Barbie

[osprey_archer]

I’ve been a Greta Gerwig fan since I saw her in Frances Ha, so it’s been thrilling to see the rest of the world catch up, first in the critical acclaim of Lady Bird, then in the popular success of Little Women, and now in the crescendo of frenzy surrounding Barbie. I went on Saturday and found the theater a mass of pink and abuzz with excitement. I don’t think I’ve seen an audience with this kind of energy for a new release since The Return of the King.

And it was a lot of fun! Gerwig leaned hard into the Barbie aesthetic, everything bright bright BRIGHT colors, the water painted rather than actually wet, a world ruled by women where almost everyone is named Barbie: the air hums with the chirp of “Hi Barbie!” as the Barbies move around their paradise, where every day is a great day… unless you’re a Ken, when it’s only a great day if Barbie notices you.

All the actors are having a blast with their over-the-top characters. Margot Robie is fantastic as Stereotypical Barbie. (There’s a moment when she thinks she’s not pretty anymore, and the narrator, voiced by Helen Mirren, is like, “Don’t cast Margot Robie if you want this beat to land,” which brought down the house.) Ryan Gosling is a perfect foil as Ken. (“Who’s that guy?” I asked my friends, and they said, “That’s Ryan Gosling! But it’s so perfect for this movie that you don’t know…”). Kate McKinnon is gnawing on the scenery as Weird Barbie and clearly having the time of her life, and Michael Cera was born to play lonely Allan, the only Allan in a world otherwise populated with Barbies and Kens.

But something is going wrong with Stereotypical Barbie. Her toast burns! Her feet have gone flat! And she’s started to feel existential angst about death… Clearly, there’s only one thing to do: she has to go to the Real World to figure out what’s going wrong out there. Ken tags along for the ride… and discovers patriarchy. Although he’s a bit confused by the details (men and horses rule the world?), he gets the spirit, so he sneaks back to Barbieland to tell all the other Kens… and because patriarchy is a completely novel idea in Barbieland, the Barbies and Kens have no resistance, so it sweeps their society like smallpox.

I must confess I groaned over this plotline: “Why do tales of feminist utopias always go straight to the question ‘What if the men tried to destroy it?’,” was my internal plaint. And, I mean, sure, what if, but also, what if we tried to imagine other stories in this setting! Stories in which men are mere background players, perhaps. Or even stories that prominently feature men but aren’t about men trying to overthrow the utopia. They’re just living their second-class lives in it, as people do.

Also I just couldn’t with Stereotypical Barbie’s ultimate decision to become a human and live in the patriarchal human world and die someday, when she could spend the rest of her infinite life in paradise as a doll. Being a human is not that great! Go enjoy your doll eternity!

This is of course a prime case of getting annoyed at a story for not being the story that I wanted it to be, which is generally a bit unfair, and certainly very personal: other people may not be bothered by these elements at all. And certainly I still enjoyed the film, which is a lot of candy-colored fun. I just didn't love it the way that I loved Gerwig's Little Women.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I had so much fun with the trailers, watching cute Barbie and cute Ken being cute--and then when I heard a review and found out it was going to be about Ken trying to introduce patriarchy I was like... What?! THAT'S where you're going to take this cute set-up?

... And thinking about all that, I just feel like I'm too incurably, pedantically serious to get into this movie. If it had been just cute jokes and fun, I probably could have, but with Bonus Lesson on Patriarchy, no thanks--even just contemplating it, I'm coming up with things to complain about. Whereas I did enjoy the trailers!

So I'll stick with the trailers. However, I'm glad you enjoyed it, mostly.

[osprey_archer]

I did also have some quibbles about, like, the metaphysics of this world. Each Barbie is connected to a specific real doll out in the Real World, and if something happens to that doll then it affects Barbie in Barbieland - hence Weird Barbie. But then wouldn't there be a whole bunch of Weird Barbies? And also, somehow, at the same time, Barbie is the immortal emanation of an idea, which seems to contradict the idea of a connection to an individual doll...

However, this is absolutely the wrong level at which to engage this movie. It's like reading Narnia and complaining that the worldbuilding is not as painstakingly internally consistent as Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings. It isn't! It's not trying to be!

[threeplusfire]

I desperately need to know where the Kens sleep. On the beach? Are there Ken dorms? Ken slum housing???

[osprey_archer]

WHO CAN SAY. But Mattel has never released a Ken Dorm or a Ken Slum Housing, so it may have to be the beach. At least there's no rain in Barbieland!

[threeplusfire]

Mattel is missing a trick here. Ken Dorm playset, doubles as Ken jail when you start playing weird Barbie games.

[snickfic]

I wonder if the feminist utopia thing is another aspect of the film where one's response depends on one's prior exposure to the idea. I guess maybe I haven't encountered any feminist utopias before, so men trying to destroy them was also new to me rather than a trope I've seen too many times and am tired of. I suspect the same is true for a lot of the audience.

Anyway hard agree on how much fun it was, and for all the audience energy. That was definitely the fullest I've seen my local theater (especially in the middle of a weekday!) in quite a long time.

[osprey_archer]

Yes, not only was the showing we went to sold out, but all the Barbie showings for the entire day were already sold out too! Clearly this movie hit a strong reservoir of enthusiasm.

[phantomtomato]

Like you, I adore Gerwig—but it’s her earlier work that I connect with. Lady Bird was amazing, and I hoped so badly for a director who made stories that felt like that…

I felt like I could see flashes of the mumblecore Gerwig in Barbie. The sequences of families down without dialogue, in soft warm light—that was almost the vibe. Except those were montages, not particularly central to the movie, and what was essential to the main plot was a whole lot of Do Not Want. Like you, I hated the patriarchy storyline, and it made me strongly dislike Ken! His character flipped over into unlikeable dick for me from that moment, which is a shame for one of the leads (who still gets a sympathetic treatment in the end).

But, to be honest, I wouldn’t have gone to see the movie if my partner hadn’t wanted to, and so I admit I’m coming at this as someone who thought they would dislike it and then did. I just hope we get another Lady Bird out of Gerwig someday.

[osprey_archer]

So far Gerwig's directing career has featured a lot of "Wait, her next project is WHAT totally different thing than all her previous projects?", which perhaps doesn't bode well for more in the vein of Lady Bird... but on the other hand there might come a time when returning to her roots in the most unexpected thing she could do! So perhaps she will swerve back in that direction eventually.

[kore]

it’s been thrilling to see the rest of the world catch up, first in the critical acclaim of Lady Bird, then in the popular success of Little Women, and now in the crescendo of frenzy surrounding Barbie

I'm really so excited for her! I must admit I am hoping for a Best Pic and Best Director standoff between Oppenheimer and Barbie. (And I'd like Spiderverse in there too, but that's probably not gonna happen.)

[osprey_archer]

Ahahaha, the true end for the Barbenbeimer phenomenon... Civil War! Choose a side!

[littlerhymes]

I think the movie doesn't hang together as well as I'd like and you articulated really well my annoyance at how the story pivots to the Kens. I mean, I did enjoy the Kens and their musical beach off. I did laugh at the Mojo Dojo Casa House! But it could've done something diffrrent.

However looking back it's the fun parts and the good parts that stick out to me more. Not a Little Women, but what could be? (OK Greta time for Narnia now. So many ppl were like UGH SELL OUT but I'm like SCREAM please Greta do Narnia!)

[osprey_archer]

Yes, the musical beach off was fun! Many of the Kens antics were funny! Overall the movie was a fun experience and I'm so glad that I saw it on opening weekend when the energy was so high. But also... is it too much to ask the Barbie movie to focus on Barbie without a strong swerve into Ken...

My God, I WISH more female directors had the chance to "sell out" to direct giant fantasy epics! And I'm SO curious what Gerwig's Narnia will look like. The early 2000s movies were fun but a little soulless, very "Narnia by way of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings," and Gerwig will almost certainly bring a totally different aesthetic... IMO defining a strong aesthetic for each movie is one of her strong suits, particularly extravagantly displayed in Barbie but just as powerful (though less in your face) in her earlier movies, so she would be fantastic at the worldbuilding aspect of Narnia. And her mumblecore background, with the emphasis on interpersonal relationships, is fantastic preparation for the Pevensie children.

[silverusagi]

It's true that the logic of the movie doesn't hang together--is Barbie an individual doll belonging to a specific child, or is she an idea--but I definitely went into this movie not thinking about it too hard. I laughed out loud multiple times, and everyone on set is clearly having the time of their lives. Barbieland is so pretty and aesthetic.

Also I just couldn’t with Stereotypical Barbie’s ultimate decision to become a human and live in the patriarchal human world and die someday, when she could spend the rest of her infinite life in paradise as a doll

I generally hate this as a trope, but it only kind of bothered me here. But yeah, you find out about pain and suffering, and you want to go JOIN it? Can't you just... exist with your newfound knowledge about life in Barbieland?

[osprey_archer]

Yes, definitely, the internal logic doesn't hang together, but also this is NOT a movie that cares about internal logic. It's like going into the Lord of the Rings and demanding "but HOW are they FEEDING these ARMIES?"

I suppose becoming a human is meant to show character growth, but surely there is another way to show character growth that is not "I embrace the inevitability of death!" Stereotypical Barbie realizes that she doesn't have to be Stereotypical and embraces a wider role in Barbieland, or something!