These past three weeks I haven’t been able to go to the theatre to see Barbie. I wasn’t in much anticipation of it before the reviews came out. But then overnight it became all the world was talking about, about how it was a revolutionary look at the world, a love letter to women and girls who have ever felt disregarded, unloved, stereotyped, or weak in the face of a male-dominated world. And now that I’ve finally seen it, my thoughts are in even more of a jumble than I expected. This review I think is more about the discussion than the actual movie, and I encourage you to also read reviews from those more informed with the subject matter. With that being said, here are my thoughts on one of the most thought-provoking movies of the year.
There’s a world out there called Barbieland. Somehow Mattel was able to, perhaps not on purpose, create an alternate world based around all (or some) of the Barbie’s, (probably some, otherwise Barbieland would be populated by billions) and how they are played with by their owners. Everybody there is named Barbie and Ken, except pregnant Midge and friendly Allan, apparently other toys Mattel discontinued long ago. Margot Robbie is the stereotypical Barbie, and some of the other Barbies seem that way too, but there are Barbies and Kens of all shapes and sizes and ethnicities, doing all sorts of specific roles. But it’s dominated by the Barbies and the Kens are really on the side in their lives, including Ryan Gosling’s Ken that has an unrequited crush on Robbie’s.
One day Robbie’s Barbie out of the blue considers what it’s like to die, something she realizes is definitely an abnormal thought. And the next morning, her body and thoughts feel simply off to her, and the others take notice. Barbie enlists the help of a Barbie known as a bit abnormal because of what her kid has done to her hair, face and clothes. But she’s also a very bright Barbie, and she reveals something has happened with the kid who plays with her, and if Barbie is able to travel to the human world and fix whatever’s wrong, her life and thoughts will go back to normal. And Gosling tags along for the ride. And the both of them learn things about how the world really is that will change their lives and their worlds forever.
Something I knew before going to see this movie was that a lot of our mainstream entertainment is geared towards what men are expected to like, you know? And even if some of the themes come across as gender-neutral, the women are often oversexualized, carrying the men to victory, or the emotional tipping point. When I review a movie, I always consider how the women are presented and if there is at least fair or considerate representation.
But I haven’t had to go through a life where I feel I can’t reach ranks that the world has designed men to only be a part of. I haven’t had to go through a life where the opposite gender was seen as the one to lead mainstream pop culture and my gender was usually the unimportant or unprofitable one. I haven’t had to live a life feeling the weight on my shoulders that America Ferrera’s character discusses (a superb and completely honest speech that deserves to be heard by the world.) I’m a 6-foot tall Caucasian guy (I’m also gay but I’m still pretty lucky where I am.) I also never played with Barbies, so I don’t have a nostalgia drive. The point is, women and girls, especially those who have or had Barbies of their own, are going to understand and appreciate this movie better than any man or boy can, even ones who have or had Barbies too. But there’s nothing wrong with that, especially since there are so many movies out there, having been produced for decades, that seem overly tailored towards men.
This movie begins by throwing in simplistic and meretricious values that were dominant when our grandparents were kids, throws the entire thing backwards and inside out by having the women run the world, and puts a big spotlight on all of it. If the ways the men are relegated to the minor and overdramatic roles makes anyone uncomfortable, it’s meant to, sending the message that the gender norms that do these exact same things but with the roles reversed are so ingrained into us, that the idea of a reverse feels hard to imagine, but the norms have sometimes felt this way towards women, making them feel awkward, excluded, misunderstood. And it’s definitely not told in a forgettable manner.
By now you’re probably wondering where my B grade comes from. My grade generally reflects if I would’ve changed anything, and if so, how much. And when I give a movie a B, it means I thought it was a good movie and did a lot right but could’ve done more. Do I have any criticisms about the message? No. None. What I would’ve done is added more excitement, have a climax with more tension (I think everything is tied up in a bow a little too easily), and I also want to point out there are times when I felt the messages could’ve been given more direct examples. When Barbie meets a girl named Sasha, she reveals she hates Barbie and that she’s hurt women, and gives a speech about how she’s made women feel about their bodies and corrupt capitalism, but I would’ve also liked to hear a more personal story from Sasha, about why she specifically doesn’t like her. Some of it seems more talk than show.
But let’s get back to what is good. The movie is very satirical, from the mocking how much worse the car flips would be in real life that we sometimes do to our toy cars, to how when we play with our dolls there’s no water in their cups or through the showers, to dance numbers the men partake in with moves deemed oddball when men do it rather than women, to censoring (or non-censoring) of words the studio dared to throw out there in a movie about a doll. My sister, who saw this movie earlier than me, said this movie is more for her than little kids. She’s right. But don’t forget that satire is also about stretching boundaries.
There is a main target audience for Barbie, and it has loved the movie’s message of empowerment, trust, acceptance and ability for women to do anything they set their mind to, enough for the movie to gross over a billion dollars, and that fact has made these last few weeks for me. I want the world to be a place where both women and men are accepted for whoever they are and whatever they like, a value that right-wing people devout to conformist societal norms are terrified of because of fragile egos. And Barbie is a step in the right direction. I appreciate, admire and respect the movie more than I find it entertaining. I’d rather rewatch the new Ninja Turtles movie, Mutant Mayhem, than rewatch this. But this is an important movie that will help a lot of people, it’s often pretty funny, and whenever it’s discomforting, whether from a boy or a girl, it’s also fascinating to think about why that would be.
William J. McGinn 
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