As a white boy growing up in the 70s and 80s, I was aware there was a Black Barbie but I never owned a Barbie, much less a Black Barbie. Now that I’ve seen the doc, I think I was more aware of a Black doll who was Barbie’s friend… which is something I never thought was unusual. To the extent I actually thought about Barbie at all.

This Netflix documentary is one I watched more for the historical business/marketing curiosity than any affiliation with the toy. And it mostly delivered in its first half as a historical narrative about Black dolls in general and then Black dolls as part of the Barbie line specifically.

That said, it wasn’t nearly enough about the machinations and politics that must have been involved to get a Black Barbie to shelves. And I think that disappointment stewed and gelled as the movie went on until it felt more like Mattel propaganda than history.

I don’t think Mattel was directly involved in the production of this doc. More likely the producers of the doc played nice in order to have access to Mattel information and employees. There are a handful negatives about the company but not nearly as much as I’d expect from a genuine intendent and critical documentary.

But the final half hour gets into some interesting sociology about what Barbie means to children today. It shows round-table discussions with children of different ages over what they think of race and Barbie. And it talks about various ghastly looking children’s movies and how they depict Barbie. This segment was interesting beyond the concept of Barbie while mostly still integrating the toy into the conversation.

There are a lot of interviews with various Mattel designers, athletes, actors, and producers (hi Shonda Rhimes) that nail down the central thesis of the doc. Black Barbie matters and was good representation for children growing up. And that offers some strong arguments against my discontents with the doc.

Overall, I was hoping for some on-the-ground, pitched battles in the corporate battlefield of Mattel… but got something a little sanitized. But there are enough angles for me to say I found the doc informative and interesting… most of the time.

Score: 80