Thoughts: Barbie
*Spoilers ahead! You’ve been warned!
When I was a kid, I would sometimes overhear my sister playing with her Barbies. Usually she’d act out plots based on my mother’s favorite soap opera, The Young and the Restless, so I’d hear stories of infidelity, murder, or long-lost relatives returning from years of hiding. After seeing Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, I’m left wondering what kind of scandals swept the idyllic Dream Houses of Barbieland in the wake of her play. I don’t think those poor Kens could handle it.
Barbie is a weird, wonderful movie that is at times overwhelmingly colorful and joyous, and at other times thoughtful and yearning. It has a script that repeats a naughty, beach-themed innuendo at one moment and later features a minutes-long monologue on the State of Feminism. Just like the doll on which its based, Barbie feels as if it must be all things to all people, and for the most part it succeeds; but every once in a while you can see all that weight take a toll on its shoulders.
The film sends Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken on parallel journeys of self discovery, where both of them discover that the real world is a lot different than theirs. Turns out that despite all of their efforts, Barbies have not made the world a better place for women; if anything, they’ve only complicated what it means to be a modern woman dealing with a world run by men. Meanwhile, Ken sees all of this as an opportunity; after all, if men run the real world, why can’t Kens rule Barbieland? Soon, a few real world humans help Barbie discover what she really wants for her life, all while helping the Kens realize what’s good for the goose (gosling?) is good for the gander.
Honestly, though, this is an incredibly oversimplified version of the movie’s plot; during all of this there are singalongs, dance parties, a corporate chase scene, a dream ballet, a touching tribute to aging, a fake commercial for Depression Barbie, a Michael Cera fight scene, John Cena as a merman, that aforementioned America Ferrara monologue on the female experience, and the Indigo Girls.
And even with all of that, the movie manages to make real, salient points about what Barbie can do, can’t do, and what that means for humanity. It’s a truly impressive balancing act. Yes, gender is a subject that has depth that a two-hour film simply can’t explore in its entirety, so it might be easy to poke some holes in its often heteronormative perspective. Barbie isn’t quite ready to tackle everything, but what it does address still feels fresh; in world full of men who define themselves solely by what they’re fans of and what women can provide them, it’s cool to see a mainstream blockbuster call them out. I know I certainly could have used that lesson at 22.
Ultimately, just like Stereotypical Barbie, Gerwig’s film finds its lane when its embracing the complexities of the real world. That’s not to say that the fun moments aren’t a blast, too (I nearly wrote an entire review without mentioning Ryan Gosling’s ridiculously committed performance as Ken! It’s great!), but the way it can pull off both of these vibes is nothing short of a miracle. Here’s hoping that Mattel doesn’t completely miss the point when developing scripts for Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket, and, um, Magic 8 Ball. (They will.)
