COP2 Practical brief : Further research.

COP2. 
PRACTICAL BRIEF. 
FURTHER RESEARCH.


THE HUMAN BARBIE. 

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The human Barbie is a woman who has gone / is going through an extreme lifestyle change to look like the real life Barbie. Valeria Lukyanova, insists that she has only have breast surgery and that the rest of her body is completely natural with the help of make up to get this close to life Barbie look. 

'Barbie is ideal woman' adding that she had been fascinated with the Mattel character since she was five'.

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There is also a real life Ken, Justin Jedhica whom if from New York, he also comments that 'children play with Barbie and Ken all the time and so, its fed to us from a very young age that, that is the epitomy of what is beautiful, or what Is handsome.' 

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This evidences that it is not only those in the west and the country where Barbie originated that people want to try and live a Barbie inspired life, but this oncoming of strong American culture is finding its way across into eastern culture, being that Valeria originates from Ukraine, not far from middle eastern countries such as Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. 

BARBIE OBSESSED WOMAN.

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A californian woman who has already tried to master the aesthetic of a Barbie doll has now turned to doing hynotherapy classes in hopes they will lower her IQ and she can become dumb just like Barbie. 

"I just want to be the ultimate Barbie. I actually want to be brainless," Blondie Bennett, 38, told Barcroft TV. "I don't like being human, if that makes sense... Natural is boring... I would love to be like, completely plastic."

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"I've had 20 sessions and I'm already starting to feel ditzy and confused all the time," Bennett told the Daily Mail.

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This proves that such a powerful brand is changing culture. Although this is happening in California, It does not matter of the location, this doll is sold in over 150 countries, and therefore It could happen in any one of those, and probably is happening, but is not so easily covered by the news. Prooving that Americanisation is happening, it is not unheard of to hear children saying that they want to be just like their Barbie's. 

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For Barbie lovers their is a place in Berlin where you are able to go and experience Barbies dream house. Visitors are invited inside the life size house, which looks exactly like the Barbie dream house in the television series. Customers are able to go into Barbies kitchen, bedroom, closet and try on clothes, and are transported from room to room by Barbies elevator. 

At the end of the experience visitors can look at the gallery of all Barbies past and present, and even buy a new one as a token to remember their day at the Dream house.

Places such as these and the cafe in Taiwan are proof that Barbie is being injected, on a larger scale than through purchasing a doll, into all sorts of cultures, driving forward the American way of life, and producing a new stream of followers whom visit this place and wish that they too could live a life like Barbie's. 

I also looked at the Barbie television series, Life in the dream house. From the first episode I watched it was clear standardisation and efficiency was a theme. In the episode they are planning Barbie's youngest sister Chelsea's birthday. Almost everything done in the clip is by a push of a button including breakfast, decorating, and baking a cake. More so, the characters in the clip complain about how hard their jobs are, 'Baking can be such hard work'. In reference to decorating (pushing a button) 'Why do I have to have the hardest job'. This teaches children no patience, and that the only way to be happy is if something is done as fast as possible. 
'Barbie you log in each gift, who its from, and Chelsea's emotional response' is what another of Barbie's sisters says to her in reference to Chelsea opening her gifts. Proving that there is a lack of emotion, and that any emotion, which we assume may be little as it has to be 'logged' doesn't seem genuine, it makes the process of opening gifts somewhat like a routine. After opening gifts Chelsea exclaims, 'This has been the bestest day, the yummy cake, the decorations, The military precision scheduling', which this is exactly what this episode promotes, an efficient life, teaching viewers that you can only be happy if tasks are completed at this rate of speed, that a happy life is a 100% time efficient life, that time spent working hard on preparing things is actually a waste of time.