There is a lot of excitement over the release, later this year, of the sequel to Frozen, but in my house, greater anticipation is reserved for the Barbie live action movie, due out in 2020, with Margot Robbie in the title role. For the last few years Mattel, Barbie’s makers, have been fighting competition from more modern Disney heroines, and the movie – in which Barbie is, reportedly, expelled from Barbie world for not being perfect enough – is part of the brand’s attempt at a feminist rejigging.
I was never big into Barbie as a child. She and Ken seemed underpowered compared with my gang of hulking great Sindy dolls and their single beau, Action Man, with his weird felt hair and khaki jeep and switch at the back of his head that actually made his eyes swivel. Sindy has no presence in America, however, and among my daughters’ fourth birthday presents were palaeontologist Barbie and scientist Barbie. They are also committed to a seven-season Barbie animation on Netflix called Life in the Dreamhouse.
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