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July 25, 2023

The Barbie movie’s first weekend has gone well. And, in many ways the movie deserves the attention, but not for what might matter most to the women who made it. Conservatives have conceded the movie’s good production values but disliked its moral ones. The real problem, though, is that it’s not a very good movie.

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Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives in a safe and beautiful world where houses need few walls and every day is great.

But even with president, lawyer and judge Barbies wearing midriff-baring clothing without shame, elements of that very human emotion begin to appear.

First, Ken (Ryan Gosling) feels the need to hide his love for Barbie, because she is still in the phase of life where her girlfriends are more important to her than is romance with a boy. Second, Barbie develops intrusive ideas about death. Finally, and to her greatest shame, Barbie wakes up to flat feet and the possibility of having cellulite show on her thighs.

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The other Barbies advise her to visit Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who is the sadder, but wiser, Barbie for having been played with too much. Weird Barbie sends Barbie on her way out into the world of humans, with that world’s concomitant objectification, shame and anxiety….

…Not so much so for Ken, who joins her, and who sees men’s faces on dollar bills and discovers beer, golf, videos and horses which men can ride. Plus, people refer to him as “sir.”

Self-centered patriarchy seems to work for Ken just the way that self-centered matriarchy was working for Barbie back in Barbieland. Ken races back to Barbieland to seize possession of Barbie’s dream house while Barbie continues her poignant adventure in the human world as she encounters two grandmotherly figures (Ann Roth and Rhea Perlman), a bevy of sad and angry schoolgirls, and a middle-aged mom (America Ferrera), who seems much more concerned about her feelings and Barbie’s safety than about her own daughter’s feelings and safety. (Note to such real-life mothers: pull your children from bad schools; homeschooling is a beautiful and multiply-blessed option, with which most children are very happy!)

Image: Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie interview. YouTube screen grab.

Barbie flees corporate bigwigs, who wish to box her, and she returns to Barbieland. There she psychologically debriefs the other Barbies who bought into patriarchy. Then all the Barbies divide and conquer the Kens through intentional romantic manipulation! (How’s that for feminist problem-solving?)

In the end, Barbie apologizes to Ken for not sharing her stuff as much as she could have, and she returns to the human world under the care of the middle-aged mother and her family. First stop: a visit to the gynecologist, with the implicit message that abortifacient contraceptives are necessary for a young adult woman to have a happy life.

I saw this movie with seven older teens and twenty-somethings. An early gen-X, I laughed the loudest at many of the sight gags, which went over the heads, especially of the younger gals and the fellow in our group. Also I seemed to enjoy the color-saturated filmography even more than did the professional artists in our little party. (Here is the professional take: since around 2005, filmmakers have been color-saturating otherwise grayish movies with orange and teal. The Barbie movie’s coloring, especially the use of pink, marks a welcome addition to film coloration.)