Come on, Barbie, Let's go party

Thoughts on Barbie 2023, and its politics but 0 mention of Ken, sorry.

To anyone who knows me well, Greta Gerwig is (if not THE) filmmaker who inspired me to go to film school and pushed me toward the writing career I have today. There was something so magical about Lady Bird (2017) and its approach to mundanity and familial relationships that made me feel like I could do something similar. In my essay on Lady Bird and birthdays from last year, I delved into my feelings on the film and its legacy five years on. Whilst I do touch on its politics at the end, I stopped myself from picking it apart due to exhaustion over discourse that has been going in circles for years.

With the release of Gerwig's fourth film, I anticipated it would touch on the type of feminism that had brought years of critique her way. And after having seen the movie twice, it is difficult for me to remain neutral about the choices made for what appears to be the year's biggest blockbuster. 

In 2019, I was stunned when news broke that Gerwig would be directing and writing the Barbie movie with her writing/real-life partner and fellow indie darling Noah Baumbach. If you had asked me about the career trajectory of Gerwig, I'd say she'd still be doing small films like Lady Bird (2017) whilst dipping her toe into the pool for movies like Little Women (2019) now and then, but Barbie wasn't something I hadn't predicted. 

My worry and the worry of others did not come from her lack of talent but from the growing trend of studio interference with talented creatives. Over the years, there has been an increasing trend of indie filmmakers and creatives being plucked from obscurity and thrust into the spotlight for made-to-fail blockbusters. Chloe Zhao's Eternals (2021), Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck's Captain Marvel (2019) and Josh Trank's Fantastic Four (2015) come to mind as films that struggled due to studio intervention and/or a lack of support from studios which left the filmmakers at the mercy of bloodthirsty fans. Due to this, we wince when we hear of Barry Jenkins making a live-action Lion King 2 or Sarah Polley making a live-action Bambi. Nobody wants people to be out of a job or lack money to survive in an industry that is hellbent on making creatives suffer (as seen in the WGA/SAG Strikes), but there's a fear that they'll be limited in their creativity in favour of the bottom line.

What I can say about Barbie, however, is that this is not the case. If anything, Barbie seems as Gerwig as a film about a life-sized doll could've been. From technicolour sets, 2001: A Space Odyssey intro, and clear inspiration from Greta's love of musicals and Old Hollywood (and Jacques Demy), Barbie is brimming with Greta's creative flair. Her adoration for themes of mothers & daughters, girlhood, and wanting to be more than what the world has chosen for you is laid out from the start of Barbie until you reach the end credits featuring Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj's cover of Barbie Girl.

As hard as a studio may try with online bots, review bombings and other tricks, there's no natural way for them to control the discourse around it. This happened to Mary Harron's American Psycho (2000), an intended satire on wealth, masculinity and yuppie culture, only to become an idealised version of manhood for teens on Tiktok. Similarly, Gerwig's Barbie is a satire on consumerism, feminism, ageing, and so much more. Still, in some circles, there's been chatter about how Barbie feels hollow when you realise that all of that satire falls short because the entire movie, no matter how great, is an ad.

In her article on Barbie, beauty culture critic Jessica Defino notes:

“You cannot subversively, satirically, or ironically produce and consume things. The idea that you can is solipsistic and conservative. Production and consumption have collective consequences, whether you adopt Barbie-inspired beauty behaviors with a knowing wink or not!”

Barbie is not the first nor the last film based on existing IP. The idea for Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) came from a Walt Disney ride. Clue (1985) sought inspiration from the board game of the same name and, lest we forget, the dreaded attempt at bringing Barbie’s direct rivals to the real world with Bratz (2007). The difference between the Bratz and Barbie movies beyond quality control is that the Bratz dolls were never an attempt at making a Statement™—they were created by an ex-Mattel employee who found himself creatively stifled by the brand and sold his idea to MGA Entertainment, a Mattel rival company. On the other hand, Barbie has always had to exist in some way to remind little girls that the doll represents something.

In their analysis of Barbie, Malibu Stacy, and the Simpsons, Charlie Squire writes:

“The original success of Barbie was in her fundamental adult-ness; the cornerstone of her design, her humanity being what separated her from both the baby dolls and fashion dolls she competes with. Barbie has always been a woman first and foremost—or rather, a representation of womanhood.”

Because of this, I don’t believe there would ever be an attempt at Barbie without the contradiction of liberation vs consumerism. Especially not a Barbie movie that Mattel directly influenced to the point where Gerwig allegedly fought for a scene where Barbie tells an elderly woman that she’s beautiful. The scene eventually appeared, and Gerwig got her feminist masterpiece, so is this a case of discourse taking her film out of context? No, I don’t think it’s being taken out of context when people say they’re rushing to buy dolls, merch, or makeup. It seems that’s what the film intended to do; Gerwig’s empowerment is added seasoning that hides the less empowering aspects.

A fundamental flaw in the film comes from the characters of Sasha and Gloria, the mother-daughter duo. Sasha meets Barbie at her junior high school and relentlessly mocks Barbie to the point of calling her a fascist (which makes Barbie cry). Intended to be a joke of usual teenage hostility and their early love of leftist ideals (like Kyle in Lady Bird), Sasha seems pessimistic at first, although that's not the case. It can be argued that Sasha's feminism at the beginning of the movie (whilst, yes, harsh) is far more radical and subversive than Gloria's big monologue towards the end of the movie. Teenage girls being hostile to beauty standards and thinness is a positive development, and somehow the film makes it out to be anything but.

This is unlike Gloria’s monologue, which, whilst giving us a tremendous acting moment from America Ferrera, felt tepid. The speech includes lines that could be directly stolen from a 2014 Tumblr post on intro feminism and ignores any sense of intersectionality that could arise. There could be several reasons for this, such as the film dumbing its politics down for the youngest in the audience, but I don’t buy that, considering the rest of the film is very on the head and straightforward. Another could be that the politics of Gerwig are less advanced than people had assumed, which is possible considering her attempt at dealing w/ race in Lady Bird and Little Women being less than stellar. Gloria’s speech becomes an antidote to Sasha’s inherent political savvy, which makes sense considering the film’s central point: the contradiction of liberation vs consumerism. But I fear that Barbie chooses consumerism more than anything else.

Since Friday, some have said that critiques of the film prove its point—that women have to tie themselves into knots to justify liking something, but that feels like such a cop-out. To state that media for men (comic book movies) aren't talked about like this and don't need standards is a blatant lie. Many people (including myself) have written about the sexism within movies of that genre, especially considering they are military and cop propaganda. But even so, are we racing to the bottom for the lowest common denominator? Yes, Barbie is a masterfully crafted film, but it can also fall short because it is a mouthpiece for Mattel. Admitting that doesn’t change your enjoyment of it, nor is anyone forcing you to burn everything pink in your wardrobe. It is simply realising that studios and corporations will use anything to get us to buy their products, even if it is our own liberation.

Also, the Kenough merch is hideous.

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Barbie (2023) dir. Greta Gerwig

3.5/5 ⭐