Come on, Barbie, let’s go…to the movies!
The generations who grew up with the iconic Mattel doll are now invited back into her bubblegum pink world in Greta Gerwig’s new film, Barbie.
We first meet the Barbies at the beginning of another average day in Barbie Land. They wake up to greet each other from their individual Dream Houses, enjoy an inedible perfect breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day thriving as doctors and presidents with Kens by their side. However, problems arise when Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) begins to show signs that she no longer fits the mold with her existential thinking and the disappearance of her signature arched feet. After consulting Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), a Barbie that got played with too much, she sets out with Ken (Ryan Gosling) to the “Real World” to “fix herself.” However, discoveries in the “Real World” unleash a Pandora’s Box of problems in Barbie Land, and it becomes the Barbies’ job to restore balance.
For millennials, the premise is nostalgic. Many remember Eve, a naive anthropomorphized doll that leaves Sunny Vale for the “Real World” in Life Size. Like Barbie, Eve exudes confidence in her “I can accomplish anything” attitude as she navigates the expectations of her new reality. Barbie continues that empowering path that Life Size blazed twenty-three years ago.
Like Eve’s creator, Gerwig creatively uses Barbie’s childlike innocence to break down these complex “Real World” issues into something any generation can understand.
One of the problems Barbie confronts is Ken’s discovery of Patriarchy. He realizes that, unlike Barbie Land, men in the “Real World” hold power. When he brings this concept back to Barbie Land, the power dynamics shift as the Kens realize that they are more than just Barbie’s accessories. However, Barbie’s childlike innocence can’t compute this power shift, because Barbies have always been doctors and presidents, and they are defined by titles.
Another problem Gerwig addresses is body image. The Barbie doll has always been a reflection of unrealistic beauty standards with her corsetted waist and unnatural proportions. This first appears in the film when Barbie begins to become self-aware and finds cellulite on her leg. The ongoing theme comes to a head when Barbie can no longer see her own beauty, uncovering the hypocrisy of beauty standards.
A moving part of the film is when Barbie meets her creator, Ruth Handler. Ruth first invented Barbie for her daughter Barbara. This mother-daughter dynamic is one that Gerwig explores in her films, including Lady Bird and Little Women. Her characters often want to break free of expectations that their mothers have set for them. When Ruth speaks with Barbie, she discusses the concept that ideas like the Barbie doll live on forever, but human life is finite. In a very “Pixar’s Inside Out type of way,” Barbie realizes how much she will miss out on if she lives the “perfect” life in perpetuity.
Through the vehicle of imaginative play, Gerwig delivers a very empowering message that shows the importance of differences, that one “doll’s” success doesn’t diminish another’s, and how the absence of an end makes life less purposeful.
The difficult topics that are explored make the film less playful and utopic then the impressive marketing and trailers make it seem. It does address some really deep and difficult topics, including depression and anxiety. Although addressed tastefully, the transition from childlike innocence to “Real World” problems hits viewers like a ton of bricks, while some of the existential conversations require some Barbie-level flexibility for mental gymnastics.
In addition to Robbie and Gosling, the film features a stacked cast with Helen Mirren as the Narrator, Issa Rae as Barbie, America Ferrera as Gloria, Will Farrell as the CEO of Mattel, and Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler.
Audiences will also enjoy appearances from Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa, and Connor Swindells from Sex Education, as well as mermaid Dua Lipa and merman John Cena.
Greta Gerwig has proven, yet again, that she is an amazing filmmaker with her intuitive writing and ability to bring humility to each of her characters.
Grab your mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, and a box of tissues to go see Barbie, now in theaters!
Feature Photo Credit: Warner Brothers