Black Barbie

Event Type Special Film Screenings , Member Events & Activities , Special Events , Adults , Teens , Children & Families , Late Nights , Communities First, Inc. Panel Discussion
Date calendar  Thursday, December 14, 2023
Time clock  5:30pm - 9:00pm (3h 30m)
Location Isabel Hall & FIA Theater
Details

Enjoy a evening with Communities First, Inc. full of food, art, and a great film - "Black Barbie".

Doors open at 5:30 PM for dinner and a stroll through the Flint Institute of Art's galleries. The film begins at 6:45 PM. Channel your inner Barbie and arrive dressed to impress!

As a part of our Culture Shock program, this opportunity is free to attend!
About "Black Barbie"

Love her or hate her, almost everyone has a Barbie story. For filmmaker Lagueria Davis, it all started with her 83-year old Aunt Beulah Mae and a seemingly simple question, “Why not make a Barbie that looks like me?”

BLACK BARBIE is a personal exploration that tells a richly archival, thought-provoking story that gives voice to the insights and experiences of Beulah Mae Mitchell, who spent 45 years working at Mattel.

Upon Mattel’s 1980 release of Black Barbie, the film turns to the intergenerational impact the doll had. Discussing how the absence of black images in the “social mirror” left Black girls with little other than White subjects for self-reflection and self-projection. Beulah Mae Mitchell and other Black women in the film talk about their own, complex, varied experience of not seeing themselves represented, and how Black Barbie’s transformative arrival affected them personally.

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