Barbie was the brain child of Ruth Handler, Mattel's co-founder. During the 1950's she was frustrated that it was impossible to find any type of female action figure for her daughter- Barbara- to play with, while there were lots of male ones for her son, Ken. Her daughter enjoyed playing with the paper dolls which came with a lot of paper dresses and accessories, and Ruth toyed with the idea of making a three dimensional version of this. Then, on a trip to Europe, Handler saw the German Bild Lilli doll which was very similar to what she had been visualizing. But there was a problem.
Ruth bought one of the dolls, brought it home and completely redesigned it with the help of Jack Ryan, an engineer who formerly designed missiles. After all, whatever you think of Malibu Barbie, she's a heck of a lot more wholesome than Call Girl Lilli. Mattel green lit the Barbie doll and bought the copyright for Lilli, so that was the end of the shady career of Barbie's scandalous ancestor.
The documentary details the soaring success of the Barbie doll, the body design and stereotype controversies ("Math class is tough!"), her declining popularity, and the face lifts and occupation changes she undergoes in an attempt to remain relevant. Perhaps the lowest point in Barbie's history occurred in 1978 when Handler was forced to step down from Mattel after pleading guilty to fraud and producing false financial reports. White Collar Crime Barbie.