would lead to more realistic body images?? I doubt it will help body image, but I think plastic will likely stay off the list…And I hope this doesn't become a trend in magazines, because it looks weird.
And if I was as in shape as some of those first ladies, I'd be so miffed that they felt the need to replace me with a doll.
Oh, and I wish my barbies had clothes as awesome as that when I was growing up…they had some cute stuff (since I was born in the mid/late 80s, so I was playing with barbies until the late 1990s), but the stuff in the pictures is WAY better, Mattel should looking into designer barbie wear, I'm sure there's a market somewhere!!
Hi Charlotte! As a Japanese resident, I can tell you they LOVE the doll gig here. It is fascinating/creepy all at once. The vast majority of women here are not curvy (read: very, very slender)but every street corner 7-11 is FILLED with elicit dollish magazines. There are also some women who dress as dolls here and let's not forget the popularity of anime and the like. To really knock your socks off we have doll cafes where men can pay for women dressed as dolls or maids or any other character to talk to them! YIKES
**sorry I meant "explicit dollish magazines
🙂
laughed out loud at the VAMPIRE SUCCUBUS line.
it's barbie time around here and I struggle with what to do.
My own mom is/was a big feminist in a fantastic way and let me have barbies—as a result I got one and deemed em boring and moved on.
Ive let my daughter have a few (princess barbies. shoot me now. who knew Id be so excited over the TINY MULTICULTURALNESSMENT of Moulan and Pocahontas) and am lovingly trying to steer her away from them already.
just too weird for words –
Too friggin weird for me! I don't get it even after reading the comment from the lady there. YIKES is right!
I'm guessing that maybe this is a "Forrest Gump" type of scenario in which we see that Barbie (or whoever the heck she is) had audience with important world leaders during historical events.
I've been dealing with excess water in my basement for the last few days. I thought I was just tired when I read this post. Or that I'd just had an aneurysm. But, no…that's just bizarre.
So no Barbie dolls presents when the little girlie girl is born? :o)
That's bizarre…
I'm all for the vampire succubus theory myself 🙂
I'm going to assume that the Japanese were going for irony here. As in "this is the standard of beauty. Look how silly it is when placed as the partner of people in power. Lets all laugh and realize that being tall, thin, blond, and large-eyed isn't the end-all of life."
Creepy.
That's just…icky!
I just don't even know WTF is going on there. Creepy, indeed.
As a kid I loved my barbies (mostly to make their own clothes and cut their hair and give them makeovers with crayon) but I also loved playing outside in the dirt. It's all about balance. 🙂
Blond envy.
Not a pretty sight.
Definitely high on the creep-o-meter!
Obviously, this was Japan Bazaar's revenge on Michelle Obama for refusing to appear in their issue. They retaliated by doing the same spread but with a creepy blond doll. It's the only logical explanation.
These are typically bizzare. I love Japan, been there twice so this kind of stuff is great. A good counterbalance to some of the same old same old, here in the US
Ladies,
Having lived there for a while, I can tell you that Japan is one of the most racist countries on the planet with a racial inferiority complex larger than the latest Nikkei average. And don't even get me started on Japanese body image.
This article is offensive, but when it comes to Japan, it's the mildest of sad commentaries on their racial and physical idealizations. You just kind of have to let this one go.
Like when an insane uncle, fresh out of the mental institution comes over for dinner; he might ask your husband if he's a woman and then throw mashed potatoes at the ogre in the ceiling. But if he doesn't drop trow and take a crap in the middle of the kitchen table, you'd consider it a win.
Japanese society is very racist and sexist. You'd think they'd hate Anglos for that bomb dropping but, no, blonde and white is beautiful there. And have you looked at Manga characters closely? They're almost all white. Asians do not have big saucer-round eyes. Many manga characters are blonde. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't replace President Obama with a Ken doll.