Barbie Girl by Aqua a Gender Bias Song Essays - 1047 Words

What makes a great song? Well, depending on the genre, audiences usually listen to the beat of the song and the voice of the singer, however the meaning behind the song is the most important. Barbie Girl is a song by a band called Aqua and it meritoriously demonstrates human foolishness within society through the use of textual elements such as tone, diction, repetition, as well as visual features. This song is a feminist satire cunningly disguised in a childish, friendly pop hit targeted to young adults and teenagers as it mocks the way a majority of them may think and act as she ridicules how they are desperately trying to resemble Barbie. Aqua uses a sarcastic tone to help send across the purpose of the text. Moreover, the tone†¦show more content†¦Essentially, Barbie is a doll that is being controlled by whoever is playing with it, the same way the media is controlling and influencing a lot of people in the world. The repetition used by Aqua emphasizes the supremacy of men, progressing the diction and tone. A line that has been repeated a lot throughout the song was â€Å"Come on Barbie, let’s go party† and even though it may be an ordinary invitation to go out, in context with the rest of the song it is additional acknowledgement of Ken’s control in the situation and explains how the man is supposed to take the woman out and she is expected to just go out with him. In addition, the word â€Å"Barbie† has been repeated so many times indicating this is all just a Barbie’s world and it’s unrealistic, also it support the idea of women’s fragility as well as powerlessness in the men’s hands. Yet another example of repetition used was the line â€Å"Life in Plastic, it’s fantastic†, this line refers back to the 90’s, the age of plastic surgery where woman would change their bodies to match the ideal one. Also, surgeons wou ld get paid millions to add â€Å"plastic† parts to women to make them look like dolls people would buy off shelves in markets. Some women have no control of their lives because of the pressure it takes to be a perfect woman and meet the men’s standards. Aqua seems to intentionally draw an overly sexual perspective of Barbie and Ken dolls. This lures a lot of attention to the problems with the dolls and the