Doria constantly refers to television series and to films and the ways in which they shape her ideals, expectations, and memories. Her father’s departure is associated with The X-Files. Her ideas of romance and the perfect man are shaped by MacGyver, Titanic, and The Pretender, while her vision of the ideal family is influenced by Little House on the Prairie and Who’s the Boss? The characters on soap operas such as The Young and the Restless and Sunset Beach provide her with models of how to negotiate complex situations. She creates elaborate fantasies of her own based on pop-culture tropes, as when she finds herself defending Nabil and compares herself to a TV lawyer drawing a picture of a serial killer’s miserable childhood. As the novel progresses, Doria becomes more self-aware about how she uses movies and television as fantasy material and guidance, though she does not entirely abandon the habit.

Barbie dolls represent a middle-class lifestyle Doria can only dream about, while also embodying a blond racial ideal she can never live up to. As a young girl who is late to enter puberty, she also envies Barbie’s generous plastic breasts.