I held off from publishing this until the strike was over, but I wrote it the night I saw it because I wanted to get my thoughts down about the film while it was still fresh in my mind. I don't really have a full blown analysis planned for this one, but rather bullet points that I want to get off my chest. Might be a nice change of pace here. I'll try to keep this spoiler free.
I actually made a mistake in my Barbenheimer post saying that Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, is banished to the real world for having an existential crisis when really she actually goes there on her own. Initially her life as Stereotypical Barbie is idealistic but all of a sudden she starts to experience imperfections, such as cellulite and thoughts of dying. She visits Weird Barbie, played by Kate McKinnon, to ask for help. Weird Barbie tells her that she must go to the real world to find the girl who is playing with her. The girl in question is projecting her sadness and insecurities onto her, so Barbie must find her in order to restore the balance of the two worlds. Barbie Land and the real world coexist in this universe in which it is possible for dolls to travel to the real world and for humans to travel to Barbie Land. It's treated as something that can actually occur and not something far-fetched. But when this happens, it causes drastic consequences that need to be avoided.
Oh, and Ken joins her and a bunch of stuff happens with him too. But's he's not important. ;)
- Is it woke and too on the nose with its messages?
Okay, let me explain a little bit more. I can see how some men, conservatives, etc., would consider this movie woke and therefore maybe a little unlikable for them. It can come across preachy and in your face about the points it tries to make. A lot of points that get brought up we've heard before time and time again, and so therefore there's nothing really new here.
However, we still need to have these types of conversations, and for the first time in cinematic form, we are having them through Barbie. This being the first live action Barbie film really helps this agenda along. The whole movie is a commentary about what it means to be a woman, what it means to be a man, what it means to be perceived a certain way according to society's standards, and how Barbie plays a part in all of this while also addressing all of the arguments Barbie has received throughout the years. She thinks she is a heroine in the real world, but when she actually gets there, she is in for a rude awakening.
America Ferrera, who plays Gloria, a woman that Barbie befriends in the real world, delivers a very good monologue towards the end of the film that really hits the nail on the head about womanhood.
The cast is also very, VERY diverse, and this is great. All shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, etc. It's all here.
- The Humor
The humor in this is so unserious. lol I was laughing throughout. A lot of it is tongue-in-cheek wokeness, but other parts are just over the top camp, self-aware jokes, or well written one-liners. For example, Michael Cera playing Allan delivers this line about how leather couches are destroying his soul (Or something like that. I don't remember the exact line unfortunately. It makes more sense in context, I promise! lol), and it really got me. He says it in his Michael Cera blandness, so it was way funnier than it needed to be. lol
Found it! lol
A lot of the humor too also lies in how the dolls interact with each other because they reflect how children would talk and play with them.
- Ryan Gosling as Ken is the best part of the film.
Ryan Gosling always talking about his pride in finally giving Ken a voice really comes through here. You can tell how much he loved playing this character every minute he is on screen. Much of the campy humor is because of him and he just throws himself into this role, no matter how much of a cornball he looks. Ken is REALLY dramatic in this. It made me realize how good of an actor Gosling is to be so comfortable with making an ass out of himself because I'm just used to him in more serious roles.
I remember early on there was criticism about him being cast as Ken because people considered him too old for the role, but you don't notice this. How old are Barbie and Ken supposed to be anyway? Sometimes they are portrayed as teenagers and sometimes young adults. He's fine.
He's also not her boyfriend in this story but rather has a crush on Barbie with her constantly friendzoning or rejecting him. Something that confused me at first about this is that he refers to them as boyfriend and girlfriend, Barbie doesn't deny this, but yet she shows disinterest throughout the movie. So I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be a couple or not. I asked about this, and one of my Twitter friends responded that he was created specifically to be her boyfriend, so that's all he knows and why he would refer to her as such.
You know going into this that Barbie would address women's issues, but I liked that they had Ken address men's issues as well, such as the patriarchy. When he first arrives in the real world, he goes exploring with such amazement at how powerful men are in this world when he is not as respected in Barbie Land and gets really fixated on horses. It's actually kind of wholesome and how you would expect women to react when they visit Barbie Land and seeing all of the women in power. Now that I think about it, it reminds me a bit of that "Family Guy" episode "Road to the Multiverse" when Stewie and Brian visit parallel universes and end up in a world where dogs have power and humans are subordinate and Brian feels like he belongs better in this universe. It was also reminding me of Don't Worry Darling (2022).
I remember seeing a theory about Ken's arc in this movie on Twitter and thinking that it could be possible. I'm not going to tell you what it was, but this theory was pretty much correct. You see where things are going and it's pretty predictable.
Ken becomes so fascinated learning about the patriarchy even to the point where he is excited to share with Barbie what he has learned. He doesn't want to keep this a secret from her at first. How I take it is, he doesn't see patriarchy as a way to take over the world or even as a bad thing, but rather as a way to give himself and the men in his society more of an identity and voice.
Seeing his arc is just as important to the story as Barbie's. Yes, women shouldn't be treated as inferior, but also, neither should men. Watching the movie made me feel for both sides and eager to see them come to a common ground. It's terrifying to see either one of them getting erased. Something I really don't like about "girl power" movies is how men are always portrayed as dumb or bad, and that also kinda happens here. Harassment, assault, catcalling, both sexual and overall, does happen to women, so I am not negating this, but as soon as Barbie enters the real world, she automatically feels self-conscious because that is a woman's natural state in our world and is constantly hit with men making off color comments about her. I don't think that this is very realistic but rather a way to intensely illustrate that "Men do this to women all the time! See?? MEN ARE BAD!" Especially in 2023, how would these comments fly as if they're as common today? She approaches construction workers to ask them something and then they make comments about her body right to her face. Then she has police officers discussing her clothing right in the same room with her. Construction workers are stereotyped to do this, but these days, men are afraid to talk to or even look at women at all for fear of retaliation or recordings of them in out of context predicaments. Policemen too also have to always be on guard. Yes, stuff like this still happens to women on a daily basis to this day, and as a woman I too have been on the receiving end of disrespect that has made me fearful, but I also feel like if this movie wasn't set in the present, the men's comments would maybe make more sense, but maybe not as much in today's world. Yes, men still have the audacity, but I also think that they are way more respectful and careful today too.
Will Ferrell plays the CEO of Mattel and his whole objective is to get Barbie back to Barbie Land to keep the peace between both worlds. Although he is a bit tone deaf about being a man running a company that produces a toy for girls, he is very much on Barbie's side and desires to empower girls. I like this. I thought he was going to be way more antagonistic than he is.
- The Soundtrack
I never really talk about film soundtracks but this one is actually very good and a lot of fun. One of my favorite artists Dua Lipa sings a song for it and she is actually featured as a character called Mermaid Barbie, so we get to see some minor acting from her in this. That's pretty cool.
I also just realized the day I went to see this film that Nicki Minaj raps in the new "Barbie Girl" remix and her fans are called "Barbz." LOL
The soundtrack goes hand in hand with the humor and Gosling's performance very well. Some of them have sarcastic lyrics and you don't notice this at first until you really pay attention to them. There is also this action sequence towards the end where Ken sings his own song and it's one of the best parts of the movie. lol
- So, is it Oscar worthy?
Before I went to see this, I kind of laughed off the idea of this movie and Ryan Gosling's performance winning Oscars let alone being nominated for them. Initially I thought that this would just be a pop comedy of sorts, but then hearing about how groundbreaking it is, especially regarding the box office sales, I began to think differently and that it was actually possible.
Now after actually seeing it, I do believe that it definitely has Oscar potential. The ideas it brings up, the acting, the way they perfectly utilized Barbie to address the issues of today's climate.
But, the potential Oscar nod was especially evident to me during Rhea Perlman's scenes.
Not to get too much into it, but Perlman's scenes are lovely quiet, reflective moments in the midst of the rest of the film that is filled with bright colored absurdity. Her lines really hone in on the whole meaning behind Barbie. This can also be said about the scene that everyone talks about when Barbie first arrives in the real world and has a silent moment to take it all in and then she turns to an old woman and calls her beautiful, showing her first exposure to women aging without experiencing the stigma towards it.
There is a lot of nice mother/daughter acknowledgements in this too, and not just from Perlman's character. Gloria has a preteen daughter named Sasha, played by Ariana Greenblatt, with whom she rekindles a better relationship thanks to Barbie. The only criticism I have about this is that I think maybe Sasha embraces Barbie Land a little too quickly and doesn't have her own arc. At first she is really against Barbie and what Sasha thinks she stands for but then she gradually switches up and you don't really gather what made her change her mind. Actually I think both Gloria and Sasha could have used more development and backstories. We don't really know too much about them except for what they blurt out as some kind of confessions. We don't really see them go through as much growth but instead they get from Point A to Point B without showing how they got there. I know this film is Barbie's journey, but they are just used as aids in her journey when I would have liked to learn more about them. They're kind of like her real world counterparts, so for me they deserve just as much of a satisfying arc as Barbie does. For example, maybe they could have included a serious conversation between the two about their feelings and why they fell off. They are usually with Barbie in every scene, so we never get this. The only time we somewhat do see this is when they are in the car together by themselves and Sasha all of a sudden wants to help Barbie and when Gloria questions this because Sasha hates Barbie, Sasha responds that she knows her mother loves Barbie and Barbie brings out the real Gloria. She even compliments her mother's drawings of Barbie.
And? This is a pivotal moment, but I just don't know how Sasha gets to this point. Why does she all of a sudden care? We see her gradually embrace Barbie and Barbie Land, but how? What changes her mind?
And then after all of this, the finale really brings back the humor to end the film on the right note. lol
- The Pink
A lot of Barbie Land is in pink, yes. But the pink that I really appreciated was among the Barbie audience. Audience members took it upon themselves to wear pink to see the film in theatres, so it became the unofficial dress code for the Barbie viewing experience. I made sure that my friend Kim and I wore pink when we saw the film! It made me really notice how many pink items I actually own. I've always loved pink growing up and never really stopped. Theatres also had doll boxes to pose inside of for photo opportunities. Kim and I took advantage of this too. I love how the Barbie experience was cute and interactive like this. You see someone wear pink, you automatically know that they are seeing Barbie and they know that you saw Barbie because you are wearing the same color. And everybody has their own styles in which they incorporate pink. It was a nice cute community thing.
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| Pink purse here too. I thought of everything. lol |
Babysitting Skipper is featured in the end credits and I started to get a little emotional because I used to play with her all the time and I still have her!
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