If you’ve seen more pink than average this summer, seen girls perform hyper femininity or had random people on the street say, “Hey Barbie!” Your life, among others, has been impacted by Greta Gerwig’s new movie Barbie.
The hit movie broke box office records with over $1.38 billion earned. This was largely due to the marketing surrounding the movie, weeks and even months before it came out. It was a typical circumstance to see a giant Barbie box outside your local movie theater or a wide selection of pink clothing and even Xboxes at Target. It was no surprise that the production of the movie caused a national shortage of pink paint.
When the movie came out July 21, practically everyone flocked to the movie theaters in their pinkest clothing. Everyone was excited to see the next “chick flick” and have a good time, so why did these pink-clothed party girls leave the theater in tears?
Barbie starts as everyone expected it to. Barbie Land is introduced to us by the narrator, Helen Mirren. We start with a hilarious opening, alluding to Stanley Kubrick’s, 2001 A Space Odyssey. Immediately after, we go through the generations of Barbie dolls from the beginning to modern day. This introduces us to “Stereotypical Barbie” played by actress Margot Robbie.
Robbie was a true delight. She performed with remarkable comedic timing and genuine emotion. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing stereotypical Barbie, though Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway were also considered. Robbie was an obvious candidate for the role due to her undeniable glamor, but she brought indescribable passion and love to the role.
Though she is the titular character, it’s hard to imagine Barbie without her boyfriend Ken, played by actor Ryan Gosling, best known for The Notebook (2004). Like Robbie’s Barbie, Gosling plays your stereotypical Ken in Barbie Land. Ken is seen as a goofy side character, constantly pleading for Barbie’s attention.
As soon as Gosling’s Ken is introduced, the audience can undoubtedly see what roles the Kens play in Barbie Land and Barbie society. The Kens play the role that women are traditionally “supposed” to play in our society. Their jobs primarily consist of simple tasks–supporting the Barbies and not getting in their way. No Ken is in the Barbie Supreme Court, no Ken is a doctor and no Ken is allowed to have any sort of leadership position. Sound familiar?
All of this occurs just in the first half hour, so this movie surely isn’t pulling any punches. However, the Barbies and Kens are all happy! Nothing can ever go wrong in Barbie Land until strange things start to happen to Robbie’s Barbie. She can no longer perfectly float off of her Barbie dream house, she thinks about death, and has (gasp!) flat feet! Searching for answers, Barbie has to visit Weird Barbie, played by the delightful Kate Mckinnon–best known for her role as Jillian Holtzmann in Ghostbusters (2016)–to find out why all this is happening to her. Thanks to Weird Barbie’s advice, Barbie is off to the real world to, “learn the truth about the universe” and find out what’s happening to her. This is where our story truly begins.
Barbie learns that the real world is highly different from the “perfect” Barbie Land. The patriarchy runs rampant, making men in charge, and leaving women on the sidelines. Within this new world, Barbie realizes her impact isn’t exactly motivating women globally but may be hurting them.
Disappointed, Barbie and her new friends from the real world Gloria (America Ferrara) and her daughter Sasha (Arianna Greenblatt) go back to Barbie Land. However, it isn’t as fantastic as Aqua’s song states. The patriarchy of the real world has so influenced Ken that he has changed Barbie Land to be run by the Kens with the other Barbies being their servants.
Gloria isn’t going to take this sitting down. She inspires the Barbies with a truly rousing monologue about the life of a woman in today’s society, leaving the whole audience in tears. In the end, Barbie Land goes back to the perfect place it was before, after a hilarious song sung by Gosling and the other Kens.
As much as this movie’s praises have been sung, some parts are less than perfect. The middle starts to slow down when Barbie returns from the real world, and some argue that the ending isn’t satisfying. The movie is loved worldwide, but no film is perfect.
No movie is without controversy, and Barbie is no different. Several people online and news organizations have spoken out against the movie’s portrayal of men. However, the way Barbie treats men is quite similar to how some other well-loved movies treat women (Grease, My Fair Lady and 16 Candles to name a few).
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie started with the audience smiling and ended with mascara all over our faces. Though it is considered a comedy, Barbie has some moments that are only too real for today’s women. We may have come a long way, but there always seems to be someone telling women how to act and live their lives. Barbie is a truly delightful satire on the modern day, that’s not perfect, but one of the best movies we’ve seen in a long time.
