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Part of Barbie’s power is the kind of projection she invites. “I designed 芭比娃娃 with a blank face so that the child could project her own dreams of the future onto Barbie,” Handler 说 in her book, “Dream Doll.” “I never wanted to play up the glamorous life of Barbie. I wanted the owner to create a personality for the doll.” Even the talking Barbies that appeared on the market never enjoyed the ascendancy that the mute, yet eloquent 玩偶 did.

Barbie was both a child of her time and completely cutting edge. As the historian and 作者 Stephanie Coontz has written, “the marketability...