The newest sensation in cinema the Barbie movie brings up several relevant themes to American life today. It humorously gets the audience to think about traditional gender roles and what sexism really is. It says the quiet part out loud about what it is like to be a woman and the pressures that come with it. Most importantly it tells the audience that it is okay to be ordinary and not have all the answers.
Director Greta Gerwig pulls all of her own thoughts about the movie together in a genuine and funny way. “I wanted to make something anarchic and wild and funny and cathartic,” She said in an interview with Kyle Buchanan. Like when she shows the advent of Barbie as a giant Barbie standing over little girls playing with baby dolls in a desert at the beginning of the movie.
The movie humorously calls out sexism and how men and women are treated differently. Barbie Land is a female-dominated utopia where the Barbies think they have solved all of the world’s feminist problems. But they have actually made the Kens second-class citizens who only matter if the Barbies pay attention to them. Barbie says, “Basically, everything men do in your world, women do in ours.” Barbie says cheerfully to disaffected teenager, Sasha, in an attempt to explain. Barbie has a rude awakening in the real world, however, as she is objectified and blamed for setting feminism back. Ken, on the other hand, loves the male-dominated patriarchy. At least until he finds out it’s not all about horses.
The characters brilliantly call out the pressures of being female in the 21st Century. Gloria has a brilliant monologue that is way too long to put here, but Barbie sums it up by saying, “It is literally impossible to be a woman.” I recommend you pay close attention to every single word of it when you inevitably watch the Barbie movie.
I think probably the most important part of the movie is that its main message is that it is okay to be ordinary. Gerwig shows Barbie’s journey from the perfection of Barbie Land to an ordinary life in the “Real World ” and all of the complications that come with it. There are so many different kinds of Barbies in Barbie Land, from astronauts to doctors but none of them really depict an ordinary Barbie going through an ordinary life. Gloria pitches a new idea to Mattel, “What about ordinary Barbie? She’s not extraordinary. She just has a flattering top, and she wants to get through the day feeling kind of good about herself.” After that, the Mattel CEO thinks it won’t make any money but according to their calculations it would make tons of money and be popular. Ken also figures out he is just Ken and that he is “Kenough.” The movie’s message is not just aimed at girls.
There were a couple of things in the movie that put me off a little and it may not feel the same for everyone. I thought the transitions between topics were kind of jarring and a tad confusing at times. For example Barbie wanted to go home and have everything go back to normal and Mattel gave her that exact option, but she ran away, and an exciting car chase ensued. But Barbie can’t drive so Gloria was the one who picked her up, somehow being perfectly on time after Barbie runs down flights of stairs, takes a tea break (With, may I add, Barbie’s inventor, Ruth Handler). However, aside from that, I have no real bad feedback. And I am excited to say the Barbie movie is now playing in most theaters and is a joy to watch.