Frida Kahlo--Barbie or Barbada?

Frida Kahlo--Barbie or Barbada?

Well, I guess I saw this coming when a few months back I chanced on an ad for a children's picture book about Frida Kahlo, featuring a very cutesy, Disney-fied image of her on the cover.  If there's one popular figure I thought our culture could never succeed in sanitizing, it would be la Frida!  But come to find out that it's actually happened now in an even worse way: that she's been incarnated as a Barbie doll!  !Increible!

There's been a lot of complaint about this in the media, I'm glad to say, but of course most of it has focused on the doll's appearance, which strongly resembles that of Mexican born actress Salma Hayak, who portrayed Frida on film. It was actually a good movie, I thought, though it seems to have  produced most or all of the images of the artist that most Norteamericanos have ever encountered.  For example, few who have spoken out about the appearance of the doll seem aware that Frida Kahlo had not only the famous unplucked "unibrow" (a dumb expression!) omitted in the Barbie version, but also a very visible black mustache, of which Frida as an openly androgynous person, was very proud. The doll's standard Barbie skin tone and non-authentic "Mexican" clothing are hardly worthy of mention.

Would it have been asking too much of these designers to have looked at a few of Frida's very numerous close-up photographs or her many self-portrait paintings; or to have read, say, the Wikipedia article about her life? I suppose to have done so would have given the project too much depth and authenticity for the American consumer.  It might also have forced the manufacturers to confront some aspects of their subject which might prove too controversial or unsettling for even many 'feminist" potential purchasers of sexualized plastic figurines. But then, Americans would always prefer to be passive recipients of superficial bits of reality doled out to them by mass media than to feel interested enough to engage in research that might lead to something closer to a deeper truth!

So (though none of these points are at all objectionable to this blogger) here for readers are few seemingly lesser-known fun facts about Frida for those who want to use her as raw material for a prettified and wholesome Latina "icon:"

She was bisexual, though her primary love was her philandering husband Diego Rivera

Her pelvis and reproductive organs were horribly mutilated in a traumatizing accident she experienced as a teenager, as the result of which...

She endured disability and severe chronic pain for most of her adult life, resulting in her eventually losing one of her legs to amputation

She was a communist who reportedly went so far as to have a love affair with Leon Trotsky

In later life, she was arguably an alcoholic and/or prescription drug addict

She was fond of profanity and off-color humor--and eccentric or outrageous behavior in general

As an expression of her suffering, blood, woundedness, maiming, and death were frequent themes of her art work.

A pretty picture for your little girls?  (Lots of "teachable moments" there!)

Most scholars of Kahlo's life and art agree that what is most significant about her history is not her pretty, exotic clothing and hairstyle, but her ability to transcend her difficult existence and transform it into a life filled with artistic creativity and meaning.  But this truth can't be conveyed by something as superficial as a stylized physical representation.

So in closing, I might suggest that the manufactures of Frida Barbie consider developing a few accessories to go with the doll and lend her a bit more verisimilitude:

Crutches, a wheelchair and an old-fashioned, wooden prosthetic leg
A phial of sugar-pill faux opiate medications, with instructions for use printed in Spanish
A "baby" doll in the form of a miscarried fetus
A back brace and plaster-cast corset
A man's suit for purposes of occasional cross-dressing
A sugar Muertos skull bearing the name "Diego" on its forehead
And--most importantly--an artist's easel, palette, brushes and paints.

Empowered, !Si!  Pretty and conventional, !No!

                         Personal Musings on El Dia de los Muertos  

Today is the second and final day of El Dia de los Muertos.  As someone of  Mexican and Anglo ancestry, I came to this holiday at midlife, and I'd like to share some of my personal reflections.

                                                     Dia de los Muertos Altar, 11/1/2017


My first experience with the Day of the Dead came when David and I visited the Detroit Arts Institute when the museum was having a special Muertos event, featuring altares and ofrendas made by by local Mexican-american artists and a poetry reading by one of Diego Rivera's grandsons.  The Rivera connection is that this special event and exhibit were located in the DIA's central courtyard, which was painted with murals by Rivera when he and his wife Frida came to Detroit in the 1930's.

The two artists visited some of the impressive auto plants, and this inspired Rivera to develop a theme of industrial workers and nature vs.technology as the focus of his work. This was to become one of Rivera's most successful and famous projects. Sadly, Frida's biographers make note of the fact that she experienced a miscarriage during the time she and Diego were in Detroit for the painting of the murals.. She depicted this tragic even in her 1932 painting, "Henry Ford Hospital," showing herself on a blood-stained bed surrounded by images of the lost fetus and other symbolic objects. Throughout their stormy relationship, Frida had had a passionate desire to bear Diego's child. However, her uterus had been gravely injured in a gruesome accident she suffered as a teenager, and it seems that the miscarriage that took place in the US put an end to those hopes forever. The fact that the mural-emblazoned museum courtyard  has an historical association with death and loss made it an appropriate place for an exhibit related to the Day of the Dead.

During the car ride back to Ann Arbor I reflected on this very moving visit to the DIA and began to feel an impetus to create my own altar as soon as I got home.  I didn't have any of the traditional materials handy--marigold flowers, chocolate, pastry, copal incense, paper-cuttings, or special foods such as tamales. But I made use of what I had: some dried corn and beans, leftover Halloween candy, some Mexican ceramic dishes, table candles, and a few fading chrysanthemums on stalks broken from the frost-wizened garden. It was a deeply satisfying process and I've repeated it every year since.

A visit to a Muertos event at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco with my sister, Susan, marked one memorable celebration.  There were a number of themed altars by Bay Area artists, and a performance with music and comedy skits. We painted our faces as calaveras, took part in a parade, and had a great time!

I went on to host a number of annual parties in our home in Montpelier, Vermont; that featured an altar, a Mexican-food oriented pot luck, readings of poetry,  rituals, and music.  These were very beloved by our friends, some of whom have carried on the tradition since our family moved away.

This time of year is also strongly associated for me with the death of my father, Jose Angel Peña, who passed away in Brownsville, Texas on October 29th, 2000.  I've often wondered why he didn't "hold out" until the 31st, which is when El Dia de Los Muertos (which is actually the two following days) officially begins.  But then I though about the fact that when he came to visit he often--much to my chagrin--showed up a day or two earlier than planned.  Well, I guess when his time came, he chose to depart a bit early as well!  His picture is always prominent on my altar.

I encourage everyone to learn about this special holiday and find ways of making this beautiful tradition your own.  Perhaps it can bring us healing in this time of loss, trauma, and suffering!

SISMOS!

I simply don't know what to say about the earthquake in Mexico!  For me, Mexico City, especially the Centro Historico district,  is the very center of the world!   I heard that

Coyoacan, a very special place which was once home to Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Dolores Olmeido, sustained some damage.  And Xochimilco--Dios mio!  I can only imagine the profound grief and terror that all of the Mexican people must be experiencing right now.  May their faith in God and the Virgin sustain them!