The other, which I doubt you ever heard of, is an AI-generated photo of an 83-year-old Barbie, reproduced by a company that makes personal alarms for the elderly and distributes a blog about aging issues.
Pensioner Barbie. That’s what they call her.
In fact, their discussion does the opposite.
Barbie the movie, on the other hand, is an excellent way to learn about aging. It makes you think. The AI-created Pensioner Barbie simply makes you cringe.
When it comes to learning about what it means to grow old, beware of the experts.
The article circulating on the internet sees aging only in terms of sickness and loneliness — deficit-speak. It succumbs to Specialist Temptation, focusing on their self-proclaimed expertise and ignoring everything else. You’re a malady specialist? Look for maladies.
And boy do they ever.
“We all get older, and it’s nothing to fear,” the article says.
And then it goes on to describe Pensioner Barbie’s life only in terms of exactly what we fear.
Here is the article’s description — better yet its diagnosis.
“After a lifetime of wearing high heels, Pensioner Barbie now suffers from chronic foot pain and poor posture as well. At her age, Barbie has a one in two chance of having at least one fall each year.”
She has “deteriorating eyesight and development of cataracts has also impaired her vision, meaning she can no longer drive her iconic hot pink car.”
And the worst of all: “With an empty chair in the background, it’s also assumed that lifelong heart-throb Ken has also passed away, and Barbie is likely struggling with loneliness.”
Adding to that doom scenario is Pensioner Barbie’s gaunt appearance, as if she’s tried to keep the “cute figure” she had in high school except that after a lifelong effort she’s lost her curves.
Good lord. This is not Pensioner Barbie’s life. That’s her medical record. She has no life here outside her tchotchke-filled room. (...)
That’s not normalizing aging. It’s oversimplifying aging, stigmatizing it and scaring the stuffing out of someone who wants to understand the life of her uncle in Florida. Or for that matter, a middle-aged woman who has learned to live with cellulite but now discovers she can’t really wear high heels anymore.
Pensioner Barbie is a conversation stopper. On the other hand, in terms of aging, Barbie the movie is a conversation starter.
Considering what you probably know about the awesome Barbie phenomenon that’s often referred to as “The Barbie Industrial Complex”, this probably surprises you. You know, Barbie and Ken, umpteen kinds of Barbie dolls, Mattel’s multi-billion-dollar Barbie sales, first-order feminism, second-order feminism.
Who knew?
Well, Greta Gerwig, the film’s co-writer and director, sure knew. Aging sets the movie’s tone.
by Neal Milner, Honolulu Civil Beat | Read more:
Image: Midjourney via:[ed. Caution: Barbie movie spoilers. Ageism is a real problem, and the least of many "isms" to get any real attention or revision (feminism, racism, sexism, capitalism, socialism, etc.). Many cultures honor and celebrate elders - their wisdom, life experiences, traditions and contributions to family cohesion. Western culture does not, America in particular.]
