The Fame, Health and Humanity of Barbie

If you have yet to see photos of the 28-year-old Ukrainian woman Valeria Lukyanova, you will be shocked by how closely she resembles a Barbie doll. Her flawless, porcelain skin, heart-shaped mouth, delicate nose, silky white blond hair and enormous blue contacts, accentuated by layers of shadows and liners, make it impossible to differentiate the living human from the infamous doll. Lukyanova’s appearance has created much controversy in the media, bringing up relevant questions about body image and society’s obsession with beauty, as well as the state of our globally physicalized culture.

Although her unusually figurine-like characteristics are what originally drew my attention, there is more to Lukyanova than meets the eye. In fact, she puts an exceptionally bizarre spin on the Western, well behaved, boring Barbie. As a young child, she claims to have experienced visions and voices, which planted within her a passion for mysticism. She is a leader on spiritual subjects and a lecturer on out-of-body travel; Lukyanova asserts that her ostentatious appearance is only a PR tactic to promote her spiritual ideas.

Disregarding worldly classifications and claiming to be a demi-god in her feature with Vice, Valeria sits in a graphic space, adorned with a python and eccentric attire, and enthralls the audience with obscure expressions. As a self-proclaimed psychic with extrasensory abilities, she found her spiritual name, Amatue, while traveling in another plane. She believes she has come from the Pleiades and has been reincarnated many times, living on multiple planets. She regularly engages in lucid dreaming and says she’s met transdimensional beings in the astral plane, of whom she is still in contact with. She communicates with aliens not verbally but through light. She professes that she was a man in her past lives, at one point a king, because she remembers occupying a dominant role. Valeria insists that she is living in her past to make it more perfect, but also rejects that any form of perfection is possible.

For those of us who only exist in reality, some of her “spiritual ideas” seem pretty out there. But the most interesting element of Valeria’s character is that she invests wholeheartedly in contradictory matters. Those concerning the spirit and those concerning the body are fundamentally different, yet Lukyanova has found a way to combine them. She engages in a dietary practice, called Breatharianism, where followers don’t consume food or water, instead existing on light and air, or “cosmic micro-food.” This practice is similar to the fasting done by religious devotees like the fictional Siddhartha, as well as various monks in an effort to gain spiritual enlightenment.

With over 30 million views on YouTube, it is clear that Valeria Lukyanova has discovered the recipe for Internet spotlight. Despite hate communities purposing rumors of rib removal, Photoshop, and other surgeries, Lukyanova claims she is all-natural, except her breast implants. The dynamics of Valeria’s body only confirm how close she is to reaching human Barbie status, but if the doll were actually scaled to life-size, her disproportion and imbalance would cause her to topple over.

What is the impact of the popularity of Lukyanova’s ultra-thin waist and unattainable proportions on the rest of the world? And what does her cyber fame say about our culture as a whole? Valeria, who claims to possess self-love, indirectly urges other women to focus on self-hate. By creating an unreachable standard of beauty, she succeeds in supporting ideals that glorify a certain category of “beautiful people” and exclude those who can’t fit neatly into this box. According to The Daily Beast, Lukyanova claims, “the way I look inspires other people to improve their appearance, eat healthy and live a more active, creative life. It is very important to eat less, observe nature, live in harmony with your inner world. There is always room for perfection, it just depends on your personal desire.”

Her practice of Breatharianism, which seems synonymous with anorexia, is yet another form of thinspiration, which leads to malnutrition and an irrational philosophy of bodily purity. Considered a delusional pseudoscience by licensed medical professionals, this “diet” can be lethal and should not be advocated by anyone. By telling people that “the biggest secret is the amounts of food I have—they are very small,” she is putting people who idolize her beauty at risk.

Body image in America has become an issue due to advertising and the media, who utilize strategies that incite feelings of admiration instead of relation. By selling a glamourized image of the ideal, they degrade individuality and the qualities that make humans unique. This has a serious emotional effect on the self-worth of women, especially for younger demographics. In regards to Valeria, it is positive that she encourages people to find a connection with spirituality. But her doll-like style, excessive focus on ethereality, and the manner in which she gains attention is ultimately negative and damaging for women, who should admire those with influence based on intellect and a value separate from appearance. Although a successful campaign thus far, a life based on looks will always lack substance. It is unfortunate that our culture places such high esteem on beauty, causing people to alter themselves to gain recognition.

The American obsession with appearance will not change, and striving for perfection will never cease. Media and its consumers have created fame and thus power for the esoteric, possibly schizophrenic human Barbie, which in turn comes with a great responsibility she should not possess. By creepily staring into the webcam with wide, painted eyes, a blank expression so as not to cause wrinkles, pouted lips and a head rotation reminiscent of “The Exorcist,” the audience is able to admire a true Barbie, the epitome of a real life doll.

“I’m floating too low in the vast expanses. And in the dried depths of my being. It will be too high to fall and rise again. But I can’t make a mistake. I don’t exist for a long time. I want to go to ‘too early.’ To a place where there is no ‘too late.’ I want to dissolve in the outskirts of the worlds. To be lost in the depths of the terrible, terrible forest. To swallow so much silence that there would be no words. I befriended the eagle, so that it’s not too horrifying, if I suddenly find myself again in his beak. And his nest in this world, the abode of mad men.”

– Valeria Lukyanova, in “Space Barbie” by Vice.

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