I went to Tara’s SMP about her dolls, and a couple things struck me especially. One the absolutely wonderful job she did in crafting her dolls and the interactive scenarios that went with them, and the other being the point she brought up about people’s drive to create an ideal persona of themselves or a made up persona in computer games and other outlets.
I started playing with Barbies when I was five. I loved her despite her unrealistic proportions, and would create stories that took her through her fabulous life. I transitioned to the computer game “The Sims” in middle school, and I adored creating beautiful perfect women and the different circumstances surrounding them. Enter Facebook; when I was in 10th grade I got my account, and like everyone with a Facebook account, I had the opportunity to represent myself in the most magnificent way ever—pick the most flattering profile picture, reveal my sense of humor and interests. The evolution of the ways to project personas is really phenomenal, and Tara’s presentation got me thinking about that.
Tara’s dolls challenged the cookie-cutter “fabulous woman” persona by introducing multiple dolls with unique shapes and personalities. I she brought in people from different walks of life, races, sexualities, and portrayed them in a warm and flattering way. I love that she also included nude versions of the dolls- realistic nudes that were perfect in their imperfection. Throughout her presentation, I wished that growing up all the Barbies in my life could have been replaced with Tara’s dolls. She did an absolutely fabulous job in not only executing her dolls and the online scenarios, but in getting me to question on a deeper level the meaning behind dolls, the purpose they hold, as well as how they are and should be represented.
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