Feminette

1982, USA, Short, Color, 12 minutes

Summary: Bored with her postgraduate studies, Barbie opts to get ready for a fantasy night of crashing a glamorous party in New York City. Her exuberance is cut short when she steps on the scale and fears she might be too overweight for the coming bikini season. Distraught, she decides to swallow pins. Fortunately, her obnoxious landlord, Señor Lopez, interrupts her by knocking at her door seconds before it's too late. Lopez pushes his way into her apartment and then proceeds to harass Barbie, oblivious to her emotional state. He seductively recites subway ad copy to her while touching himself on the couch. Forcing the beast out the door gives Barbie a second wind so she invites her two trans friends, Bruce and Nigel, also known as The Fruity Pebbles, over for a cocktail. The boys help to brighten Barbie's mood with their campy antics but tensions arise when they get drunk and damage Barbie's couture in a mad frenzy of trying on her clothes while she distractedly works out. Once they are gone, Barbie spontaneously sings "The Girl Called Feminette" to the tune of "The Girl From Ipanema." Rock band The Wayfarers, have been hiding in her closet and back her up with two guitars and a bass. Just as Barbie is ready to call it a night, her so-called best friend, La Sonja, pounds on the door arriving in a shit mood. Barbie recognizes that La Sonja is wearing a jacket she borrowed that Barbie wants back immediately. This sends La Sonja into a rage and she attacks Barbie. Barbie fights back, eventually getting La Sonja into a headlock and forcing her to say uncle. The psychological release from the unbridled act of aggression enlivens Barbie and she decides to wind down with some late night television. To her shock, she appears to herself as actress Samantha Eggar in a television commercial that sasses her back. Changing the channel doesn't help as she watches for the first time a man pleasure himself with a cucumber. Finally, Barbie appears on TV as the perfect little girl. When her TV alter ego reveals the perfect little girl's dark side, it hits too close to home for Barbie and she suffers a mental breakdown.