So… the final indignity heaped upon Barbie when she turned 60 is that she became a homeless person? Specifically one who lives with Oscar the Grouch???
It’s nowhere near as bad a situation as one might expect — it’s a pretty decent place.
“In one 1975 episode, Oscar installed an Olympic-size swimming pool inside his trash can.
The 1989 book What’s in Oscar’s Trash Can? and Other Good-Night Stories mentions the swimming pool as well as an ice-skating rink (which, on the series, has been used by Peggy Fleming) and a bowling alley. According to Sesame Street Unpaved other items include a piano, art gallery and hearth and a train set (“Grouch Central Station”). A 1970 article in Look Magazine also notes a pastry kitchen and a rococo staircase.[4] In the Elmo’s World installment Farms Oscar gives Elmo a tour of his farm (shown in darkness with only the pair’s eyes visible). As established on various occasions, the trash can also has a back door.
Oscar shares his trash can with many pets. This diverse menagerie includes goats, a horse, elephants (notably Fluffy), a dolphin, and his favorite pet, his beloved pet worm Slimey.”
But, yeah. This appears to continue to be “sixty-year-olds have terrible lives.” Which, y’know, okay, there are a lot of problems in the world today, so I can see how that might be so, but not any worse than anybody else’s.
The main problem here is that this isn’t how reverse mortgages work. The end joke is OK, but the 2nd panel setup is weak.
I actually like the overall joke here, which is thinking you’re “Forever 21” and then realizing that you’re 60 and 5 years away from retirement.
As such, Barbie had a pretty good run. Fashion model. Astronaut. Success despite limited math skills (remember talking Barbie’s “Math is hard”). Sure, her longtime boyfriend had severe erectile dysfunction, but maybe that’s why there was Midge…?
Barbie dolls get thrown away when their little girls lose interest in them… so Barbie’s live leads inexorably to a garbage can, the ways yours leads to death. At 60, she’s close enough to see it coming, and possibly even embrace the inevitability. So this particular Barbie has picked out her eventual garbage can, the way some people buy their gravesites in advance.
Right, not how reverse mortgages work. He could have done the same strip with “she sold the Dream House and moved in with a guy.”
I …. don’t know.
Okay, I guess I finally get what he is doing is a cynical fantasy about *one* particular woman turning 60 and having problems as an aging woman falling through the cracks and that this *isn’t* supposed to be a realistic portrayal of what typical 60 year old women are.
But he *didn’t* explain that and didn’t seem to think it needed explaining. But it did. It really did.
The decorator who did Oscar’s trash can is the same one who did Snoopy’s doghouse.
That reverse mortgages don’t work that way (the entire point is you can stay in your home) is one of two issues I had with this one…the other was why Barbie was talking like Cookie Monster? That’s not how Barbie speaks, or a reasonable expectation of how she’d speak even if you haven’t been exposed to the Barbie movies; and it’s not how Muppets in general speak, or how Oscar or other Grouches in specific speak…so…where the heck is it coming from?
You guys have this strip all wrong. It’s a reflection on the reality that some women will fall for low men. She’s sacrificing everything for him, as a Good Woman should.
And the Tardis.
@zbicyclist: “(remember talking Barbie’s “Math is hard”). Sure, her longtime boyfriend had severe erectile dysfunction”
Yes, Ken had that problem, which is why Barbie struck up a relationship with that “Matthew” fellow.
(The media got it wrong; she wasn’t saying that “MATH was hard,” but rather — well, use your imagination. And she wasn’t complaining, either.)
The detail that I find most objectionable in this strip is the “baby-speak” object case pronoun in the final panel. Oscar never used that kind of language(*), and there’s no reason to think that Geriatric Barbie would revert to it either. Peters seems to be implying that she really is a dumb blonde, or perhaps it is a esoteric implication that she is nothing more than a (sex) “object”…
P.S. The “me” pronoun would be more in line with Cookie Monster or Elmo.
While I don’t want to discourage you in your attempt to be as charitable as you can to the cartoonist, phrases like “now that Barbie is 60,” and “Since she’s 60,” seem to imply that these are the normal, sad development you’d expect from someone turning 60, not just things happening to a woman who is incidentally turning 60.
“P.S. The “me” pronoun would be more in line with Cookie Monster or Elmo.”
So, the guy who’s older than Barbie put words in her mouth that showed that she hasn’t watched Sesame Street in a long enough time that she can’t tell the muppet characters apart. That’s not particularly objectionable to me (though I share your assumption that it’s actually the cartoonist’s mistake rather than the character’s)..
“seem to imply that these are the normal, sad development you’d expect from someone turning 60, not just things happening to a woman who is incidentally turning 60.”
What you inferred is not necessarily what was implied. I do not share your assessment.
‘P.S. The “me” pronoun would be more in line with Cookie Monster or Elmo.’
Not Elmo. Elmo speaks in the third person. Cookie Monster is the only regular Sesame Street Muppet who over-regularizes the first person.
Talking Barbie didn’t say “Math is hard”. She said “Math class is tough.”
A guerrilla activist group bought a bunch of talking Barbie and talking GI Joe dolls, switched the voiceboxes, and then put them back on store shelves, as a comment on gender stereotyping.
There was another operation that bought genuine Barbie products and then repackaged them in… unflattering ways. Trailer Barbie, stripper Barbie, etc.
James Pollack – No, barbie dolls live the rest of their lives in retirement in the basement in a comfy case and do not get thrown out – until Hurricane Sandy comes and floods “grandma’s” basement – unless they have been lucky enough to have been brought to “mom’s” new house when “mom’s” niece broke her arm and wanted to play Barbies with her aunt.
I have Barbie, Skooter, Ken (Tammy’s little sister) Pepper and one other doll thanks to my niece insisted I bring Barbie to play when she broke her arm. Midge, Miss Mindy (a fake Barbie doll), Skipper, Ricky (Skippers boyfriend), Tammy, Dr John Littlechap and others were all drowned in sea water and had to be tossed out – along with a theater, dress shop, 2 houses, and everything else down there – including my sister’s (the mother of my niece) Barbie dolls and houses, etc. What is really odd is that the storage case Barbie was in and I had taken has a second head for Pepper – I am guessing from my sister’s Pepper doll.
Husband’s niece – age 8 – wanted a couple of Barbie dolls for Christmas (or so her mom said) and we had ordered one of them as Walmart did not carry it in their stores, but had it online. (Remember I say we always have problems with orders?) Despite the photo being of a traditional blonde, blue eyed, White Barbie – with no choice of “color”, the doll that arrived was Black. Before returning her to the local Walmart, we managed to find the doll we had ordered elsewhere locally. With the excitement that both of the Barbie dolls we gave her were received – opened, looked at, and tossed over her shoulder onto “the pile” she seemed to not even know what or why we had given it to her – that is one Barbie that will be rotting in the basement untouched.
Comics I Don't Understand 
It’s nowhere near as bad a situation as one might expect — it’s a pretty decent place.
“In one 1975 episode, Oscar installed an Olympic-size swimming pool inside his trash can.
The 1989 book What’s in Oscar’s Trash Can? and Other Good-Night Stories mentions the swimming pool as well as an ice-skating rink (which, on the series, has been used by Peggy Fleming) and a bowling alley. According to Sesame Street Unpaved other items include a piano, art gallery and hearth and a train set (“Grouch Central Station”). A 1970 article in Look Magazine also notes a pastry kitchen and a rococo staircase.[4] In the Elmo’s World installment Farms Oscar gives Elmo a tour of his farm (shown in darkness with only the pair’s eyes visible). As established on various occasions, the trash can also has a back door.
Oscar shares his trash can with many pets. This diverse menagerie includes goats, a horse, elephants (notably Fluffy), a dolphin, and his favorite pet, his beloved pet worm Slimey.”
But, yeah. This appears to continue to be “sixty-year-olds have terrible lives.” Which, y’know, okay, there are a lot of problems in the world today, so I can see how that might be so, but not any worse than anybody else’s.
The main problem here is that this isn’t how reverse mortgages work. The end joke is OK, but the 2nd panel setup is weak.
I actually like the overall joke here, which is thinking you’re “Forever 21” and then realizing that you’re 60 and 5 years away from retirement.
As such, Barbie had a pretty good run. Fashion model. Astronaut. Success despite limited math skills (remember talking Barbie’s “Math is hard”). Sure, her longtime boyfriend had severe erectile dysfunction, but maybe that’s why there was Midge…?
Barbie dolls get thrown away when their little girls lose interest in them… so Barbie’s live leads inexorably to a garbage can, the ways yours leads to death. At 60, she’s close enough to see it coming, and possibly even embrace the inevitability. So this particular Barbie has picked out her eventual garbage can, the way some people buy their gravesites in advance.
Right, not how reverse mortgages work. He could have done the same strip with “she sold the Dream House and moved in with a guy.”
I …. don’t know.
Okay, I guess I finally get what he is doing is a cynical fantasy about *one* particular woman turning 60 and having problems as an aging woman falling through the cracks and that this *isn’t* supposed to be a realistic portrayal of what typical 60 year old women are.
But he *didn’t* explain that and didn’t seem to think it needed explaining. But it did. It really did.
The decorator who did Oscar’s trash can is the same one who did Snoopy’s doghouse.
That reverse mortgages don’t work that way (the entire point is you can stay in your home) is one of two issues I had with this one…the other was why Barbie was talking like Cookie Monster? That’s not how Barbie speaks, or a reasonable expectation of how she’d speak even if you haven’t been exposed to the Barbie movies; and it’s not how Muppets in general speak, or how Oscar or other Grouches in specific speak…so…where the heck is it coming from?
You guys have this strip all wrong. It’s a reflection on the reality that some women will fall for low men. She’s sacrificing everything for him, as a Good Woman should.
And the Tardis.
@zbicyclist: “(remember talking Barbie’s “Math is hard”). Sure, her longtime boyfriend had severe erectile dysfunction”
Yes, Ken had that problem, which is why Barbie struck up a relationship with that “Matthew” fellow.
(The media got it wrong; she wasn’t saying that “MATH was hard,” but rather — well, use your imagination. And she wasn’t complaining, either.)
The detail that I find most objectionable in this strip is the “baby-speak” object case pronoun in the final panel. Oscar never used that kind of language(*), and there’s no reason to think that Geriatric Barbie would revert to it either. Peters seems to be implying that she really is a dumb blonde, or perhaps it is a esoteric implication that she is nothing more than a (sex) “object”…
P.S. The “me” pronoun would be more in line with Cookie Monster or Elmo.
woozy: “. . .about *one* particular woman turning 60”
While I don’t want to discourage you in your attempt to be as charitable as you can to the cartoonist, phrases like “now that Barbie is 60,” and “Since she’s 60,” seem to imply that these are the normal, sad development you’d expect from someone turning 60, not just things happening to a woman who is incidentally turning 60.
“P.S. The “me” pronoun would be more in line with Cookie Monster or Elmo.”
So, the guy who’s older than Barbie put words in her mouth that showed that she hasn’t watched Sesame Street in a long enough time that she can’t tell the muppet characters apart. That’s not particularly objectionable to me (though I share your assumption that it’s actually the cartoonist’s mistake rather than the character’s)..
“seem to imply that these are the normal, sad development you’d expect from someone turning 60, not just things happening to a woman who is incidentally turning 60.”
What you inferred is not necessarily what was implied. I do not share your assessment.
‘P.S. The “me” pronoun would be more in line with Cookie Monster or Elmo.’
Not Elmo. Elmo speaks in the third person. Cookie Monster is the only regular Sesame Street Muppet who over-regularizes the first person.
Talking Barbie didn’t say “Math is hard”. She said “Math class is tough.”
A guerrilla activist group bought a bunch of talking Barbie and talking GI Joe dolls, switched the voiceboxes, and then put them back on store shelves, as a comment on gender stereotyping.
There was another operation that bought genuine Barbie products and then repackaged them in… unflattering ways. Trailer Barbie, stripper Barbie, etc.
James Pollack – No, barbie dolls live the rest of their lives in retirement in the basement in a comfy case and do not get thrown out – until Hurricane Sandy comes and floods “grandma’s” basement – unless they have been lucky enough to have been brought to “mom’s” new house when “mom’s” niece broke her arm and wanted to play Barbies with her aunt.
I have Barbie, Skooter, Ken (Tammy’s little sister) Pepper and one other doll thanks to my niece insisted I bring Barbie to play when she broke her arm. Midge, Miss Mindy (a fake Barbie doll), Skipper, Ricky (Skippers boyfriend), Tammy, Dr John Littlechap and others were all drowned in sea water and had to be tossed out – along with a theater, dress shop, 2 houses, and everything else down there – including my sister’s (the mother of my niece) Barbie dolls and houses, etc. What is really odd is that the storage case Barbie was in and I had taken has a second head for Pepper – I am guessing from my sister’s Pepper doll.
Husband’s niece – age 8 – wanted a couple of Barbie dolls for Christmas (or so her mom said) and we had ordered one of them as Walmart did not carry it in their stores, but had it online. (Remember I say we always have problems with orders?) Despite the photo being of a traditional blonde, blue eyed, White Barbie – with no choice of “color”, the doll that arrived was Black. Before returning her to the local Walmart, we managed to find the doll we had ordered elsewhere locally. With the excitement that both of the Barbie dolls we gave her were received – opened, looked at, and tossed over her shoulder onto “the pile” she seemed to not even know what or why we had given it to her – that is one Barbie that will be rotting in the basement untouched.