Weird South: Barbie Beach
The evolution of one couple’s weird front yard display into a delightfully weird and intriguing roadside attraction. Also, the things that make Barbie Beach a Southern roadside attraction, besides its geographic location.
First, watch these two quick Youtube videos:
Now here is a video on the couple behind the display:
So just in case you missed that:
Turin, Georgia. Turin, Italy.
2006 Olympics.
USA Women’s Volleyball takes the gold.
Turin, Georgia homeowners celebrate with a pubic display in their front yard.
They enjoy it so much, they keep doing it. Changing the display every couple of months, sometimes every other week.
That was nine years ago.
What’s Southern about Barbie Beach?
A weird front yard display is not something that is unique or original to the South. Though oddly, three of five folk art-centered attractions I want to visit for Weird South actually started in just this way, as“artistic” displays made of found materials set up for public viewing in one’s front yard, the common man’s art gallery. To figure out what is Southern about Barbie Beach, I focused on what the couple had to say about why they do it and what it stands for:
“99% (ARE NAKED) of the time we get them, they’re naked.” “We do try to do Pride. And it’s a fun thing. because it stirs the pot a little bit. It gives our detractors something else to talk about.” “We are, To me, it is a form of Freedom of Speech. We don’t attempt to defile anybody, minimize anybody, just, (Make people enjoy life), to just make people smile.”
From they’re words and mentioning of “their detractors”, the couple seems conscious of a negative, or unapproving presence in the community or the general public towards their make-shift display. While there certainly aren’t any homeowner associations to enforce rules against Barbie Beach, one can image that Gay Pride displays this far from Midtown might be unwelcome. This is what I believe makes this weird attraction a Southern one, is the public’s outspoken reception of Barbie Beach and its creators.
The woman’s shirt puts it best, this display and the creators are “FREETHINKER[S]” No where but within the boundaries of the traditionally conservative South, with its tendency for publicly damning or suppressing those that challenge the social and political norms of their particular region, would a year-round display of half-naked Barbie’s illicit any sort of organized “detractors”.
More on Barbie Beach:
