The End Times
Barbie: The Great Paradox
Barbie was designed to represent American aspiration. Maybe that was the beginning of our end.
By Ruby Thelot
Published
The End Times is a column cataloguing the omens of the Apocalypse as they occur in culture.
A barren rocky landscape at dawn. Two vast legs of plastic stand in the desert. Near them, a group of young girls playing with baby dolls approaches and stares in awe. They abandon their pretend babies, smashing them into pieces, and embrace the monolith: stylish, slender, a woman, an aspiration, the new Idol, Barbie.
Margot Robbie winks.
BARBIE – Out July 2023.