{"id":12891,"date":"2023-07-26T15:50:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T15:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/26\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T13:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T17:48:08","slug":"what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/26\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\/","title":{"rendered":"What is it like to walk in Barbie\u2019s heels?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

Clark professor examines the famous doll\u2019s existential crisis in blockbuster film<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/iframe> \n  \n Philosophy Professor Wiebke Deimling analyzes the “Barbie” movie on Clark’s Challenge. Change. podcast.<\/p>\nWhy are humans so drawn to fiction? It’s a question <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/departments\/philosophy\/\">philosophy<\/a> Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.clarku.edu\/faculty\/facultybio.cfm?id=1032&_ga=2.141303994.94213145.1687284467-1957441340.1663683637&_gac=1.79769061.1684516701.CjwKCAjwvJyjBhApEiwAWz2nLQ0TyCXfGehszSDELE6BDObcfQxAMHtCy8QmmD-EXTMXmk7SLriIGRoC07IQAvD_BwE\">Wiebke Deimling<\/a> has researched, and a query that applies well to “Barbie,” the summer blockbuster that follows the iconic plastic doll as she travels from Barbie Land to the “real world” in search of answers after experiencing “irrepressible thoughts of death.”<\/p>\n“The film gives a pretty heavy answer: We engage in fiction because the real world is super hard to deal with,” says Deimling. “There’s an interesting layer to that concept in the Barbie movie, because it explores both Barbie as a fictional character, but also this prop that we use to make fictional worlds.”<\/p>\nIn this episode, Deimling analyzes Barbie’s existential crisis. Fiction is an important part of human nature, she says, because it allows people to imagine experiences they’ll never have in real life — like seeing Barbie and Ken rollerblading along Venice Beach.<\/p>\nChallenge. Change.<\/strong> is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL\">Spotify<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.\n<\/p>\n<a class=\"filled-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/academics\/undergraduate\/programs\/majors-minors\/philosophy\/\">Explore philosophy at Clark<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clark professor examines the famous doll\u2019s existential crisis in blockbuster film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12892,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":12892,"section_label":"Challenge. Change. Podcast","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[225,223],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[],"topic":[250,150,160,204,306,307,176],"class_list":["post-12891","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities","category-clark-community","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","topic-arts","topic-faculty","topic-faculty-research","topic-film-and-screen","topic-major-in-philosophy","topic-philosophy","topic-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>What is it like to walk in Barbie\u2019s heels? | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/26\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is it like to walk in Barbie\u2019s heels?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Clark professor examines the famous doll\u2019s existential crisis in blockbuster film\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/26\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ClarkU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T17:48:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Wiebke-Deimling-5-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/26\\\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/26\\\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is it like to walk in Barbie\u2019s heels? | ClarkU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/26\\\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/26\\\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2023-Wiebke-Deimling-5-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-26T15:50:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T17:48:08+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/26\\\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/26\\\/what-is-it-like-to-walk-in-barbies-heels\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2023-Wiebke-Deimling-5-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2023-Wiebke-Deimling-5-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Philosophy Professor Wiebke Deimling analyzes the "Barbie" movie on Clark's Challenge. 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