Barbie, the doll that has long symbolized an impractical and unattainable standard of beauty for young girls, was invented by one of America's foremost businesswomen of her day. This came as a surprise for the director of a new Hulu documentary, "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie," that was to have its debut at the TriBeCa film festival this week. The documentary, directed by Andrea Nevins, goes behind the scenes of Mattel as Barbie undergoes a major transformation to better reflect diverse characteristics and more reasonable notions of beauty. "Multiculturalism as well as many different shapes, I think is part of the next step that we as women are allowed, in part because we have more power than we've ever had before and I think we can start to control the narrative and start to control female gaze as well as male gaze," said Nevins in an interview Tuesday with Cheddar. She said that executives at Mattel, the toy company that's manufactured Barbie since 1959, decided now was the time to make a change because public awareness ー and backlash ー had gone mainstream. "I think there was a lot of noise in culture and I think that they have had an antenna up since 1959 about what the noise in culture is and they heard loud and clear that women were no longer accepting that one form," she said. For full article, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/in-a-barbie-world).

Share:
More In Culture
How to Deal With a Friendship Breakup
Friend breakups aren’t new, but people are starting to talk about them more.  Experts say they can be even more painful than romantic breakups, and now there are more resources to help those affected. Cheddar News reporter Ashley Mastronardi reports on efforts to shed more light on this all-too-common issue.
Samsung TV Plus Releases New Channel With Conan O'Brien
Aileen Del Cid, head of marketing at Samsung TV Plus, sat down with Cheddar News reporter Michelle Castillo to discuss the platform's plans to stand out from the streaming competition with a new channel featuring Conan O'Brien.
On a Positive Note: Therapy Dog In Training Named After Fallen Firefighter
A new, furry, and four-legged member has just joined the Suffolk County Police Department on Long Island. Meet "Luna." Luna is a therapy dog in training with the department and was named in honor of Fallen FDNY Firefighter William "Billy" Moon who lost his life last year. "Luna" means "moon" in Latin. We caught up with that hero's family to chat about what Luna means to them.
Load More