Bitch please, the choice this week isn’t between Barbie and Oppenheimer, it’s which one we seein’ first! I’ve chosen Barbie because I’m a rebel who eat my sweets before my mains – the doll before the harrowing history lesson. Hey, I remember seeing Nora Ephron’s Bewitched in cinemas and thinking it was trash, but it was a few years later, on a second viewing, that I realised Ephron was doing some sort’ve metaphoric deconstruction there, perhaps ahead of its time (and still, albeit not all that well). But the reason I mention this is because through Barbie’s teaser trailer, and Margot and Ryan’s coded interview responses, it’s got me thinking that maybe Greta Gerwig will be doing the same with Barbie; and the content is there, and it won’t be beyond her. If not, then I’ll be happy for whatever surprises Barbie has in store for us, as Gerwig’s keen work follows on from Lady Bird and Little Women, and I have supreme confidence that this cannot be bad. Oh boy!
To Barbie premiers, we wear pink, and listen to Aqua on the way there 🥰 I’m sitting in the cinema and realising just how invested I am in the hype for this movie – this is the most I’ve looked forward to seeing a new movie in a long while. “Stereotypical” Barbie (Margot Robbie), the Barbie that comes to mind when you think of a lasting imagine of Barbie, is a blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world, where a Barbie holds every position of power in society, and Ken exists to fawn. Living the good life, and believing her existence has positively impacted the real world for the better, Barbie starts to experience negative emotions and horrific changes to her body 😮 Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) tells her that this has happened because the child playing with her in the real world, must be bringing their yucky icky human fears into play, and the best way to put things back in order, is to travel to the human world, and put the child straight. So off Barbie goes, with Ken (Ryan Gosling) in tail, and when they get to the human world, they are shocked to find how everything they know seems backwards.
I absolutely love how Barbie accentuates everything that’s great about Barbie. That’s what you want a deep dive to do, when one is creating a movie about a beloved property. Marvel is one example, who’s known to mock their own source material from time to time for a cheap joke, when the real talent is pulling off positive revelry, in the very things about the product that bring people joy, even down to celebrating the hokeyness. The opening two scenes had me brimming from ear to ear. When I saw the shot of Barbie’s feet in the trailer, I knew we were in for a good time, and the movie goes so much further than that – the imaginary water in the shower of Barbie’s Dreamhouse, Barbie walking across the plastic swimming pool, the fold-out ambulance, and the way the car crashes, are all visually amazing. There’s even a broken tree in a scene when Ken takes over, that is shown to be pink on the inside, and anyone who’s ever seen a scratch or a peeled sticker on a plastic Barbie playset before, could testify that this would be accurate 👍 Every time Ken said his role was “Beach” made me laugh 😄, and the great thoughtful visuals continue throughout, to allow for comedy from Ken’s dazzling rollerblades to Weird Barbie’s whole… thing. The opening spoof on 2001: A Space Odyssey, grounds us with how Barbie was so groundbreaking at her introduction, and it’s divine.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are brilliant on paper, and wonderful in execution, which is actually a relief to me. From there, I mean, this is how you build an ensemble cast! Every role is perfectly measured and filled. I don’t reckon America Ferrera gets enough credit for the relatable everywoman persona she brings to the table, and this will be a touchstone role for her. Kate McKinnon and Will Ferrell are two of the best flavours in the SNL package, and it’s always great when they’re put to good use. Rhea Perlman is so sweet as the “ghost” of Ruth Handler; I’m wrapped to see her get that role. Simu Liu was a little rigid in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, while the movie I loved happened around him, but he’s super charming here, as a rival Ken. Emma Mackey looks a lot like Margot Robbie, as is often joked about, so she fits as another Barbie, and Michael Cera was born to play Allan, need I say more 😍 I don’t always like Issa Rae but she sure is presidential, while Alexandra Shipp is fast becoming a top five celebrity crush of mine (oh, am I even allowed to say that of the Barbie movie 😮😄)
The movie holds a lot of ideas, and sometimes, on a first viewing, it’s hard to consolidate what you’re thinking at any given time due to the sheer speed they’re coming at you. I think I’m grooving with about 90% of what this movie is doing, but there’s a nagging thought I have that threatens to unravel the entire thing, so let’s get into it – for a movie about women and men’s relations, Barbie doesn’t present an answer to a time when men and women get along most, when a mature personal relationship forms. The only genuine coupling we see in the movie is Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter’s father, and he only appears twice, and both times as an unnecessary goofball. I feel like a lot of entertainment these days present women as so independent that all male attention is callously beneath them, or it presents women as incredibly crass, just as able to flex their sexual prowess as forthrightly as what would be classified as traditionally masculine… and I’m just hankering for something in between. Having said this, Barbie’s comment about not having a vagina, to the stereotypical worksite louts, was perfectly placed, and it might not be up to a Barbie movie to deliver on romantic relations when Barbies and Kens aren’t sexual beings; but the movie does make Ken’s intention to share a relationship with Barbie, and so it’s broached the issue. I’ve done some soul-searching, asking myself if this is something that I wanted to see of the Barbie movie, or if this is something that is missing, and I believe it’s missing. Because, near the end, after fighting over control of the Dreamhouse, Ken makes the comment that he’s always wanted one day for it to be “our” Dreamhouse, to which all Barbie can offer is that “not every night needed to be girl’s night”. From there, it’s become a standard answer when someone is hung up over unreciprocating feelings, that they need to discover who they truly are without the other person – which is a sound sentiment, but it’s still basically the new polite way to tell someone that you don’t fancy them, while people do meet and settle down, and often before they know all the ins and outs about themselves, because that’s impossible, right? Sometimes, to discover more about yourself, you need to put yourself in unfamiliar positions too, like relationships, to delve into what you really want out of relationships 😕 I’m just surprised there’s not a line from Barbie about simply not being ready to settle down with Ken, or even unsure if she’ll ever want to settle down, as there’s just so much to accomplish in the world – which would be fine, and at least her emotions on the front would be acknowledged.
I’ll admit it, that in the moment, I found the ending a little wishy-washy, with the creator, Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman) simply telling Barbie to “feel” as an answer to all the troubling ideas she’d come across on her journey; but I suppose, at the end of the day, the simplicity in the message is all one can ever do, and it’s an empowering note to leave on if you let it. The movie is great in how it’s able to switch gears to present the darker discourse on Barbie, using Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) to tear Stereotypical Babie a new one, while the movie still maintains a core belief that Barbie is awesome. And that speech designed to wake up the Barbies under the waft of patriarchy, was strong enough to even wake me up – all the noise, dredging through how women are mistreated, and scrutinizing Barbie as a feminist toy icon, quieted down for a moment to preach focus, and a level of unity; and sometimes, when a movie is proud of the world-stopping ace up its sleeve, it can fail to deliver, but I was contented here. Yet, for a movie with such a strong feminist slant, I’d worry about getting bogged down in complaints without perspective – one such example comes when I think Gloria is delivering the spiel to Writer Barbie (Alexandra Shipp), and goes with the line, “if you take men’s advances, you’re a tart, but if you don’t, then you’re a prude”. Neither one of those outcomes include the woman’s desires, and call me the feminist 😏 but I think a woman’s desires should be a consideration, and cast the final vote. No but, this isn’t even solely an original instigation, as Jeffery Winger told this to Troy Barnes about his bloody letter jacket in the first episode of Community. My point is, it’s good to also remember that some troubles, like how others will perceive you, are human problems, even if this “tart/prude” dilemma is purely a feminist example, and you’re always going to have varying control over how people see you no matter what gender you are. Come to think of it, us men have a shallow dichotomy to contend with ourselves, in “fuck-boy/incel”, which is not as historically ingrained in society like the other, but hardly nice supportive terms either.
I guess it matters to some that Barbie stay single; I couldn’t care less. Barbie and Ken got together in Toy Story 3 and that wasn’t a dagger to the side of feminism, was it? However, what’s most questionable, is how the Barbie’s use their allure to “divide and conquer” the Ken’s on the beach while they’re playing guitar – on the one hand, the Barbie’s do achieve their mission to retain their world, and wartime play is dirty (yippee!), but it does weaponize their femininity, and would degrade a woman’s own emotions if the movie wasn’t to ignore that sometimes women might also be genuinely attracted to men.
Look, I’m at the stage where if Greta Gerwig has something to say then I’m there to listen. I am bothered by the irony of her writing a loveless discussion on the postulations of men and women in the world, whilst alongside her husband, but that’s one thing. This is basically the same outline of a story we’ve seen a hundred times – a fictional character from an unusual world, travels to the real world to butt heads with it; returns home to see misdeeds have occurred in their absence, and finds an admiration for the real world in the meantime – but what makes Barbie elevated is the grand attempt to put an intellectual thesis into it. And more often than not, the Barbie script is scrumptiously biting, where more than a few times, I had a big smile on my face, appreciating the entertainment and stimulation provided to us by a very considered director. To deconstruct a brand, that has been resilient for decades, include all sides of debate, to have something worthwhile to say and not get too heady, and retain the childhood magic of the thing you’re talking about; is a tough balance, I get it. There’s also an inherent barrier for a male audience member, while how women respond to Barbie will be more poignant than anything I can offer. I do think there’s something in Barbie for everyone though, but I would question anyone who’d say that the whole thing is for them all at once 🤔 All this is just my initial reaction, and I look forward to investigating what others are saying, and seeing Barbie again in maybe three years, holding a better idea what to expect, and having had the time to digest the conversation. Right now, I still believe Barbie is an accomplishment. 4.0
P.S. Although ‘Push’ by Matchbox Twenty isn’t representative of all the music men listen to, it is the perfect song to illustrate an example of abusive patriarchy in the world. I knew the song was ugly, and didn’t think on it beyond that it was how the writer was feeling, but by jolly, is it ugly – a glass shattering choice for Barbie; well chosen. I doubt I can ever listen to song the same way again 😤
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