Power of Two

On the Brink of Adulthood, The Olsen Twins Command A Business Empire, and Attention

They are like collectors' dolls, big-eyed and pocket-size.

They are two halves of one whole, for that yin-yang split in all of us.

Ashley Olsen is our girlie-girl; Mary-Kate is our tomboy. Ashley is our blond overachiever; Mary-Kate is our tousled bohemian. They contain the innocence of children and the sultriness of sexpots; they are both intimidating and familiar, like a relative who becomes famous.

They are like real people, only smaller and richer; they strap on Jimmy Choos and jaunt off to Rome, carrying our fantasies of glamour with them. They are the Olsen twins, two for the price of one.

Despite their fabulous wealth and their 18th birthday on June 13, there is still about the Olsens a faint aura of kitsch. Perhaps it is because they sell their fashion lines at Wal-Mart, or because they remind us of the late '80s when we first encountered them, sharing the role of toddler Michelle Tanner on the wholesome sitcom "Full House." Back then they had a vaguely simian look, and their hair was fastened in fountains atop their heads. They had a stable of catchphrases like "You got it, dude!," which they delivered with a sort of robotic charm.

Over the years, the Olsens did not crash and burn as we expected them to -- though there's still time, as the tabloids remind us weekly with headlines like "Olsens X-Posed!" They did not enter rehab or get married in Las Vegas or star in a series of god-awful movies intended to get their careers back on track. Instead, they starred in a series of god-awful movies that bypassed theaters and went straight to video, bought and beloved by young girls everywhere. These young girls then went out and bought the Olsens' clothing and makeup and stationery and backpacks, making the twins rich. They named their brand mary-kateandashley -- one word, say it fast, the way little girls do -- and this year it and the rest of Empire Olsen are projected to do $1.2 billion in sales.

Because we first encountered them in diapers and watched them grow up on-screen, because they have always catered to the whims of children, Mary-Kate and Ashley are, in a sense, America's kids. No dollmaker could have designed a better mold for the nation's maternal instincts. They are fraternal twins but they are almost indistinguishable. Even now, their huge blue-green eyes, enhanced by sooty makeup, recall those big-eyed waif paintings of the 1960s. Their hair -- layered and styled into starlet fullness -- seems too big for them. They are both less than 5 feet 2 inches tall -- in their recent movie, "New York Minute," Mary-Kate stood on apple boxes for her kissing scene. This smallness helps reinforce the notion that two little Olsens make one big Olsen, which is, after all, the basis of their career. Who is Mary-Kate without Ashley? Who is Ashley without Mary-Kate?

And who are we without them, making unity from the division in our souls?

For the little girls who followed their television shows and their direct-to-video movies, the Olsens were the original reality television. Their lives were chronicled in as many as six movies a year, many of them short and episodic, with such titles as "You're Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley's Sleepover Party" and "The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Fun House Mystery."

As they got older, the twins ceased to play themselves in their movies and instead played thinly veiled versions of themselves. Ashley played characters named "Ally" and "Alex," and Mary-Kate became "Melanie" and "Madison." The movies got longer. Usually the theme was the same: twin sisters beating a tough challenge through smarts and spunk. Often this required outfoxing parents and, as the girls got older, necessitated the involvement of cute boys. It was "safe and appropriate" entertainment, as their publicist puts it, the sort a mom could be glad her kids were watching.

When the Olsens' roles were not indistinguishable in their perkiness, they fell into stereotypes. Ashley was feminine and a perfectionist; Mary-Kate played a jock or a bohemian. In the theatrical release of "New York Minute," which came out last month amid halfhearted reviews, Ashley plays an ambitious young Republican, while Mary-Kate plays a rock-and-roll drummer with a devil-may-care attitude. In real life, the Los Angeles teenagers supposedly embody those distinctions; they are different enough to be interesting but not controversial. "Know your Olsens," says the caption beneath a photo of the girls in a recent issue of People, comparing "the funkier MK" with "the more classic Ashley."

The Olsens' brand is predicated on this sense of intimacy, this notion that what you see on-screen is what you'd get if they really did invite you to their sleepover party. The girls are the brand and the brand is the girls. Movies are just excuses for the Olsens to be themselves. Marketers say little girls see the Olsens as friends or big sisters. When the Olsens fly off to have adventures in Paris, Rome or the Bahamas, as they have in their various direct-to-video movies, girls see themselves, only with money and a sophisticated lifestyle.

There are plenty of products to foster the bond. There are Mary-Kate and Ashley dolls in caps and gowns to mark the twins' graduation from high school this year. As a Mattel spokeswoman puts it, "We allow girls to participate in Mary-Kate and Ashley's life through our product line." There are twin perfumes: mary-kateandashley one ("jasmine spice") and mary-kateandashley two ("juicy peach freesia"). There is the video game "Crush Course," in which players try to figure out who Mary-Kate and Ashley's secret admirers are. There are books about Mary-Kate and Ashley going to the beach, and to summer camp, and about their summer after graduation. "New York Minute" is set in Manhattan, where the girls will be starting college this fall at NYU. It's as if each real-life event has its well-packaged counterpart, on sale now at Wal-Mart for $4.49.

Which is arguably why the Olsens are so popular. If they are glamorous, they are also accessible. If they are rich, they are also humble. If they arrive beautiful on the red carpet, don't forget we saw them before they were potty trained. And frankly, they were kind of funny-looking.