Horror Barbie: The Unsanctioned ‘Barbie’

According to The Chicago Tribune, ‘No other doll in American history is more famous than Barbie . . . She is what every girl wanted to have as a child’.36 As the 2024 film Barbie argues, she is what every girl wanted to be when they grew up, inspiring generations to find their passion and follow it.37 Mattel has created over 250 different Barbies since the first was launched in 1959, and each Barbie embodies its own specific personality and characteristics. For example, there is ‘Ballerina’ Barbie, ‘Christmas’ Barbie, ‘Astronaut’ Barbie, ‘Presidential Candidate’ Barbie, and so on. As Barbie (2023) intimates, all the Barbies are upbeat and ‘positive’ role models (President, doctor, writer, etc.) – except of course, the shunned ‘Weird’ Barbie (although she, too is nice and wants the best for Barbie Land). If Barbie dolls are what children (and adults) are identifying with, what happens when a child is gifted a ‘different’ Barbie doll to the one they connect with, or if one is simply not available? Since 1959, there have only been five ‘horror’ Barbie dolls made by Mattel, and all these Barbies still conform to traditional Barbie stereotypes (happy, pleasant, romanticised and the like). This chapter explores the role that Barbie plays in providing people with dolls they can identify with – and importantly, what happens when people cannot find a Barbie they identify with enter the unsanctioned Horror Barbie universe.