When Survival Means Performing: The Doll and The Performer

By Ada Chen

    Black Barbie, a Netflix documentary directed by Lagueria Davis, tells the story of Mattel’s first Black Barbie doll. From the title, it’s about a doll. However, interpreting the deeper meaning, it’s about how people, especially Black people, have to perform to fit into society and the world around them. The Portrait of Jason, directed by Shirley Clarke, reflects how identity is shaped, performed, and misrepresented due to society’s expectations.

 

    At first, the two documentaries seem very different, whether in the aspect of story or format. When looking at the surface, Black Barbie is about doll toys, while the Portrait of Jason is just a man being interviewed in front of a camera. Comparing different aspects, people might find it hard to see what these two pieces have in common. By digging deeper, I realized how powerful the documentaries are, that they both show how people shape their identities in a world that doesn’t accept them. 

 

    The Black Barbie made me connect to the Portrait of Jason. In this documentary, we meet Jason Holliday, a Black, gay man who faced discrimination. During the twelve-hour marathon shooting, Jason jokes, laughs, cries, and lies, which he uses as a body armor. As Jason consumes more alcohol, we soon see his pain. He is performing for the camera and us, showing the version of himself he wants people and the society to see. 

 

    In Black Barbie, it introduces Beulah Mae Mitchell, who worked at Mattel and asked a simple question, “Why don’t we have a Barbie that looks like me?” This simple question called attention to race, beauty, representation, and the deep feeling of wanting to be seen. Beulah’s action is a powerful way to demand visibility in society which has excluded Black people for so long. Black women and Mattel employees are being interviewed in the documentary about what it feels like to grow up with dolls that didn’t look like them. When Black dolls was finally released in 1980, it symbolized a moment of accepting black’s beauty. But the doll didn’t truly reflect Black features. The Black Barbie had straight hair, lighter skin, and similar features to a white Barbie. This shows how performance, even in dolls, had to be strategically designed to fit white beauty standards. Still, the black beauty isn’t fully accepted.

 

    A scene in the Barbie documentary shows a child’s decision which favor the white doll over the brown one. By choosing the white doll, he performs what society taught him as right or normal. This is his performance to survive in a world that values whiteness. The society shaped his identity that whiteness is preferred and more lovable. It is mentioned in the documentary that little black girls lack self-esteem and would prefer to have a white doll. 

 

    Black Barbie was created by Mattel not because of race and cultural awareness, but as a business decision under pressure. Just like how Jason had to perform to be a happy black person in front of the camera to please white audiences, Black Barbie is also created to fit the society’s imagination of an “acceptable black image.” The Black Barbies look like a white doll painted black, with straight hair and light skin. According to Mattel’s marketing department, the dolls having dark skin tones would be hard to sell. Beulah’s story and the history of Mattel made me think of The Portrait of Jason. Jason presents himself as someone who has extreme humor. He uses his humor to cover his pain and hardships. His performance is a way to protect himself and to be accepted, understood, and loved by society. 

 

    Both Jason and the Black Barbie are about how black people have to fight to be seen and understood. Even though Jason hides his authentic self, but underneath, he wants to be seen and accepted as a normal person. On the same hand, the Black workers at Mattel had to push for a doll that can reflect their races’ image of beauty and identity. Throughout the documentary, I can hear from women who remember feeling invisible and excluded when they were young. 

 

    Both documentaries tell the story of performance. Now the question is, how much of ourselves or our identity do we need to sacrifice so we can be seen?