Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Shutterstock
In a colorful cardboard box, behind a layer of cellophane, a perfectly posed Barbie sits awaiting love. Her peroxide blonde hair is perfectly tamed, her outfit neatly fitted, and her lips painted in an eternally welcoming smile. Her fate is one of two options: She is wielded as an instrument for imagination, or she lives a life frozen in time.
Greta Gerwig’s glittering, pink cinematic hit chooses the second option: ripping open the pristine packaging and setting Barbie free. Some lifelong Barbie adorers have followed the director’s lead and shared their process of removing their untouched dolls from their original packaging, breaking the seal and unwinding the restraint ties to let Barbie’s limbs move for the first time in her plastic, fantastic life.
So, what has emboldened these Barbie adorers to unbox the collector’s item? After all, there’s a point to the preservation. Some of these special Barbies could be worth $1,670 if rare or left in mint condition. And why now, at a time when, more than ever, you would assume these dolls would be preserved in their boxes and worth even more?