In our first Opinions column, we get two different views of Barbie, arguably 2023’s most hyped and controversial movie. Which of the two do you agree with? Read on!
Before we start – what is Barbie about?
Summary written by Sara Hoffman
During this past year, Barbie, released July 21, 2023, has been viewed as both a smashing success and yet another movie that has missed the mark. The director of the movie, Greta Gerwig, is not only the brains behind Barbie, but had also been an actor herself in the past. Greta is best known for her contributions to the movie industry, specifically for having directed Little Women and Lady Bird. Both movies were created to highlight the struggles that women often face in their lives. Greta has always felt that it was important to put out the message that women are already strong and that they have the ability to be anything that a man can be, anything that they really want to be. Additionally, Greta is known to structure her films around strong female characters, each of whom stand to represent a different struggle that women must fight against on a daily basis. Greta does exactly that with Barbie. In a partnership with the writer, Noah Baumbach, she is able to portray the world-renowned and extremely loved children’s toy, Barbie. The movie opens with “Stereotypical Barbie” waking up to yet another perfect day. She says good morning to all of her Barbie friends, spends as little time as possible with “her” Ken, has a huge party, and yet another girls’ night — because every night is supposed to be girls’ night, right? Barbie then wakes up the next day, and her milk is spoiled, her shower is cold, her breakfast is burnt, her feet are flat on the ground, and worst of all: she has cellulite! Barbie enters onto a journey to find and connect with the human girl, or woman, who is playing with her and causing such drastic changes. She learns during the course of her adventure what really goes on in the Real World and how women are treated, in comparison to how her and the Barbie’s think life is going there.
Are We Really Living in a Barbie World?
Sara Hoffman
Overall, this movie projects a realistic take on the lives of both men and women, showing how both genders struggle in various ways. It is truly important for humanity to have sympathy for both sides of our world, as men and women each have their struggles.
To begin, it is essential to give an overview of the actors and actresses in the roles they were cast to play. First off, I think that Margot Robbie as “Barbie” was a great choice, as her acting abilities are extensive. The only criticism I would have for her is that she is literally too perfect to be realistic. Her hair is a bright blonde and she is the epitome of what our society wants women to look like. But I think this also plays into why she was cast. She is supposed to be the stereotypical version of women in our society, what men want women to look like. A second actress whom I think is worth mentioning is Kate McKinnon as “Weird Barbie.” I absolutely adore Kate as an actress. I think that she is hysterical to watch and that in this movie specifically, she is able to make light of who her character is supposed to portray. “Weird Barbie” is meant to stand in for the women who are not deemed “perfect” in our society. Her hair is not perfect, her feet are flat, and the majority of the time, she’s in the splits. But Kate’s contribution is so important to the overall film because she shows that even the youth of our society are frustrated with stereotypes of women. When girls are frustrated, they take it out on the dolls or other toys that make our society continue to be filled with thoughts or ideas of what a woman should be. I think that Kate’s character was essential to the film, but also that she was the best person to cast in this position because she is able to make the audience laugh, but also get that important point across.
I thought that the overall plot of the movie was captivating and that there were no discrepancies. It was easy to follow along and equally entertaining. I think that Greta Gerwig was very creative with how she constructed the plot, and I think that not everything was easy to determine. For example, I loved that Barbie brought Gloria and Sasha to Barbieland. As a viewer, I did not expect that to happen, nor did I believe that people could be brought back there. Additionally, I enjoyed the structure of the movie. I liked how Barbie’s “normal” life was shown, then her day was thrown off, then we met new characters, afterwards we went to the Real World and were confronted with actual problems, then Kenland was created, and all of the Barbies had to really work together. I also loved that some surprise characters were thrown in, such as Ruth Handler and Ann Roth. We got to get a feel for why Barbie was created and who Barbie was created for. As a viewer, I was surprised to see these characters make an appearance, but I think that they stood for very important symbols. They showed that no matter what your age may be, you are still beautiful.
Furthermore, the movie portrays relationships between women as a give and take, but also in some cases, just a take. For instance, the women in Barbieland are all extremely supportive of each other. Each woman says hello to any other female character that they pass. There is no sense of fakeness at all. All women in Barbieland truly seem to be supportive of each other and wanting the best. In contrast though, in the Real World, the relationship between Gloria and Sasha is more of a take relationship. For example, Sasha has hit that teenage phase where she finds herself being more independent than dependent on her mother. Gloria tries her best to support her daughter, but she doesn’t really know what Sasha needs or wants. In this way, I feel that Gloria and Sasha have a realistic relationship that could be comparable to the Real World, but I do not think that the Barbies have an overall realistic relationship with each other. In greater detail, women nowadays find more issues to fight about than to actually agree on. Women fight over men or find reasons to pick a fight because there is nothing else to do. As much as we would all love for women to get along like they do in Barbieland, it is not a realistic representation of how women truly are to each other.
Overall, the film includes various scenarios that are realistic and that happen in society today. I think that having these scenarios really gets the point across and is very effective in creating a deeper meaning than merely escaping the horrors of cellulite. Furthermore, I do not think that the movie missed any opportunities. I think that it sent messages to the viewers about both men and women, and that we need to work together to make sure that a patriarchy does not overtake our society completely. I think that Barbie mainly focused on issues surrounding women, which is valid because we live in a patriarchal society, but that men’s problems were still in the background and present. Having both men and women facing problems brought some realism into the movie and allowed viewers to really sit back and consider what the person next to them might be going through.
To conclude, I really enjoyed this movie. I think that messages and themes were conveyed perfectly, that diversity was evident, and that as a whole, we need to support each other no matter the gender. I think Barbie really got people thinking about how they live everyday and if they contribute to the building of a patriarchal society. This movie was definitely important for our up and coming generations because children need to begin to grasp onto the concept that women cannot be defined by a toy, a color, a shirt, or anything truly. There can be no singular label for women. Both men and women can be anything that they want to be no matter what, and everyone’s feelings are always valid. Also, there are not too many movies nowadays that focus on real world problems and trying to solve them, but Barbie definitely takes a good stab at it. Therefore, I would consider it to be a mere cinematic masterpiece: both entertaining and informative.
Barbie: Not Worth It
Anonymous
The Barbie Movie was good, but I would not say it was outstanding or that it was one of my favorite watches. I like the straightforward title of the film, as it does not have a subtitle like typical animated Barbie movies. The plot was not what I expected for the Barbie movie. I never thought that Barbie would go into the real world and start malfunctioning as the typical Barbie doll. I agree and understand that there was an important message to be shown through the fact that Barbie begins to lose all of her unreasonable beauty standard aspects, but Margot Robbie still looked flawless throughout the entire film. It was just not what I expected when I thought “Barbie Movie,” and the message should have been presented better if that’s the road they were going down for the meaning and plot of the film.
As for the casting, I also think they did a bad job at picking actors who resemble the characters. I loved Margot as Barbie; however, she was not the best choice in the sense that she did not properly go against modern beauty standards, which part of the film tried to accomplish. On the other hand, I think Ryan Gosling as Ken was an awful choice. As an actor, he did a phenomenal job playing the role; however, he just does not look like the Ken that I think most people think of when they picture a Ken doll. He looks much older than Margot in the film, and when I think of Barbie and Ken, I think they’re very young (no hate to Ryan Gosling, he’s a king). Additionally, the cast was diverse, but only with side characters rather than the main characters. The other Barbies and Kens that were diverse in body type, race, etc. were shown in the film for only a few scenes, with minimal lines other than Ken played by Simu Liu. I think he did a phenomenal role as Ken as well, he played it well and made me laugh a couple times. However, it was nice seeing Sasha and her mother being casted as hispanic, demonstrating that Barbie dolls can be played with by any ethnicity. Ariana Greenblatt was a good role for Sasha because she gives off Gen Z vibes and made it more realistic to how teenagers are today, which was essential to the story of the movie.
The fact that Barbie Land and the real world had such a simple passageway from each other really stood out to me. Like really? They couldn’t have thought about something better or more clever… I just feel like it did not make much sense because when you think of Barbie you don’t think she could just simply fake sail overseas, etc. to get to the real world. The fact that she could even get to the real world also shocked me because I did not think the movie would be about Barbie in human form, as Barbie is always a doll in my mind. The movie portrays relationships between women as united, as all of the Barbies, Sasha, and her mother all came together to prevent the Kens from taking over Barbie Land. The Barbie government worked together to execute their plan to trick the Kens and take back their ownership of Barbie Land. They all got along, and always helped and encouraged each other throughout the movie. I think this is believable in some cases, but the fact that they were perfectly supportive of each other throughout the whole movie is not believable. This is because in the real world, a lot of women, and especially girls, tend to compete with one another due to jealousy, insecurities, and simple immaturity. The Barbie movie did not portray this in their version of relationships women have with one another.
Overall, I rate the Barbie Movie as 6/10. I think it was fun, and the illustrations in the film were well done, but the plot and the execution of it all did not live up to its potential. It sets out to show that women are powerful and to demolish unrealistic expectations for masculinity; however, the fact that it is also made out to be funny takes away from that being effective, as it appears to be poking fun at the issue rather than addressing it. The idea was evidently there, but a viewer would have to really analyze the film in order to understand the message. I feel like people just want to watch Barbie for a good laugh and to be entertained, not to be taught a lesson. I enjoyed the film, but I would not choose to rewatch it again if I had the choice.
The Drumbeat 