portrait of a Barbie doll

a real Barbie doll

Barbie Janzen is a 1st year pre-med student at Christie University. The science heavy course load is way over her head, although she won’t admit it, even to herself.

Barbie is on a full scholarship (her high school biology teacher was quite smitten). Although she dresses well, she is very careful with her limited finances, buying quality basics at thrift stores and accessorizing with the latest styles to take up the slack. On her own, she could never afford expensive Black Eyed Peas tickets, a good reason to accept a concert invitation. Her sporty compact car is leased for her by her car salesman father, and although shiny, it is an economy car.

Happy Family Baby Doctor Barbie Doll

1987 Doctor Barbie Doll Commercial

Partly because she is struggling and unsure of what to do about her academic deficiencies, Barbie has fallen in with a circle of friends who get together in the woods to smoke up. It’s a lovely way to not have to face the fact that you’re drowning in course work with little or no chance of any renewed scholarship.

The best thing about university for Barbie is friendship. Until now, girls have disliked her, treating her as a threat as far back as elementary school. Mouse and Tamara are her first real girlfriends, and Barbie truly values this. Mouse is a happy party girl Barbie admires for her self possession, and Tamara, especially in light of her faltering marriage, really seems to need her support, which has been very empowering for Barbie. Although she didn’t mind Quentin at first, Barbie is liking Tamara’s husband “Q” less and less as she’s become friendlier with Tamara.

Although some think Barbie slept her way to good marks it’s never been necessary; her beauty and joi de vivre makes men just want to do things for her. This is why she doesn’t understand Nick’s antipathy, so she just accepts it as an anomoly and cheerfully hates him in return.

Barbie has seen more than one contemporary getting pregnant or married and having to “settle.”  Having grown up in a single parent household with a tight budget, she has no intention of ending up like her over protective mother, bitter that life has passed her by.

So although Barbie lacks either the guidance or life experience to know how to get where she wants to be, she knows what she does not want. The increasing attraction to her friend Jose sets off all her internal alarms. Though Barbie emphatically doesn’t a boyfriend, she does have a “no strings” male friend she meets occasionally for sexual release.

Barbie is a classically gorgeous blue eyed blonde, and she knows it. She has always benefited from her beauty, and become accustomed, not just to receiving help, but to having her work done for her. This is a large part of why she is entirely lacking in organization or study skills. She finds science genuinely interesting, and actually wants to be a doctor because the idea of helping people is terribly appealing.

And of course, she had her mother’s “Dr. Barbie” doll to play with as a child.

Barbie needs to escape her controlling mother, knowing her absent father will be no help and she needs to make her own way. The problem is that she’s really had no preparation or role models to teach her how to go about it.

Barbie is a “Peabody” (Black Eyed Peas fan) because songs like “Imma Be” and “Now Generation” define her.

Barbie’s Links

Black Eyed Peas website
Black Eyed Peas forum
Black Eyed Peas Facebook Page
Toronto Street Fashion
Fashion Television
The Fashionist”
Demi-Couture
Glamour
Glamour Style Tribe
Silver Spoon
Johnny Depp Web
Aldis Hodge

Following on Twitter

@Jesse_Spencer
@bep
@iamwill
@apl_de
@FergieBR
@Taboofansite
@Dalai Lama
The Peabodies
Aldis Hodge



Image Credits
Doctor Barbie commercial shared by Barbie Collectors on YouTube

Black Eyed Peas Now generation live at TMF Awards was shared on YouTube by Caos385

Barbie portrait by Valerie Everett under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) License

Barbie Happy Family Baby Doctor Barbie Doll from an Amazon advertisement by Barbie

Barbie by Juan Pablo Colasso under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) License