Pink-hued social commentary and biblical truths

Barbie

Directed by Greta Gerwig
Mattel, 2023.

I was told Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie movie would surprise me, and the admission of tears from viewers as well as a quick Google search of critic reviews proved as much. But I didn’t want to blindly trust the movie’s supposed depth, especially after the fake quality of the promo photo-stills and trailer set my expectations at a level of feel-good comedy. I had to enter the dazzling, pink-hued world of Barbie for myself, popcorn in hand and an admittedly excited smile on my face.

Behind the pink, plastic set of Barbie is a thoughtful social commentary. Barbieland exists as an idealized matriarchy in which the Barbies can be anything they want and the men – all named Ken with the exception of one awkward Allan who doesn’t quite fit this world’s standard of manhood – dote on their girlfriends with blind adoration. It’s the real world flipped upside down, patriarchy replaced with matriarchy and then tuned to maximum volume, creating an over-the-top exposition of female supremacy in which “thanks to Barbie, all problems of feminism and equal rights have been solved.”

Picture-perfect is this Barbieland, but the real world begins to bleed through as “Stereotypical Barbie” (Margot Robbie) feels the inklings of existential dread. What begins as a cheerful question about dying asked of the other Barbies soon manifests into spots of imperfection, starting with flat feet and continued by – gasp!– cellulite. All of this prompts a visit to “Weird Barbie,” who offers her two options in Matrix-esque style, but there is obviously only one pill – or in this case, shoe – that will provide a proper solution.

A journey of awakening

Barbie must travel to the real world and find her owner, accompanied by her mostly-platonic boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling), whose entire existence is formed around her. Mattel, the famous founder of Barbie, is depicted as a male-run company headed by a goofy, clueless CEO. Here, Barbie’s human counterpart, Gloria, works an entry-level job that is overshadowed by her male superiors and tinted with her inner struggles, which have created the wormhole between the worlds.

It is also at the Mattel headquarters that Barbie meets Ruth Handler, the inventor of the iconic doll. This slower, dialogue-filled scene lacks depth and strikes me as a forceful attempt to establish a mother-daughter relationship. While the real-life Ruth Handler is important, their interaction plays out as an afterthought. The relationship between Gloria and her daughter Sasha might exist to symbolize Barbie and Ruth, but it is far better executed as it displays the generational differences in opinions on gender and societal norms.

The real world is an awakening for both iconic dolls; while Barbie discovers the sexualization of women, Ken is giddy with his new-found knowledge of patriarchy. Ken soon returns to Barbieland to rally the other Kens to join in his toxic masculinity uprising. It consists of lots of horses and Barbies to supply Kens with brewskies, act as their cheerleaders and idolize them. With the atmosphere of Barbieland flipped to reflect an exaggeration of the real world, Barbie must convince the other women to stand up against the onslaught of Ken-ergy.

In the days leading up to the movie’s release, I jokingly predicted that Ken would be the villain. And while his character grows to represent one of the core toxic conflicts, the antagonistic forces go beyond him.

Gerwig successfully shows how patriarchy is a source of harm for both men and women by wondering, What if it was a matriarchy instead? By the end of the movie, Barbieland’s hyper-feminist utopia continues with the scale tipped to favour women, although the Kens do come to the revelation that they are “Ken-ough.”

Behind the glittering realm of Barbieland – and behind the cameras – the film’s passive display of consumerism frustrated me. Sure, there’s a sassy comment from the teenage character of Sasha about how Barbie is “killing the planet with [the] glorification of rampant consumerism.”

Meanwhile, however, the cast are touring in expensive outfits and filmmakers are partnering with brands to produce Barbie-inspired products that fuel the craze of consumerism and create more plastic waste.

Furthermore, in one notable scene where the narrator comments on the casting of Margot Robbie, I recognized my nagging annoyance at a cast of gorgeous movie stars who only reinforce stereotypes. Still, the wide range of diversity in the characters is note-worthy.

Made for more

Even with its disappointing elements, I found Barbie both wildly funny and touching. The movie recognizes the contradictions of the Barbie doll by pointing out her problematic portrayal of women while simultaneously celebrating her role as a feminist icon.

For a film about plastic dolls, it manages to delve deep into the emotional realm of what it means to be human and imperfect. In one such example of the movie’s tender emotional side, Barbie tells an elderly woman, “You are so beautiful.” The woman responds with a smile and a clever remark: “I know.” A song near the end of the movie also poses the universal struggle of every person: “What was I made for?”

Such moments bring Psalm 139:13 to mind: “I praise [God], for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Barbie touches on biblical truths, albeit in a secular way, through the punny statement that we are “Ken-ough.” Christian viewers may be reminded that we are created in God’s image, made for so much more than empty, pretend perfection.