One wonders, sometimes, how many degrees of separation exists between "something" and "something".
Or "something" and "anything".
My obsession with Mad Men is longstanding, but it's starting to wear thin as I realize I will have to wait TWO MORE MONTHS before Season 5 begins. And that wait offers no guarantee that the show won't finally jump the shark into mediocrity.
But wait! It couldn't be. And yet, it IS.
What are Mad Men figures doing in a Barbie collector's magazine, you might
ask?
What do you think, dumb-bell?
My beloved Mad Men characters have been turned into dolls.
Not just any dolls, but Barbies!
High-end Barbies , I would guess, with nice wardrobes and all, but still. Mattel must have seen a good marketing opportunity and grabbed it
But I must find the sweet sauce in the poisoned apple. Now I get to toy with Don Draper all day long! Never mind that his face and body look alarmingly like Ken's and are probably poured into an identical mould.
At last I can indulge my fantasy of taking his clothes off, even if his pants are only three inches long.
Already there's controversy over this (which will no doubt sell more dolls): is Mad Men selling out? What next, I wonder: nouveau Bryll Cream? Mad Men push-up brassieres with pencil-sharp points at the front?
Who's going to buy these things? Not Moms for their little girls' birthdays, surely. Mad Men is full of sex and booze and smoking and all that other awful stuff that only happened in the '60s. Not good doll material at all.
But wait a minute. Mad Men is all about selling, commodification, "product". What could be more devastatingly tongue-in-cheek than making the show's characters into playthings, merchandise for sale?
Besides, Barbies have a shelf life of about six months, and a shorter life once the box is opened. They all seem to end up buried at the bottom of the closet, naked and with their hair in a frizzled mess.
That means you'll just have to go out and buy another one.
Bychkova's dolls, much more exquisitely-made, would never fall into that category. Yes, they're bought and sold, sometimes for as much as $40,000.00: but only to serious collectors who will cherish the dolls forever.
On the other hand. . .
On the other hand, glittering like a glacier, we might find a high-end diamond-encrusted engagement ring by Victoria Buckley, displayed by an elegantly-posing Marina Bychkova bride doll.
It seems that though Barbie lasts but a moment, an art doll (like a diamond?) is forever.
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book
It took me years to write, will you take a look
Order The Glass Character from:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K7NGDA
Barnes & Noble
Thistledown Press
