'Barbie' is a love letter to being yourself and my kids got the message. For my kids, the 'Barbie' movie offered a stunning message about the power of being who you are.
The film's reception has focused on its messages of women's empowerment, but what makes it a radical story is that it also invites women to reimagine feminism so that it doesn't ignore male struggles.
The importance of inclusivity and self-acceptance is a major theme in the Barbie movie, as it challenges the exclusion of the Kens and promotes egalitarianism where everyone has something valuable to contribute. Barbie and Ken both go on a journey to self-acceptance and discovering their own identities.
In answer to my question, this movie teaches us to respect and accept one another. To recognise that, much like Barbie's overlord Mattel, the structures that damage our self-identity and plant insidious seeds within our society come from those who profit.
Ultimately, the Barbie movie is a story of self-discovery. People are complex and go through transition periods through their lives where they don't know what they want, or they don't know what to do.
BARBIE Movie Breakdown! - Easter Eggs and Deeper Meaning EXPLAINED
What does Barbie represent in society?
It has been suggested that Barbie has become the very embodiment of the debate about what woman represent, what jobs they might do, how wealthy they should be, whether they should be married, how they should spend their free time and, of course, their appearance. This is seemingly a heavy burden for one doll to bear.
Director Greta Gerwig, who has built a devoted following for such female-forward movies as Lady Bird and Little Women, has labeled Barbie "most certainly a feminist film." Mattel executives, on the other hand, have said the opposite.
But what I didn't expect, and what I imagine most other viewers didn't, was the strong thread of raw emotion throughout. The first emotional punch I felt was Barbie's abrupt question during her regular, fully-coordinated dance party attended by all the other Barbies.
For young women, it's saying they can be anything they want to be with hard work and perseverance. The movie is a feminist masterpiece—Barbie represents female empowerment, women being fearless.
While the film does not dive into trans identity, Barbie still manages to touch upon LGBTQ+ issues without naming them as such. In fact, the film features several openly LGBTQ+ actors, like Hari Nef, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, and Scott Evans.
“I'm here to see my gynecologist,” Barbie says with a huge smile, despite not having any genitals (which is joked about earlier in the film). The movie then cuts to black. “With this film, it was important for me that everything operated on at least two levels,” Gerwig told USA Today about crafting that final line.
Men have come to further understand women's struggles in society because of the movie's impact. According to a survey conducted by Resume Builder, 53% of viewers say Barbie improved their opinion of women in the workplace. two in three respondents said Barbie made them more aware of patriarchy in the workplace.
My hypothesis is that the movie is going to follow Barbie's in-universe transformation from being a typical “model” female in the 50s to her now more socially acceptable and empowered person. Basically a history of the Barbie brand communicated through a stylized world of Barbie (so no mention of our real world).
That's because Barbie Land was not egalitarian, but oppressive to all Kens. At the end of the film, Barbie frees Ken to finally unlock what it really means to be a Ken and have a personality and desires of his own. Ultimately, Barbie Land in Gerwig's film is a place of play and exploration.
The feel-good movie is great for so many reasons, but the comedic banter and inspirational monologues has stuck with us even after just one watch. While picking out every line from the movie we loved would be impossible, we decided to list 20 of our favorite Barbie move quotes.
What are the empowering quotes from the Barbie movie?
You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you!
Perhaps the most enduring criticism of Barbie is the unrealistic body standards that she presents to girls. With her impossibly tiny waist and ample bosom, it's really no surprise that Handler borrowed so heavily from a sex doll.
They are reacting to America Ferrera's monologue about womanhood and how resonant (or not resonant enough) it is; they are reacting to the beautiful montages that stir up memories of how important or not play was in our lives; the comedy skewering Mattel is either brilliant or complicit in the film's capitalism; the ...
And the Barbie movie touches on that with how difficult it is to be a woman speech. I also think it speaks to the nostalgia of being a child and loving your dolls as real beings. Then you grow up and you realize they are toys and while you still can love them, it's usually not the same as loving them as real beings.
With every other storyline wrapped up, the movie turns to Barbie, who's still pretty bummed. After exploring the real world, and gaining access to human emotions like fear, anxiety, and "irrepressible thoughts of death," she doesn't know where her place is in Barbieland anymore.
What does the Barbie movie say about the patriarchy?
In the Barbie movie, Ken and Barbie uncover similar realizations about patriarchy when they leave Barbieland for the Real World, where Barbie is objectified and belittled, and where toxic masculinity eventually takes a toll on Ken's psyche.
The nostalgia, in combination with the universality of playing with Barbies, set the film up for success and led to something unique happening in theaters: people dressed up in pink to see the film.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and her parents' names are given as George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin, in a series of novels published by Random House in the 1960s.
