“I hate dolls,” writer-director Lagueria Davis says early in her debut documentary, “Black Barbie,” and I agree. There’s something downright creepy about her aunt’s spare bedroom, which is packed with dolls. But what begins as a statement of her true feelings quickly morphs into a celebration of the history of the Black doll Mattel released in 1979—20 years after the first (white) Barbie doll was launched and walked toward becoming the most iconic doll in America. An uncomfortable influence, since it clearly says to the world that “white is right” with no room for Black and Brown.
Davis presents an argument about the road the Barbie had to travel before diversity and inclusion was even a sliver of a possibility. Despite the facts of the matter being laid out, executives’ prejudices and many of the other “isms” threw up roadblocks and detours, leading to many dead ends. Pivot and determination were applied to the sticky situation.
Davis keeps “Black Barbie” (exec-produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers for Shondaland) moving along with her first-person POV, giving us a sneak peek into her aunt’s (the doll collector’s) journey, which started in 1953. Her name: Beulah Mae Mitchell. Her journey: from Forth Worth, Texas, to Los Angeles, where she landed a job at Mattel from 1955 to 1999.
The documentary skillfully uses archival photos of Mitchell working as a “spinner” (a person who tested the crank on a Jack in the Box), along with other materials, such as newspaper clippings, photographs, and newsreels that depict just how Black life was in the United States.
Walking down memory lane is one of the best parts of “Black Barbie” and it’s a long lane—Mitchell was among the employees who started advocating for a Black Barbie in the early 1960s.
Two decades of advocacy, and finally designer Kitty Black Perkins arrived at Mattel. In crafting the first Black doll, she kept the image of icon Diana Ross firmly in mind and dressed the first Black Barbie in a red gown, with a sliver of back and a little leg showing.
Visionary Perkins was responsible for hiring another Mattel artist, doll designer Stacey McBride-Irby, stressing that change must originate in the workplace.
Davis and cinematographer Sara Garth make the Barbie dolls look alive and glamorous. Esin Aydingoz’s score works well here.
Most people who study race in America know about the 1940s experiment conducted by Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, where Black children and dolls showed the internal damage caused by segregation and racism. It’s heartbreaking, but a necessary reminder, so here it is again. The doctor asked Black children: “Show me the white doll. Show me the colored doll…Show me the doll you want to play with. Show me the nice doll. Show me the doll that’s a bad doll.” The majority of African American children associated the Black doll as less than—and themselves as less than.
The final section of this well-constructed doc offers some insight from thinkers like developmental psychologist and professor Dr. Amirah Saafir and family therapist Yeshiva Davis, who have conducted studies on dolls with a new and more diverse collection of BIPOC children. The results? You have to watch “Black Barbie” to find out.
“Black Barbie” screens globally on Netflix on June 19.