Unboxing the Barbie impact PT1: How record-breaking film explores sisterhood and modern day feminism

The new “Barbie” film directed by Greta Gerwig broke box office records on opening weekend. The New York Times reported that by Sunday night “Barbie” had amassed an astonishing $162 million dollars, landing itself in fourth place behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, “Avengers:Infinity War”, and “Avengers: End Game” for biggest domestic box office opening in history.

The film begins by showcasing BarbieLand in all its glory. The audience meets the main character, Stereotypical Barbie (played by Magot Robbie), and is introduced to a pink world of sleepovers, female friendships, choreographed dances, feminine empowerment, and of course, the Kens. Stereotypical Barbie begins to spiral after having thoughts of death and becoming “flat-footed”. After seeking counsel from Weird Barbie, she finds that she must travel to the real world to find the girl that is playing with her in order to fix her problems. Over the course of this quest we follow stereotypical Barbie through a journey of shock, confusion, self-awareness, friendship, and finding out truly what it means to be a woman in the real world. She quickly finds that the little girl playing with her is, in fact, a grown woman named Gloria. Barbie, Gloria, and Gloria’s teenage daughter Sasha have an adventure all their own as they travel back to Barbieland while Mattel employees pursue them with the intent to restore Barbie to her original canon world.

All is not well when Barbie finds that Barbieland is not the same way she left it. Due to Ken’s (played by Ryan Gosling) unwelcomed accompaniment on Barbie’s journey, the knowledge of patriarchal systems has creeped into Barbieland, destroying what it once was. The Kens have placed all the Barbie’s in a trance and lulled them into servitude. They have Ken-ified all of Barbieland and declare they will soon vote to take over the Barbieland Supreme Court and rename Barbieland to Kendom. With the help of Gloria, Sasha, Weird Barbie, and Alan (Mattel's 1964 creation for Ken’s best friend), Stereotypical Babie acts on a clever plan and saves Barbieland from being destroyed. Once Barbie Land is restored, the Barbies have candid conversations with the Kens on what it means to have self-identity outside of a romantic connection with another doll. The movie ends with Stereotypical Barbie choosing to stay in the real world with Gloria’s family after realizing she is no longer the same Barbie that first left Barbieland.

The Barbie movie was immediately praised by women who went to see it as a healing experience both to their inner child, and to their existence within womanhood today. However, heated backlash followed just as quickly. Many news sources and individuals began to demonize the movie as “feminist propaganda” and “man-hating”, some even before the movie was released. Most notably, Ben Shapiro (a conservative political commentator), has been the subject of debate after his approach to critiquing the Barbie Movie went viral for its irony and unintended humor.

So what is all the fuss about? How did an innocent movie about an iconic doll become such a hot debate? The answer lies in its reversal of female and male character dynamics from the typical norms within film. There are many moments in the movie that explore these themes, and many articles could be written on the nuances of this history-making film but we have chosen to highlight our most memorable through this two-part series.

1. The downfall of Barbie Land begins with Ken choosing to educate himself in the real world after his discovery of a male-dominated society.

When Ken accompanies Barbie to the real world he is immediately overjoyed with how he, and by reflection, men as a whole are treated there. After observing male behavior in different spaces, he decides he must learn more about this fascinating new society and heads to the library to educate himself. He pulls all the books he can on masculinity and begins to weaponize this self-education. This theme is palpable in the wake of the recent Jonah Hill story. Hill’s ex-girlfriend, Sarah Brady (a self-described "surfer and law student with a film habit") released text messages between the couple, showcasing Hill’s weaponization of “therapy-speak”. The words he chooses to use in attempts to gaslight her were clearly learned through education and therapy. This story resonated with many women who spoke up about similar experiences they had. So often in our society, we believe most things can be solved by educating oneself. But both in the Jonah Hill story and in the Library scene with Ken, we are confronted with the uncomfortable fact that selective education can easily be used against us. In fact, with education, abusers often become better at abusing rather than working to be a better person.

2. Barbie’s shock at Ken’s behavior upon arriving back at Barbieland.

After reaching Barbie Land once again, Stereotypical Barbie is appalled at the damage Ken has done. In her absence, Ken has not only educated the other Kens on patriarchy but has begun to execute his ideas into practice. He has completely taken over the Barbie Dream House and renamed it to his “Mojo Dojo Casa House”. He explains she is no longer welcome to stay saying “every night is boys night”, referencing an earlier scene in the movie wherein Barbie says “every night is girls night” after declining Ken’s request to spend the night. There are many ideas wrapped up into this event. First we see the contrast between Ken and Barbie’s motives for saying these similar lines. When Barbie says it in the beginning, she is stating a boundary regarding her time and personal property. When Ken declares this to Barbie, his aim is to exert his newfound power over her. Barbie is taken by surprise and is clearly emotional at the assumed betrayal from Ken. This scene is so representative of an almost universal experience girls have as they are growing up. We grow up playing with our male peers and then one day, seemingly almost overnight, our male friends go from innocent playmates to misogynistic and objectifying teenagers. It is never the same after that and we ache for the days we didn’t question the motives of our male friendships.

3. Mattel CEO monologue on the importance of women.

When Barbie reaches Mattel in the real world, she asks to meet the CEO before returning to Barbieland. Not realizing all the men at the table in front of her are the chief executives of Barbie, she becomes confused. The Mattel CEO, played by Will Ferrel, tries to explain to her that they are in fact a pro-woman company despite not having a single woman on the board. He desperately grasps at his memory to recall female chief executives at Barbie HQ in the past. He goes on to say “Every single one of these men love women. I am the son of a mother. I am the mother of a son, I…I’m the nephew of a woman aunt”. While this line is a funny quip in the scene, it portrays an idea that women know all too well. The idea that in our current society, we are perceived as women first and human beings second. This quote displays how oftentimes, even the most well-intentioned men in our lives equate our worth to our relationships with men, and not to our existence simply as a human being. It is an experience that men have never had. When women are assaulted, there is typically a sentiment of “she was “someone's daughter”, “she was someone's friend”, or “she was someone's mother”. In a world created by men, for men, perhaps we should begin to focus more on the fact “she’s someone”, a whole human being in and of herself.

Stay tuned for our part 2…