Written by Giana Capri
For more than half a century, Barbie has been celebrated as a symbol of girlhood play and berated as an instrument of toxic gender norms and consumerist ideals of femininity. If Barbie has been a controversial figure for about as long as she’s been on the shelves, it’s because the doll perfectly captures changing ideas about girls and women: our Barbies, ourselves.
In writer-director Greta Gerwig’s new film, The Barbies live in Barbie Land, where every day is sunny and perfect—especially for Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie). She has lots of friends, all named Barbie, who run all aspects of the world, as well as a boyfriend named Ken (Ryan Gosling), who hangs out with all of the other Kens at the beach. He is not a lifeguard, nor is he a surfer; his job, he insists, is simply “beach.” And let’s not forget about Allan (Michael Cera), Ken’s buddy, who can fit into all of Ken’s clothes. He’s just … Allan.
Barbie opens with a scene that parodies the “dawn of man” sequence in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, where a tribe of apes in a desolate prehistoric scenery learn to make tools when all of a sudden they are confronted by a tall mysterious monolith. In Gerwig’s rendition, a group of little girls equipped with baby dolls are suddenly confronted with a towering monolith of their own: Barbie, which inspires them to smash their boring baby dolls.
We then shift to Barbie Land, a multicolored, bubble-gum pink wonderland. Every day is the same for Stereotypical Barbie. She wakes up in her heart-shaped bed, waves to neighbor Barbies, and heads to her shower. Her day’s outfit awaits, protected by shiny plastic just like a Barbie box. Barbie soon floats out of her Dreamhouse, as if she were being lifted by the giant invisible hand of a child.
When Barbie finds her perfect life suddenly staggered by existential thoughts, flat feet, and a patch of cellulite, she seeks answers from Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon)—a Barbie doll that was played with too roughly: hair unevenly cut, marker drawn around her eyes, and a funky looking outfit. She offers Stereotypical Barbie a choice between a pink high-heeled shoe that will go back to her regular life or a Birkenstock that will let her learn the truth about the universe. (It’s perhaps no coincidence this scene recalls the Red-Pill Blue-Pill moment from The Matrix.) Barbie is told to leave her utopian world and travel to the real world—Los Angeles, where Ken sneakily joins in. There, she searches for answers from her human owners, a tween named Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) and her mother Gloria (America Ferrera), who works at Mattel. As they leave to go to the real world, they follow the pink brick road, and as they do, behind them, is the rainbow in Barbie Land, similar to the yellow brick road and rainbow we all know and love in The Wizard of Oz.
Barbie’s image is diverse in terms of representation of female excellence and perfection. Barbie is meant for all women and she is a reminder that they are capable of doing anything. In Barbie Land, the Barbies—beautiful, accomplished, and happy in all their different appearances and jobs—run a supportive and productive world. Then there are the Kens, who do not have jobs or purposes—they technically exist to be supporters to each Barbie. So, when traveling into the real world, Barbie feels uncomfortable, while Ken feels powerful because it is the complete opposite of Barbie Land.
Watching Barbie feels like someone finally acknowledges everything that girls have to do in order to just survive (thank you, Greta Gerwig). But when leaving the film, it feels like stepping back out into the cold, feeling exposed and ashamed as men express how much they dislike women.
“Ken just gets it.” No, unfortunately he does not. That was one of the points made in the movie. Ken just has to be Ken, but Barbie will always have to be a million things to satisfy other Kens. To all men, yes, you should love as hard as Ken does, but you should stand out the way Allan does. Allan has no expectations of Barbie because he knows that isn’t his place.
Barbie is such an optimistic, compassionate take on patriarchy. In Barbie Land, Barbie’s biggest crime is that men are benevolently ignored. The Barbies don’t abuse them, they don’t force the men to serve them, they just aren’t that interested. When Ken brings patriarchy to Barbie Land, all the women are displaced and effectively forced into servitude, perpetually compelled to provide attention and “brewskis.” Barbie doesn’t hate Ken, she just doesn’t love him like he loves her.
Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, is the one to thank in all of this. Ruth got the idea for Barbie after watching her young daughter, Barbara, play with paper dolls of adult women. Given the popularity of baby dolls at the time, Handler viewed Barbie as an aspirational alternative: a toy to help girls envision lives and careers outside of being a mother and housewife. Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future. Handler’s whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices in a reality where they didn’t have many.
Ruth got the idea for Barbie after watching her young daughter, Barbara, play with paper dolls of adult women. Given the popularity of baby dolls at the time, Handler viewed Barbie as an aspirational alternative: a toy to help girls envision lives and careers outside of being a mother and housewife. Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future. Handler’s whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices in a reality where they didn’t have many.
In some ways, Barbie builds on themes Gerwig explored in her films Lady Bird and Little Women. It is a success of re-imagination, a self-reflective exploration of womanhood and growing up, and to not allow yourself to be shaped by nostalgia while also living with deep, real love.
Barbie is not one singular person. Barbie is any girl who is fun, adventurous, friendly, determined, eager to learn, hard working, and so much more. That’s why Barbie can be black, brunette, or look like literally anyone. It’s because Barbie is not a person, she’s an idea. If they’re all Barbies, that means Barbie is all of them.
Barbie is now playing in theaters.
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