Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP
America Ferrera, left, and Margot Robbie pose for photographers at the London ‘Barbie’ premiere, July 12, 2023.
I do not remember my first Barbie. I do not remember whether she was white, or Black, or whether she was Doctor Barbie or Lawyer Barbie. What I do remember is getting my first Barbie Dreamhouse. The possibilities were endless within those walls, and I spent many hot California days dressing her up and down, and expanding my imagination in ways only a child’s brain could.
Then, I remember retreating from Barbie. I remember rejecting pink, rejecting womanhood, and rejecting society’s expectations of me. Defending all the ways I was who I am and still a girl was too much for me to fully express.
I finally found that expression in the film adaptation of Barbie. There are plenty of things to gripe about with the film. The setup is a little too on the nose, the dance scenes are gratuitous and not really plot-driven, and it takes a pretty surface-level view of gender issues that reek of second-wave feminism. It does not tackle gender nonconformity beyond a few quips about genitals, and there is something cynical about a movie making fun of Mattel having its stamp of approval at the same time.
What Barbie does well is capture the nostalgia of a generation of women who are navigating a world that is still actively trying to restrict their bodily autonomy, despite all the lessons learned from recent history. In a post-Roe world, Barbie dares to contend with issues of sexism, motherhood, and patriarchy. Barbie is really a movie about choice, about a girl growing up and choosing who she wants to be. Abortion restrictions send the message that women are strictly incubators, with no say in their life’s direction. Barbie rejects this without tearing motherhood down; Barbie finds the joy in being a girl with or without children.
Barbie is set in Barbie Land, where women are in charge and just generally living their best lives without the weight of the patriarchy. Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) begins to malfunction, thinking of death and dealing with flat feet. She is implored by Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) to repair the ripple between Stereotypical Barbie and her owner in the real world.
Barbie is inclined to go back to her old life. This moment is full of levity, with McKinnon bringing lightness to the choice and presenting a Birkenstock to represent the real world. It is based on a very relatable desire. How amazing would it be to go back in time, back to when the idea of a woman was uninhibited by the pressures of a patriarchal society?
Barbie is, of course, about Barbie. But, as others have noted, a central component to the movie is Gloria (America Ferrera), a parent in the real world outside of Barbie Land, and the relationship between her and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). Sasha used to play with Barbies, but grew tired and jaded with her existence, concurrently pushing Gloria away. The audience learns that Gloria is the true source of Barbie’s sudden issues, as she deals with her own existential crisis, caught between a fickle teenager and the pressures to be a perfect mother. Barbie validates growing up innocent and having it so quickly stripped away.
The movie is full of comedy, pop music, and solid performances. The Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell) is ridiculous and insensitive, and Ken (Ryan Gosling) is the insecure foil to Barbie’s journey. While Barbie navigates the real world, Ken learns of the patriarchy and brings it back to Barbie Land, brainwashing the Barbies and setting up the movie’s climax. The plot is streamlined in a traditional way, and the cinematography is pinker than pink, anchored in soft hues and beach vibes.
Barbie contends with what society thinks of the Barbie doll as a concept. The anti-Barbie backlash has been entirely predictable. There was something ridiculous about the film’s pairing with Oppenheimer, anchored in a theoretically gendered competition that didn’t make sense and, indeed, only bolstered sales (200,000 people bought tickets to both opening weekends). Meanwhile, as the directly feminist themes ruffled the far right, on the other end of the spectrum, some have questioned whether Barbie is actually feminist, or just a corporate rendering of the concept for a cash grab.
The labor of women has never been fully appreciated by the society it supports. In a post-Roe society, where women are losing their bodily autonomy more and more nearly every day, where motherhood as a choice is becoming foreign to a whole generation, Barbie is a reminder that the work women put into the world keeps it running, and that women are more than their political reduction to the uterus.
As Gloria points out with impassioned speech, Barbie has been set up against the same standards all women are. “It is literally impossible to be a woman,” she says. “You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.”
This is the speech that reinvigorates Barbie, and sets the film’s conclusion in motion, with Gloria reciting the speech over and over until the Barbies are no longer brainwashed and they are able to take back Barbie Land.
Greta Gerwig, the film’s director who was previously mostly known for Lady Bird (2017), captures those thoughts that many women have but struggle to express while just trying to survive. In that way, Barbie is like a breath of fresh air.
The market needed something like Barbie. Something unabashedly feminist, or more accurately unabashedly for women, is rare entertainment nowadays. The world needed to see that the little girls who were simultaneously fed the ideals of Barbie and the hatred for her have grown up, and that the pinkness is being embraced.
