If you are considering going to the "Barbie" movie, or even if you're not, I urge you to read this because the "Barbie" film is not just a children's movie that tells the story of an iconic doll. It's not a film that reinforces the pink fantasies of fancy girls who grew up playing with Barbie. In her most realistic form, Barbie represents a person who embarks on the journey of becoming human, with all the struggles that come with it.
So, I specifically address our male readers who might say, "Are we going to watch 'Barbie' now, like really?" Here's a message for you. Not everything in this world is pink and rosy, don't let the "Barbie" name intimidate you. This film will intricately question gender roles, and dear male readers, when you find yourselves engaged with this film, you will prove how Greta Gerwig's movie achieves that.
Before the film was released, it had a crazy impact on the world – months of premieres, special makeup and clothing collections by brands, and particular filters on social media. Even Wikipedia turned pink, thanks to Barbie. A film that can be associated with the name "Barbie" even touched upon political issues, and in some countries, its screenings were banned due to map-related matters.
Finally, that week has arrived, and the film hits the theaters on Friday. Did the "Barbie" frenzy that captured the world truly deserve all this hype? As someone who has watched the film, I answer yes.
This dusty pink tale, set in a parallel universe called Barbie Land, begins with the daily routines of the Barbies. With their inclusivity and diversity, these Barbie dolls have instilled the necessary equality for women in the "real world," teaching everyone that they are beautiful in their own way. The inseparable couples, Barbie and Ken, happily continue their lives until one of the Barbies finds herself in existential angst and succumbs to the fear of death.
Suddenly, this perfect Barbie starts experiencing human emotions. The plastic structure of her feet becomes flat like a human's, ending up wearing Birkenstocks after high heels; she loses some of her perfection with each passing minute, cellulitis appears on her leg, she starts experiencing anxiety, and even she experiences intense emotions of crying. Then she goes to "Weird Barbie," who lives in Barbie Land and has been ruthlessly played with by her previous owner, spreading her legs and painting her face, asking for help to solve her problem. Then Barbie learns that her own problems stem from parallel emotions experienced by her real-world owner, which is causing such an issue and here the journey to the real world starts.
The film is, above all, a comedy that successfully aims at popular culture and cliches from A to Z, leaving the audience in fits of laughter with perfectly timed references. As someone who rarely laughs easily, I laughed at almost every joke in the film. Of course, to achieve this, you need to follow the film at a full pace, which is not very difficult. The two-hour runtime flies by like water. Each scene is funny, absurd and interesting in its own way.
Now, let's talk about gender roles. Yes, the name Barbie evokes a pink world and Pollyanna's happiness, where everything is perfect in absolute precision. For this, in Barbie Land, a system is led by women, where Kens are submissive and lose their so-called "masculinity." That is until the Kens decide to put an end to this situation.
When Ken travels to the real world with Barbie, he sees that patriarchy hides beneath modernity, where women are supposedly praised in society to be in line with today's so-called political correctness, but the dominance is actually buried under the guise of it. He primitively takes this distorted example as a representation of an inherently patriarchal society in its primordial form, associating it with horses and strong bodies obtusely. Then he attempts to create a utopia in which women are portrayed as needy, "stupid" colloquially, and dependent on men in Barbie Land. In fact, he attempts to revive the manifestation of stereotypical "angel in the house" real Barbies from 1950s America, but only for a while.
On the other hand, the film addresses the challenges of being human but also highlights the difficulties of being a woman "among women." It underscores the rules imposed by society and men, as well as the various forms of bullying that women inflict upon each other. However, in the end, it also portrays the struggles of moving from the periphery to the center and adapting to the mainstream among women and society. This situation often reminds me of Charles Bukowski's line from his poem "Ice Cream People," where he says, "I feel like a leper in a beauty contest," because, for many, trying to exist and fit in with the community often brings about such alienation and monachopsis, the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.
Mattel's artificial world created with these dolls definitely got its share of criticism, but in the end, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Of course, there are not only Barbies and Kens in this land. Midge and Allan, portrayed by Emerald Fennell and Michael Cera, respectively, are two relatively obscure dolls from the Barbie line who have gained attention among die-hard doll fans. While Barbie and Ken are the iconic duo, Midge and Allan play important roles as their best friends in Barbie Land. However, these dolls became controversial when Midge's character storyline included a pregnancy. This unexpected development made headlines and added depth to the Barbie universe.
I think it's Kenough. I leave the rest to your discretion without providing further details. Yet, I can confidently say that Greta Gerwig has created an unexpected miracle with this film, and we will witness the transformation of this miracle in the 2024 Oscar nominations.
