Tremble…Sigh…Wonder…

By Michelle Kenney

Note: in response to my not hostile but nevertheless wholly muted response to Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE, Michelle Kenney, aka my sixteen-year old daughter, has provided a counterargument:

It seems that few people are immune to the delightfully pink charm of Barbie. The movie, released in theaters on July 21st, has proven an instant success, crossing $1 billion in the box office in just three weeks, becoming the first movie to be directed by one woman, Greta Gerwig, to do so. Barbie has kids, teenagers, and adults alike lining up in theaters dressed head-to-toe in pink, buying popcorn buckets in the form of Barbie’s car from the movie, and participating in the resurgence of barbiecore. I’ve been one of the many people excited for Barbie, considering Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are among my favorite actors, and Greta Gerwig is one of my favorite directors/screenwriters, and after seeing the highly anticipated film three times now, I believe it lives up to its hype. (Small spoilers ahead)

Barbie is a film that you go into thinking you know what it’s going to be about, and then it surprises you in so many ways. Lots of people I know who saw the movie didn’t expect it to be so emotional, and I agree that it proved full of surprises. The film opens pretty much as you’d expect – the barbies are living their best lives in Barbieland, without a care in the world. Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) and all her friends have girls’ nights every night, making Stereotypical Ken (Ryan Gosling) feel left out of the fun. This is the beginning of his “villain” arc. The barbies have their dream lives, from going to the beach every day, to hosting dance parties in the evenings. One day, Stereotypical Barbie begins to malfunction – morning breath, freezing cold showers (the elements don’t exist in Barbieland), and, gasp, flat feet. Terrified and confused, the Barbie’s advise Barbie to visit Weird Barbie, who tells her that someone has broken the portal that separates the real world from Barbieland, and in order to bring everything back to normal again, she needs to visit the real world and find her owners.

The scene of Barbie meeting Weird Barbie was one of the funniest scenes of the movie, with hilarious one-liners and Kate McKinnon’s physicality. Trying to prove his ability to be a good boyfriend, Ken joins her on her mission. In the real world, Barbie crosses paths with her owners Gloria and Sasha, a mom and her teenage daughter. Sasha does not take too kindly to Barbie, describing her as a “fascist,” but Barbie is determined to win her approval. We also find out that Gloria has been sketching drawings of Barbie, with “thoughts of death” and cellulite, in an effort to make her more relatable to other women, which therefore causes Barbie to malfunction in Barbieland. The part where it is revealed that Gloria drawing pictures of Barbie makes things happen in Barbieland was a bit confusing at first, but started to make more sense later on.

Meanwhile in the real world, Ken has discovered that men are usually treated better than women, and becomes fascinated with the patriarchy, which he decides to bring back to Barbieland, making it the “Kendom”. The CEO of Mattel finds out Barbie has escaped into the real world, leading him and the Mattel workers to run all over town, chasing her into Barbieland.

I personally thought the CEO’s plot and character was a bit weak – the movie would have been the same with or without him, albeit slightly less funny. Later in the movie, it is revealed that “Kendom” playsets are selling very well, so if that was the case, why is the CEO so eager to change it back? I don’t really believe this money-hungry CEO would have just done this out of the goodness of his heart, although it’s nice to see anyway. I actually like the movie’s lack of a real villain, though. The closest the film comes to having a villain is Ken after he introduces patriarchy to Barbieland and turns Barbie’s dreamhouse into his “mojo dojo casa house”; but even then, he does this because he feels unappreciated, like he is not worth anything without Barbie, and not manly enough, and Barbie later apologizes for excluding him in her plans. But the film’s main theme is humanistic, as it shows that humans aren’t born bad or good, anyone can be influenced by society and feel pressured to conform to certain expectations or standards.

Overall, I was impressed with Barbie. I thought the movie had a lot of heart, although some small details weren’t executed well, and some parts I didn’t love, though.

I didn’t like how Barbie just gave up so easily after seeing what Barbieland had turned into, and which although her discouragement is understandable, it kind of soured me on her as the main protagonist a bit. It seemed like Gloria, who provides a big monologue about how women are treated in society and is the one who convinces Barbie not to give up and that she is enough, proves more of the “hero” of the movie, 

Also, some parts of the plot were hard to follow, even after a second viewing (how exactly was the portal to Barbieland broken?) Nevertheless, the performances were excellent and convincing, and I admired Barbie’s sense of wonder and ambition to go to live in the real world; it made me more excited for life!

After a long pandemic, Barbie is the kind of optimistic movie we were all hoping for.