Greta Gerwig’s film Barbie is the first movie with a female director to rival the largest grossing films such as Avatar and The Avengers (Ulaby 2023). Its box office numbers have made it one of the sole films about a female main character in the top 20 largest money making films world-wide. Disappointingly yet unsurprisingly,  Barbie dolls are appearing everywhere including the aisles of Indian supermarkets.  These still impossibly-disproportioned female figures bear RS 20,000 price tags despite the fact that in the US, until very recently, they were sold at half that price and were often found gathering dust on the shelves. Indeed, a few years ago I could not give away my daughter’s Barbie’s dolls for free. Parents told me they were seen as “uncool.”

With the star appeal of Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie, Barbie’s  name recognition and clever and nearly ceaseless marketing, one could argue the movie dream machine was almost bound to deliver a success. The exponential success of the film was unanticipated, including men and including crowds willing to rewatch it. It is hard to dispute how visually pleasing the film is: there is something immediately fun about seeing an imaginative world for children appear adult-sized on the big screen. Gerwig has perfected a glossy aesthetic; however, Barbie’s constant idealism and forthright feminism jockey for space uncomfortably. Once the exuberant colors and sheer entertainment value of Barbie is accounted for, what remains?

We can say at the outset a Mattel company produced film cannot and will not be radical. Is this a triumphant testament to feminism’s logic? Or is it merely feminist flavored humor, a palatable spoonful of bland? Although the stakes are much lower than they were for the LGBTQ community when Karan Johar’s Dostana appeared, are we seeing the same phenomenon? In other words, just as many in the community applauded Dostana despite its trite references to heterosexuals’ stereotypes of gay men, are feminist-leaning women so grateful for any mention of patriarchal power politics we jump to think it is a powerful feminist lesson for the masses?  It is true many female viewers want to applaud the impassioned speech in which Gloria (played by America Ferrera) speaks of the impossibly high expectations on women, point by point. It’s fair to say most feminists desire for a large group of average public viewers to be exposed to how the feminine – in this case aptly named “Stereotypical Barbie” –  gets represented: as dumb, as obedient, and as conformist. She is sexually attractive according to an immovable standard and, as the very presence of Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) warns us, only until the standard rejects that same body as disgusting, flawed or old. Yet the film also falls into its own critique, relying on the threat of cellulite as a universal horror since beauty still must always be that body’s ultimate goal.

Barbie is undeniably clever; at moments it seems to be many things at once, reveling in the plastic and molded perfection that Mattel sells and yet simultaneously mocking it. Perhaps it is most admirable in how well it enrobes itself in a Gen Z vibe (while still indulging in tiny moments of nostalgia as old doll models and outfits appear). Corporate tryhard mom Gloria is dismissed by her middle school daughter Sasha who delivers weary sarcastic lived-through-covid judgments when confronted by anyone espousing any belief. Although Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) is the fitting counterweight to the film’s playfulness, the setup doesn’t seem to lead to anything of substance. The film fails to be reformist in many ways. First, a large part of the film is devoted to Ken and his eventual rejection of a very ugly masculinity as if the goal of feminist world building solely extends to softening male ego. Early on Ken says plaintively, “every night is girls night”, and we are meant to pity his role as a mere accessory. Eventually he steals Barbie’s house out of jealousy, attempts a government-takeover , turns the entire female population into slavebots and ultimately does not apologize for it. Patriarchy seems to be about men wanting to impress other men (and dominate horses) and somehow the complete brainwashing of women is swept aside fairly quickly. Toxic and power-seeking men appear to be sympathetic because, well, hey, inwardly they feel insecure. This reeks of the “himpathy” feminist philosopher Kate Manne has warned us of at length, the very same himpathy that so often sways judges when confronting the sports-hero-turned-rapist. 

While there is space for trans and queer people to see themselves, and the character Allan is a great favorite side-character, the nudge-wink “beach off” feels outdated. Furthermore, debate is ongoing about the film’s appeal to trans politics, particularly in its final reassertion of biology through the reference to gynecology (Trans film critic Emily St. James describes Barbie as “deeply frustrating and strangely resonant.”)  Significantly, the film’s ending proclaims the genders all have to get along and balance has to be restored so we can all be “Kenough”…but Ken is still the reference point. And what of motherhood, that role deemed women’s sacred destiny for centuries? On the one hand we are ready to cheer on America Ferrara’s character finding her “dark wild and crazy side” to liberate herself from life’s seeming purposelessness; yet later she grandly diminishes the importance of mature adult woman. According to Gloria, good mothers are content to become what poet Anne Sexton acerbically described as “that old tree in the background.” They must relinquish their power in order to have their daughters become authentic agents; it’s as if empowered mothers and daughters are mutually exclusive phenomena. This “life course cycle” textbook thought is the last word on what it means to be a wise and empowered mother. Highly unsatisfying!

In the end Barbie‘s “Tick the Box” liberal feminism starts a conversation, but it’s tea party talk. A movie that includes one fat barbie, one Barbie of every skin hue, one visibly differently abled barbie, and one trans woman proclaims  “We remembered to be inclusive!” yet an attempt at inclusion is insufficient to make a feminist movie. Feminism is a world building exercise that seeks to create equitable conditions for the most vulnerable. There’s nothing wrong with bright colors, jokes and a chance to dress up. Sadly, though, the film is merely feminist baby food. Little actionable purpose is delivered by this story, as the world’s least vulnerable country centers one of the world’s least vulnerable women. 

References

Mann, Kate. Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2017.

Sexton, Anne. “Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman.”The New Yorker. 7 August 1965.

St. James, Emily. “Barbie and Ken and Nothing in Between.” The New York Times. 15 August 2023.

Ulaby, Neta. “The ‘Barbie’ movie’s success puts her among history’s top-20 films.” Npr.org
23 August 2023.