Popular Culture Review Vol. 22, No. 1, Winter 2011 | Page 26

22 Popular Culture Review the castle. A princess-you really want to be one. You’re really rich and stuff’ (qtd. in Talbot 83). For Barbie, who had always been defined by her attractiveness and consumptive lifestyle, the princess image is a good fit, and little girls, for good or ill, relate to it. Barbie Princess merchandise, including a “Learn to Be a Princess Set” with dance mat and DVD, costumes, a complete DVD movie collection with Barbie-as-princess narratives, and Island Princess and Mariposa dolls, confirmed once again Barbie’s ability to reinvent herself As Barbie edged toward her 50th birthday, her battle with Bratz continued to dominate the doll wars—and the court room. On one side stood Barbie: iconic, the only toy rated in the top 100 brands (Clark 77), pretty, feminine, and versatile, fusing her traditional plastic form with digital options. On the other side stood Bratz: limited to their tough street-girl identities, possessing fewer options for the type of reinvention necessary to keep them competitive. However, that was the least of MGA’s problems. The Chicago Tribune reported in an article titled “Mattel Makes Barbie Bow Ouf ’ that in August 2008, a “jury awarded Mattel up to $100 million in damages for breach of contract and copyright infringement,” and in December, “U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ordered MGA to stop manufacturing all 40 Bratz dolls and reimburse vendors and distributors for the costs of the dolls and for shipping them back” (Sachdev and Ataiyero). MGA appealed and continues to sell the dolls while the case is still in litigation. Spokespersons for Toys ’R Us said the store is buying Bratz only through the end of the year and selling off all remaining Bratz stock (Dessouki). Meanwhile, Tattoo Barbie, which debuted in January, is Jumping off the shelves, and at a Valentine’s Day show at New York’s Fashion week, models dressed in Barbie outfits got more press than the top designers (Gray 53). The Barbie anniversary dolls, marketed to adults, continue to sell well both in stores and online (Dessouki). Nevertheless, Barbie, who recently turned 50, continues to face competition. In a volatile toy market, American Girl dolls, also owned by Mattel, attract a more limited upscale audience committed to a more traditional, historical vision of femininity and willing to pay a higher price. Celebrity dolls, such as the currently popular Hannah Montana and High School Musical dolls, have snared enthusiastic supporters, and assorted baby dolls offer other options. Still, according to Toys ’R Us representative Kate Sims, “Nothing is going to dethrone Barbie.” What have we learned from the doll wars? Both Barbie and Bratz represent complicated texts for young girls, offering them promises for empowerment while at the sa me time reflecting regressive, sexualized images of what it means to be female. It is easy to reject them both. However, doll play, in its exploration of gender roles, has always been problematic and controversial. Nevertheless, as playthings for children, dolls cannot be counted out. Girls simply need more choices. What girls’ culture writer Peggy Orenstein says about Barbie could, in fact, be applied to all dolls: “If you put aside all the theories and the feminism and the hype and everything . . . deep in my bones I still think Barbie’s kind of