Barbie in the Media

Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez is a professor of English (Youth Literatures & Cultures) at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, USA.  She has authored and co-edited numerous books and articles, including An American Icon in Puerto Rico: Barbie, Girlhood, and Colonialism at Play (2022); Islas Lectoras: Bibliografía infantil puertorriqueña (2023); and The Cultural Legacy of Disney: A Century of Magic (2024).  Rebecca C. Hains is a professor of Media & Communication at Salem State University, USA. She is an author and co-editor of numerous books and articles on children’s media culture, including Growing Up With Girl Power: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life (2012); The Princess Problem (2014); Cultural Studies of LEGO: More than Just Bricks (2019); and Supernatural Youth in Media (2025).

• 1. Transcending the Toy Aisle: Understanding Barbie as a Transmedia Phenomenon.- Animating Plastic Girlhood: The Aesthetics of Barbie in Life in the Dreamhouse and Vlogs.- 3. Disrupting the Canon: Animated Barbie and the Adapted Nineteenth Century Novel.- 4. Dolls’ Best Friends: Barbie in Communion with Animals in Direct-to-DVD Animated Films.- 5.   Building Barbie Media: A Model for Doll Based Media Franchises.- 6.   Demystification of a Living Doll: Semiotics in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.- 7.   An Unintentional and Playful Allegory: Barbie and the Rockers and the Gender Identity Crisis of Reagan’s America.- 8. Hey There, Barbie Girl!: The Subversion of Mattel’s Commodified Femininity in a 1990s Riot Grrrl.- 9.   Barbie’s Evolution from Aryan Ideal to Diversity Advocate: A Study of How Eurocentric Bias Remain Challenges in Branding and Transmedia Marketing.- 10. The Veiled Barbie, the Disfigured Barbie, the Miniskirt Barbie: Reflections on Negotiating Conservative Muslims’ Fatwas on Mattel’s Doll Fatima Alharthi.- 11. Images from the West: Barbie as a Cultural Ambassador in Early 1990s Romania.- 12. Frida Kahlo and Cultural Inclusivity: Comparing US and International Media Coverage of Mattel’s Inspiring Women Doll.- 13. Music and Photo-adventures, Romance, and Friendship in Barbie, tu revista [Barbie Magazine]: Transnational Cultural Consumption in the Emergence of Female Preteen Readers.- 14. Muse Magic Ken: How Barbie’s Boyfriend Inspires Queer Filmmaking.- 15. Barbie Takes Control: The Irony of Manipulation in Todd Haynes’ Superstar.- 16. Barbie the Girl-maker: Transgender Girls, their Mothers, and the Whole Barbie Thing.- 17. Barbie Girls in a Barbie World: Making a Transgressive Icon in Contemporary Art.