This review contains spoilers for “Barbie”.
A sea of pink floods into the theater. Even from a mile away, an onlooker knows where everyone is going. To see the most anticipated movie of the year, “Barbie”. Greta Gerwig’s (co-writer and director) ambitious film follows her trend of movies about girlhood and coming-of-age (such as “Ladybird” and “Little Women”).
The “Barbie” movie is a fever dream full of pink, glitter, and a crippling joy that’s more obnoxious than it is comforting – accurate to everything that Barbies are. Margot Robbie plays “stereotypical” Barbie (Classic Barbie, the one without a job) who one day is overwhelmed by existential thoughts about death, which in turn cause her to develop cellulite and flat feet. A Barbie’s worst nightmare! Robbie’s character lives in Barbieland, a matriarchal society where everything is led by Barbies (there’s a Barbie president, supreme court, construction workers, etc) for Barbies. Kens are there too. They “beach”, which is another term for standing on Barbieland’s plastic beach half-naked. Ryan Gosling plays stereotypical Ken, Classic Barbie’s other half.
There’s a lot to love about Gerwig’s campy, girly, acid trip of a film. The beginning sequences are incredibly nostalgic and realistic to the life of a plastic doll. When they shower there’s no water and they don’t walk most places because who really walked their Barbies anyway? There’s even Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), whose hair is cut in odd angles and her face decorated by marker swatches because she was “played with too much”. If anything, Gerwig is a master of details. Every little action the Barbies do in Barbieland is rich with a sentimental feeling of childhood fun, down to the mechanical movements of the dolls.
The movie, albeit not the characters themselves, presents itself as incredibly self-aware. There are multiple mentions of how the Barbies believe that they have saved feminism completely and that the real world is akin to Barbieland. When Barbie gets to the real world, she’s sure of her beauty as she is the beauty standard. The daughter of her owner (Ariana Greenblatt) calls her a fascist and yet Barbie’s only response is to say that she doesn’t control the railways or the flow of commerce. The board of Mattel is made up entirely of men who claim they’re doing it all to help little girls around the world. Gerwig tackles the issues with Barbie in the modern world (body image, expectations, corporate capitalism and propaganda) with a satirical spin, painting each character as an ignorant caricature. And though at times it was humorous, sometimes I felt as though I was being force-fed satire and needed to laugh for the sake of acknowledging its ridiculousness.
Stereotypical femininity has a strong role in the movie, and in Barbies as a whole. Barbie is blonde and skinny and she loves the color pink! Gerwig makes a strong point of maintaining the movie’s girly visuals throughout, even when Barbie is forced to reckon with the real world. Because yes, Barbieland is extremely pink. But it’s also true that femininity has a strong place in the real world. Barbie never trades her love for pink and girly things for a chance at the real world. Because they aren’t mutually exclusive. Barbie can be excessively girly and bright while still being a real girl.
One of the biggest plot points in the movie is when Ken discovers the patriarchy for the first time in the real world and then sets off to introduce the patriarchal society to Barbieland. ‘Kendom’ is an overtly manly world with an emphasis on horses and beer and an odd nod to cowboy culture. Every Barbie except Classic Barbie is brainwashed into subservience and now only acts to serve the Kens. It’s a very on-the-nose look at the most extreme form of the patriarchy and yet goes to show the level of indoctrination that happens to boys that only furthers the hold of the patriarchy. Ken admits he was never into the patriarchy much, just the idea of horses. But really it was the idea of control, especially in his world where it’s always been the opposite. It’s a fascinating look at why men further the patriarchy and what breeds abusive and misogynistic tendencies in them.
To stop Kendom, the Barbies all team up and restore Barbieland to its matriarchal systems, using the male ego to guide them. There’s a particular scene where all the Kens are singing the same exact song to their Barbies (for four hours!) when their Barbies conjure drama by talking to other Kens. That’s when the male ego strikes and the Kens wage war on each other. Ultimately, the Kens resolution is to find themselves apart from their identities that revolve around Barbies. They’re even offered small-level jobs under the President. This resolution was one of my favorite parts of the film. Gerwig refused to push the idea of equality onto us – like by turning Barbieland into Barbie and Ken World – and instead embraced the idea of identity and oneself. It’s refreshing to see a feminist movie not force the characters into a ‘gender equality’ ending, but rather one that uplifts the women in the film.
There’s a certain critique I’ve been seeing everywhere: the “Barbie” movie did not address everything it should have. Or, the “Barbie” movie was too shallow. Which brings up the question: Why do we watch movies? If we wanted to watch a movie on a searing take on feminism in the real world and the real-life effects the Barbie dolls had on the feminist movement, we’d be watching a ten-hour-long documentary. Yes, the cast did say the movie was smart. Because it is. The topics it chooses to handle, it handles deftly and with care. Sure, there are a lot of layers to feminism and Barbie and femininity and whatever, but it isn’t Gerwig’s obligation to address it all. She gave us a classic, girly film that does talk about feminism and standards, and the patriarchy in a witty way. The “Barbie” movie isn’t some philosophical indie film with no dialogue and solemn shots of characters staring out of windows. It’s a funny, song-filled film that addresses the issues it chooses to address.
“Barbie” is a movie for the masses, a funny, adorable, and, at times, insanely trippy film for girls everywhere.