What are your thoughts on Barbie? Chances are, you'll have a lot to say about her, whether you don't like her out-of-whack body proportions or you hate the fact that her feet can only ever wear high heels. Maybe, you feel a great affection for her because she was a big part of your young life. Or, you weren't allowed to play with her at all. Whatever it is, Barbie brings up a lot of emotions for people, especially for women. That's exactly what Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie hopes to explore.
The Hulu Original documentary, which will debut on April 27, takes on women and popular culture through the lens of the world's first "glamorous" barbie. As the trailer for Tiny Shoulders points out, Barbie was one of the first toys that wasn't about being a mother. Barbie was, for lack of a better word, fun — the 'thirty, flirty, and thriving' ideal that Jennifer Garner worshipped in 13 Going On 30. In 2018, the earlier Barbie models look like oppressive versions of femininity. Fifty-five years ago, when she was first introduced, she was revolutionary.
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"Barbie was everything we didn't want to be, and we're being told be," feminist author Gloria Steinem says in the trailer. The author Roxane Gay and writer Andi Zeisler, founder of Bitch media, also appear in the trailer. The question is, where does Barbie go from here?
Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie was directed by documentarian Andrea Nevins, who also directed The Other F Word, a documentary about fatherhood. She also directed the documentary Play It Forward for Showtime.
Watch the full trailer for Tiny Shoulders, below.