Thirty years ago this week,The Simpsonscast rehearsed the episodeLisa vs. Malibu Stacyduring a table read. In the episode, Lisa challenges doll creators to design a doll that empowers young girls. This is a result of the release of Malibu Stacy, a Barbie-esque doll featured in the cartoon. Lisa is disappointed with the talking version of the doll, as Malibu Stacy mutters phrases like “I wish they taught shopping in school!”
Episode writers Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley, and actress Kathleen Turner, who voiced the doll’s creator, recently spoke withVanity Fairabout the episode, which has come back into the spotlight as audiences await Greta Gerwig’sBarbie.According to Oakley, the episode, which aired in February 1994, has remained popular, especially with women:
“There’s hundreds ofSimpsonsepisodes that don’t stick in people’s minds, many of them excellent. But that one seems to. It particularly seems to resonate with women, I would say. When I meet a femaleSimpsonsfan, that is often the one they cite as their favorite.”
Lisa vs. Malibu Stacyshares some similarities with the upcoming film, which has been described as a pro-feminist and anti-patriarchy by critics. InThe Simpsonsepisode, Lisa demands more than a pretty shell from her doll, as Grewig does in the upcoming movie, which premieres this Friday. The film follows Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken as they venture from the immaculately accessorized Barbie Land and head to the real world. Once there, Barbie must face the harsh reality that she represents something entirely different to young girls and women than she imagined.
Related:Barbie Beats James Cameron as Advanced Ticket Sales Outpace Avatar: The Way of Water
Did The Simpsons Predict Barbie?
For years, episodes ofThe Simpsonsseem to have predicted the future: from the Donald Trump election to smartwatches and the Siegfried and Roy tiger attack (among many other notable events).There’s a reason why, Oakley shares:
“We often looked for things that came from current events. I specifically remember being told, ‘Take the social trends from now and then in 10 months when people have forgotten about it, they’ll think you made the whole thing up.'”
But could they have predicted aBarbiefilm that questions the popular doll’s social impacts? According to Oakley:
“It sounds like it’s the modern answer to questions asked 30 years ago.”
AsMalibu vs. Stacycomes to its conclusion, Lisa confronts the doll’s creator Stacey Lovell (voiced by Turner) and voices her idea for a motivational doll named Lisa Lionheart. Stacey caves and agrees to create the doll, but knows the doll won’t be the success that Lisa envisions:
“She didn’t want to do it. I think if anything, she wanted to prove to Lisa that she was out of time, out of step,” Turner says. “Every really intelligent woman who shows her intelligence, who shows her abilities, has a target on her back. And you’re certainly not supposed to be attractive and intelligent. Heaven forfend! So yeah, I could feel this woman going, ‘Oh, God, more people I have to f—ing convince.'”
While a rebranding for Malibu Stacy may have been out of time, it seems like a feminist Barbie is headed for success. Gerwig’sBarbieis expected to generate over $95 million during opening weekend.
