Barbie
So, yeah, I’m one of those girls who did not play with dolls, unless you count the innumerable Army Men I sent to their doom in our basement. Sure, my parents kept buying them for me, and the poor things languished in closets. We never had a Barbie in the house because they were too expensive. But I grew up with a knowledge of Barbie and heard over the years so many angles of the love/hate relationship people – especially women – have with her. Despite Mattel’s efforts to paint Barbie as a feminist role model by creating scores of different “professions” for her, she was still seen by many as a representation of unattainable goals by normal people, especially in matters of body image.
Then they hired Margot Robbie to play Stereotypical Barbie which near the end of the film got one of the biggest laughs just from that paired with the body image history. The first thing that comes to my mind about The Barbie Movie is how relentlessly funny it is, drawing from a plethora of types of humor, beginning with the opening sequence of using Barbie as the monolith from 2001 A Space Odessey. The Margot/Barbie joke at the end was self-deprecating, and there was some pretty good slapstick and loads of innuendo. I lost count of the movies and pop culture references and not a few of them were so deeply drawn from obscure sources that I didn’t know what they were even after reading about them. I saw the Grease reference and The Wizard of Oz and The Matrix. I even caught The Shining joke. I laughed with every other geek in the audience at the Zach Snyder burn, but Michelangelo’s painting “The Creation of Adam”? That’s going back a bit but once you know, it’s obvious.
Because it’s Barbie, you know there has to be a lot going on with the costumes. Her closet at the beginning of the film is stolen from the movie Clueless and I love that the old woman on the bench Barbie declares to be beautiful is played by Ann Roth, a woman nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Costume. Alan is wearing the exact same shirt the original Alan doll wore out of the box, and the white fur Ken rocks in the second half is straight from the macho man look of 1970s Sylvester Stallone.
The actors are uniformly great. Margo Robbie as Barbie is just stiff enough to reflect her plastic nature, which leads to one of the best laughs of the movie in a bit of slapstick humor. Ryan Gosling, who is an actor I’ve never liked much, is perfect as Ken. He really leans into the hunky nature of the role, at one point getting a laugh from simply flexing a bicep. Both Barbie and Ken go through a huge emotional journey and both actors are more than physically perfect for the roles. Kate McKinnon plays Barbie with understated ferocity. No one could have played that role better. Some other Barbies are Issa Ray, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne and Ritu Arya. Simu Liu as Ken is also perfectly physical, with an antagonistic edge toward Ken. Other actors who play Ken are Kingsley Ben-Adir (who was quietly hilarious), Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans and John Cena.
Music is all over the place, from Dua Lipa’s (who played Barbie) “Dance the Night”, that talks about hiding existential pain. Ken sings “I’m Just Ken”, and again it’s not just funny as Lipa’s song is not just disco. The Indigo Girls hit “Closer to Fine” has a large showing, and is also deep and funny.
You might remember The Indigo Girls was a famous lesbian duo a while back. That their most famous song is so prominent is no accident, because this is a seriously queer movie. Most people won’t notice but you don’t even have to scratch the surface to see the queer references, most of them getting laughs from the audience and I wondered how many of them fully understood just how deep the jokes were going. Alan is wearing his original top, but back then a rainbow shirt didn’t mean what it means now. Sugar Daddy Ken is a no brainer, and Stereotypical Ken (Ryan Gosling) looks a lot like the Ken a lot of people (of course me) were looking for, Earring Magic Ken. That Ken did show up but a lot of us missed it because his defining piece of jewelry was changed. You might know that Ken better by his nickname Cock Ring Ken, and yes he was modeled after young gay men at raves in the early 90s. They all wore at least one back then as an in your face fashion accessory. The queer joke with the most layers of meaning is the Birkenstock shoe gag. Seriously.
It would be easy to go on and on about The Barbie Movie because there’s just so much to unpack, from the deep layers of reference and humor and existential messaging, to technical aspects from set design to color to music to writing and costuming. Director Greta Gerwig has created a classic film that so far is totally misunderstood by Hollywood (of course). America Ferrera (Gloria the secretary) gives a rousing speech that will go down in movie history as one of the best soliloquys ever.
Absolutely take your kids to see this film because the deeper stuff will fly right over their head and they will enjoy it a lot. But do go see this yourself for the grown up aspects that I guarantee will make you think, and laugh. You’ll laugh a lot.
LINKS:
CFR: In Addition:
Ok, really what can I say? Perhaps I shall start at the beginning.
I did play with Barbies and Barbie like dolls as a child. However my Barbies were always CEOs of their own corporation and had power lunches with other CEOs who were also Barbies. They had everything because they made and had their own money. 🙂
As for how Barbie impacted how I felt about my body, well, LOLOLOL! I already hated my body from a very very early age. Barbie didn’t look realistic to me so I never thought about looking like her. Well her face would have been nice. I just wanted to be skinny and actually look like a child. But that’s so another story.
I did start enjoying all of Barbie’s incarnations and liked the fact that she never married and was always totally doing her life her way. I loved all of the science Barbies. Thought about getting a few for my office. Maybe I will.
I never thought of Barbie as a feminist icon until this movie.
When I read that Barbie was going to become a movie and saw the stills I thought “Huh. How are they going to get a 2 hour movie out of Barbie?” Plus I thought Ryan Gosling was too old even though he looked right. Margot Robbie looked perfect I liked that there were Barbies and Kens representing a wide diversity. I loved the Barbenheimer movement on the Web! Yes Barbie and Oppenheimer were opening the same day. So people were deciding to see Oppenheimer first and then Barbie to lighten the mood. Excellent idea I thought.
Then the movie open and the pink, as they say, hit the canvas and DOMINATED it!
Suddenly women-hating media outlets were screaming about how terrible and trans-indoctrinating it was. [Oh good grief * headdesk *] Non-women-hating outlets and friends were going OMG IT IS SO FUNNY YOU GOTTA SEE THIS MOVIE!
So I saw it with a group of friends and we loved it.
Ryan Gosling, you were perfect!!!!!! Margot Robbie: I love and adore you. I hope to meet you one day. America Ferrera: Wow. Thank you for giving the speech of a century. Perfect.
In short, Barbie screams the American woman condition loud and clear and covered in pink. There is nothing else that I could say about this excellent movie —– Oh wait, there is.
Barbie is the first movie to make over 1 billion directed only by a woman.
See Frozen was the first animated movie and the first movie directed by a woman and man team – Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee – that made over a billion. Yes!
Then there’s Captain Marvel that also made over a billion directed by another man and woman team – Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
Now there’s Barbie. This time a movie making over 1 billion directed solely by a woman: Greta Gerwig.
Now what does this mean? Well for everytime some out of touch producer says no one wants to see movies about women, they had better look at their data. Kind of like vaccine deniers. They are just wrong.
Oh and the last line of the movie was so for my doctor buddy sitting next to me. YES!
Barbie, keep on pushing those “you can do anything” boundaries and yes keep doing it on the screen. I’ll watch. You and your crew are so worth it.
Now dear reader go ahead and read the below LINKS TO LOVE: ARTICLES and below that watch LINKS TO LOVE: VIDEOS because you just should have some enjoyment in your life.
Thanks Barbie. Never thought you had all of this in you. So glad I was wrong.
LINKS TO LOVE: ARTICLES
‘Barbie’ is about to become America’s highest-grossing movie of 2023 [Box office power!! OH AND! Notice that the big money makers this summer are women: Barbie, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift. 🙂 – CFR]
Randall Park says Hollywood is taking “wrong lessons” from Barbie success [“Make more movies by and about women!” he says. Love you, Agent Woo. – CFR]
America Ferrera’s Empowering ‘Barbie’ Monologue: Read the Full Text
America Ferrera on the pressure of delivering her Meryl Streep-approved Barbie monologue
New York Man Goes Viral With Father’s Review of Barbie Movie [Dad is so smart. – CFR]
Therapist on Instagram Changes His Mind & Decides to See Barbie [Ok, I made up the title and oh my just watch! – CFR]
NAMLE: Letter from the Executive Director (About Barbie) Below [Excellent surprise email from NAMLE about Barbie. – CFR]
And finally, a salute to Barbenheimer below. (I so want this on a t-shirt.)
LINKS TO LOVE: VIDEO
Quite possibly one of the greatest referential moments in cinema ever made.
OMG. Way to go Ryan Gosling. Perfect. Also loved Simu Liu’s Ken too!
Hey, as you can see below, the Kens do inspire.
CFR: In Addition: AGAIN
I want justice for Alan. He was great and helpful and helped the Barbies and he needs some love. JUSTICE FOR ALAN! Thank you for coming to my Barbie talk. 🙂
Chick Flicking Reviews 