Comments on: Flashdance Jennifer Beals to be Barbiefied… in white

By: Setsu

Setsu — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:57:13 +0000

The preview pictures of Flashdance Barbie make the doll look much lighter than she is in person. Now that the doll has been released, she is seen to have a darker, more tan/olive skin tone, and darker hair as well.

Photo:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/4950037904_80e0e8b768.jpg

By: HalleBerry

HalleBerry — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:41:01 +0000

Some of the Integrity dolls DO look like Grace Jones maybe that was on purpose I don’t know. A better place to find ‘celebrity’ dolls of color is Dragon action figures. They make dolls that look so much like the real thing it’s uncanny I have the Taye Diggs one. I want to get the Wesley Snipes one next they are doing the 80′s and there are no ‘Cosby show’ dolls BAH!! You suck Mattel. The Kenner Sam Jackson aka Mace Windu is very accurate bald head and all.

By: D7ana

D7ana — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:03:57 +0000

Therese, I think I just recovered from shock of the thought of Mattel doing a Grace Jones doll, LOL. I doubt it would happen. “Real” people can become edgy after Mattel has made their dolls but NOT before – thinking Lindsay Lohan, Rosie O’ Donnell, and Giovanni of Rebelde. Ha, ha!

By: Therese

Therese — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 09:16:38 +0000

Maybe it was a licensing issue? I would prefer Grace Jones to be done by Integrity Toys or some other company, she was so edgey and adventurous… and Mattel are too safe…

By: Dani

Dani — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:08:42 +0000

I absolutely agree! As a light skinned woman of color with curly hair, Jennifer Beals was a role model. I was 8 when Flashdance came out and I knew she wasn’t white (not totally anyway). But sadly, it all comes down to money. You don’t see Grace Jones as one of their Ladies of the 80′s….

By: Spotty Jane

Spotty Jane — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:30:23 +0000

Mattel seems determined to only market to white Baby Boomers. I’m getting burned out on Barbie, because they’re all starting to blend together. Everyone doesn’t look like a Mackie.

By: D7ana

D7ana — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:26:53 +0000

I agree, Therese, with both the color issue – the doll should have been less pinkish and the head mold issue. Ms. Beals has a long, thin face – the Mackie head is shorter and more rounded.

Complexion subtles can be difficult in plastic/vinyl, but the doll could have been closer to the original if either of the two dolls you use in comparison were to have been used.

Eh. And it is the aesthetics that matter … getting the closest resemblance possible.

By: Therese

Therese — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:04:42 +0000

I’ve added a pic of a doll with a possible “in between” skin shade… Jennifer Beals definitely is NOT pale… maybe not “dark” but not ivory either! Mattel has at least 2 beige skintones in between “almost white” to tanned beige… I hope the production doll will be darker than the prototype photo at least.

By: Therese

Therese — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:47:56 +0000

well, I actually thought Jennifer Beals looked Spanish or darker French… South-West European or something… but I’m not surprised to hear that she’s multi-ethnic either… in other words, she looks like a human bah! I do very much hate using the word “race” as it is total junk scientifically but it is very real in terms of social interactions.

… and I hear ya about the make up… I generally wear the 2nd or 3rd lightest shade in a line – and mix the equivalent “warm” colour and “cool” colour because I have a “neutral” AND “yellow” undertone… yes, yellow can be neutral (lucky me, at least most make up companies make beige – I do realise that is much harder to get the very dark matching skin tones in regular make up lines) – as a designer, you can give me a thousand colours and I’d still not be able to find the “right” one I’m looking for LOL

As for politics, I’ve taught myself to be more aware – it is neither from the environment I live in nor part of the profession I have now chosen – I just believe it is important to understand the dynamics of privilege and oppression and the roles they play in this world.

By: monique

monique — Sat, 29 May 2010 05:23:15 +0000

In my earlier commentI forgot to tell you how fun it is to read your blog ,I bought a Janay on ebay after reading your post about her.
I should mention that perhaps our difference in perceptions stems from the fact that I have seen Jennifer Beals in person ,her shade would be pretty much mid-way between the bride you have at the top and the Mackie tanned doll you have , so that’s why I don’t feel that Mattel is too far off the mark this time .I suppose they could just blend the two colors ,butI’ve noticed that whenever mainstream companies try to be too accurate they botch things up.
For example,they just aren’t able to recreate the ivory undertone under the golden beige that you see in a lot Chinese skins or the copper undertone in the neutral beige that many Native Americans have so when they try to make a “real“ethnic doll it ends up with this murky color that just looks dead .Which I guess is still an improvement on the unbelievable tan of those Barbies from the seventies and eighties that actually contains both red and orange in a taupe base!
It’s the same thing with cosmetics companies,I’ve been blending two shades of foundation ever since I’ve started wearing make-up because the colors they offer are always off somehow.
Since color matching isn’t rocket science I’ve come to think that they don’t get it right because it can’t be done on their usual industial scale,(for example,the relatively rarer Silkstones have more lifelike colours than ordinary Barbies of the same year) so I’d rather see a Flashdance doll that is a smidgen too light than one with a totally botched color.
I guess its being in Canada makes me more concerned about esthetics than politics.lol