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Apr 13 2025, 11:09 PM
#47
https://ovarit.com/o/Movies/431641/i-shamelessly-loved-barbie-2023
I shamelessly loved Barbie (2023)
Posted on Aug 3, 2023
Let me clarify some points before I continue with my thoughts and feelings on Barbie for the rest of my post. By virtue of us being members of Ovarit, we are likely more "well-versed" in notions of patriarchal systems and societal misogyny than the average woman or movie-goer. If you are going into this movie expecting to learn something new, you most likely won't; you likely already know much of what there is to know about feminism and patriarchy. I recommend tempering any expectations of the movie being a flawless feminist manifesto; despite being about what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal world, Barbie is also meant to be a fun summer blockbuster that needed to appeal to a wide audience. Nevertheless, I still greatly enjoyed this movie.
Weeks ago, I originally stated that I fully acknowledged the movie would be "a saccharine-sweet libfem fever dream," but it honestly was better than I expected. Of course, the movie still had stereotypical flaws that radfems can easily point out—the women still primarily all wore makeup, the patriarchal systems in the movie were objectively worse than Barbie Land's matriarchy, and other "subtle" and "for granted" expectations that women are expected to do are featured in the movie and not addressed. However, despite some misogynistic expectations and some liberal feminist cognitive dissonances, the Barbie movie still hit me hard.
Overall, I feel like the Barbie movie guides the viewer through experiencing the daunting existential crisis that women face when they realize they exist within a misogynistic and patriarchal world.
And putting the feminist focus aside for a brief moment, I felt that Barbie was a great movie with lovingly crafted sets, dazzling dance choreography, densely packed humor and wit, beautiful heartfelt moments about understanding what it means to be human, and an original soundtrack with a diverse emotional palette.
Movie spoilers start below.
The Childlike Innocence of Barbie Land
Before Barbie, the primary dolls available to young girls were baby dolls, essentially suggesting to girls their only societally-approved pretend-play was to prepare them for becoming a mother and nothing more. Ruth, the creator of Barbie, created Barbie in an attempt to let girls know they are more than just "to-be mothers," girls and women can "be anything."
In "Barbie Land," everything is "perfect;" it is very much a bubblegum-pink, saccharine-sweet, childish perception of life. Barbie Land is quite literally depicted as a childlike and idealistic artificial land. Children are innocent and full of hope and possibilities; they
do believe Barbie can be anything! That is why Barbie Land is so bubbly and hopeful, because it's a physical manifestation of bunch of little girls playing with dolls and pouring their happiness and wonder into a positive pretend world. The movie even pokes fun at the naivety of the Barbies in Barbie Land at the beginning with the narrator and the Barbies saying "Barbie was created and fixed everything and all is good with the world!" and the Barbies truly believed Barbie made girls equal. Barbie Land is not meant to portray a real matriarchy. I think the movie clearly points out how absurd and innocent the matriarchy of Barbie Land is, and contrasts it with the absurd and cruel patriarchy of the "Real World."
The moment Barbie and Ken step into the Real World, I feel like the audience is shown what it is like to rapidly go from being an innocent young girl to being treated as an objectified woman in reality. Barbie goes from being happy, bubbly, and confident to experiencing "self-consciousness" for the first time. Psychologists have explained that children are born with an innate positive sense of self, which is worn down by the actions and behaviors of adults. Once Barbie is out of Barbie Land, she is quickly subjected to the misogynistic realities of the patriarchal Real World. This scene reminds me of when women share their experiences of the first time they are objectified by society, mostly men, often at a disturbingly young age.
Barbie Gets Bullied
The Barbie movie does call out the issues surrounding Barbie dolls; unrealistic body and beauty standards, mass corporate profit, etc. in an amusing manner; Barbie enters the Real World confused, having thought "Barbie fixed everything" as the Barbies naively think is true in Barbie Land, only to be idealistically ripped apart in a monologue from the girl Barbie was played with as a child, who is now a teenager. I feel many woman can attest to the awkward and uncomfortable time in a woman's life when one goes from young girl to teenager, going through puberty, being viewed as a woman in a misogynistic culture. The teen girl is rightfully angry at the sickly-sweet naiveness of her childhood Barbie and all the negative repercussions that came from the development of Barbie dolls.
The Beauty in Being Human
There is an incredibly touching scene in the Barbie movie that deeply resonated with me. Barbie sits on a bench, and starts practicing mindfulness to understand what is going on in the confusing Real World. She begins fully observing people just
being—couples quarreling, old friends laughing, a person looking distressed, another smiling. She takes in the complete and complex beauty of life. She then notices an old woman sitting on the other side of the bench, calmly reading a newspaper. We see the juxtaposition of a flamboyantly pink, youthful, and "perfect" Barbie, compared to a quaint elderly woman. This is Barbie's first interaction with an old woman, and I had no idea what to expect with the direction of this movie. It was a peak pivotal scene. Calm yet intense. I was worried the movie might do something like have Barbie shocked at an aged woman (Barbie earlier in the film was seen freaking out over her sudden development of cellulite). Instead, Barbie sincerely looks at this woman and says "you're beautiful." The woman's response locked in my feelings of gratitude that this movie was made. The old woman smiled and said "I know."
For so long, women have had beauty dangled in front of us in the form of unobtainable standards that we are expected to waste our mortal lives chasing, lest we worry of our fear of becoming "unwanted" or "irrelevant." And not only that, to even acknowledge our beauty is a cardinal sin, for then we are suddenly labeled vain and therefore hideous. Women are tricked into thinking beauty is products and cosmetic procedures bought with capital, or that beauty is a label that is given and taken away by others, and for a woman to not have this "beauty" is a death sentence. This elderly woman has lived so many years, she was beautiful for all of it, and she was confident in acknowledging her beauty. Not because of her external appearances, but because of her willingness to fully live her life for herself.
While the movie leans towards liberal feminist virtues, it was nice when they had a scene about "Depression Barbie," which included Barbie dolls who looked like they were not wearing makeup. I thought that was a nice touch. Another viewer commented about how Barbie slowly got less and less glamorous as the film went on, including a drop in her makeup. I feel like at Barbie's lowest point, her makeup was so minimal to the point of "no makeup" (of course there was still makeup, though) so I felt like that was nice. I wasn't expecting even a hint of "less than perfect external beauty" in the Barbie movie, so I appreciated that they dipped their feet in the water of women not always looking "all dolled up," pun intended.
The Pain in Being Woman
Near the turning point of the movie, a woman from the Real World explains to a defeated and depressed Barbie that yes, life can be cruel and unfair. The woman makes an impactful speech about how women are essentially expected to be "everything, but not
too much." She explains all the contradictions women must spend their lives tearing themselves apart trying to strive towards. "Be
this, but
not that." I think her speech is an important message for many young women to hear, especially those who are getting sucked into gender ideology and think that the only way to escape a life of misogyny is by mutilating themselves and denying their physical reality by claiming to be male. The Real World woman makes this speech when Barbie is at her lowest, when Barbie feels the misogyny of the world is too much to handle, so Barbie can realize it's not hopeless and woman can always stand up, demand our rights, and make meaningful change. If you are a seasoned feminist, the speech is unlikely to be anything you haven't heard before, but I felt a deep resonation and gratitude that a big-budget pop-culture movie is blatantly calling out the chronic sexism that women deal with in the world.
Kenough is Kenough
There have been some critiques about how Ken has a lot of screentime. I honestly didn't mind the screentime Ken had, because Ken was similar to Barbie in that he had an innocent portrayal of the world as he understood it from being a part of Barbie Land. His worldview was then corrupted due to what he learned from the patriarchal Real World. Because Ken was originally created to be an accessory to Barbie, the Kens never even had the idea of living a life for themselves instead of always living to simply be noticed by Barbie.
The lack of self-esteem the Kens then tried to fill with patriarchy hurt them and the Barbies even
worse than the initial dismissiveness the Barbies had for the Kens in Barbie Land's original matriarchy. The parts of the movie that focused on Ken basically showed how the development of patriarchal systems and men's immature attempts to control everything are ridiculous and detrimental to
everyone. Ken's scenes were not to pride the societies that men created with their patriarchal systems, they were to mock the systems and sexism that men have perpetuated. The movie showed how men can easily fall into misogynistic rabbit holes like incel communities, right-wing politics, patriarchal communities, and so on, because they struggle with an inherently unstable sense of self worth.
The movie was also firm in that it was not Barbie's responsibility to bend to Ken's unrequited love, and instead stood strong in that Ken needed to choose to find and love himself. The problems that men have with their own lack of self-esteem and self-worth are men's to solve; not women's. We all need to have our own responsibility and accountability for ourselves.
That's My Barbie..?
I have some minor critiques with some of the liberal feminist cognitive dissonances I noticed in the movie. The liberal feminist nature of the movie that stuck out to me the most was the "inclusivity" of both the overweight Lawyer Barbie played by Sharon Rooney and the transgender-identifying-male (TIM) Doctor Barbie played by Hari Nef.
I think Sharon Rooney is a wonderful actress, but I feel like there is a dissonance at play here; Barbie was
blatantly called out
in this very movie for having unrealistic body standards, but I assume the studios thought it would be progressive to include an overweight actress as a Barbie. The Barbie toy line does not, and has not ever, created an overweight Barbie. But it seems including an overweight actress as a Barbie is great virtue signaling! I find it further amusing because there was a shot where the CEO of Mattel was visibly shocked and disturbed upon seeing Midge, Barbie's pregnant friend, but an overweight Barbie is treated just as if she was the same as any other Barbie. Midge was mocked and joked about as grotesque and scary just because she is pregnant, but this liberal feminist movie wouldn't dare call out how overweight women are disparaged by society. It feels strange and dismissive to me.
The TIM actor playing Doctor Barbie is blatantly insulting in a movie about what it means to be a girl growing into a woman in a patriarchal world. I feel disappointed that a role meant for a woman got taken by a man in the Barbie movie. Hari Nef and transgender ideology get no more attention from me in this post. If you are interested in reading more about the TIM "Barbie," check out
this Ovarit thread discussing his role in the movie.
I'm willing to acknowledge these cognitive dissonances, because I realize nothing can be perfect. Perfect is the enemy of good.
What Was I Made For?
The first time we hear a piece of the song
"What Was I Made For?" is when Barbie sits on a bench and observes life unfolding before her for the first time. This song is so meaningful and beautiful to me, I cry every time I hear it. In our societies, women are not born for themselves, women are made for others. Women are ripped of their humanity and torn away from their sense of self. We are told to be a woman is to be an amalgamation of all the roles that accommodate others, that is our purpose in life, and never to think or care for ourselves. We are not allowed to be human, we are forced to be women.
Quote:One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. No biological, psychological, or economic destiny defines the figure that the human female acquires in society; it is civilization as a whole that develops this product, intermediate between female and eunuch, which one calls feminine. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The song "What Was I Made For?" hit me so hard. This song personally meant a lot to me, because less than a year ago, in my late twenties, I realized I had spent a vast majority of my life living for others and not for myself. The song perfectly captured the existential crisis and subsequent depression I felt when I realized I spent over a quarter of my life repressing my feelings and "going through the motions of life," living for others. Nine months ago, the "veil had lifted" on the emotional abuse and neglect my father put me through throughout my life, which likely played a major part in my depression and anxiety. A majority of my life was spent pleasing others and living in constant anxiety that I could never make everyone happy. I had a mental breakdown once I realized this and a complete existential crisis. I had to pull myself out of the deepest loniest depths of depression and suicidal ideations, and came out the other end realizing the beauty of truly living—living in the moment, in my body, for myself. Throughout the past nine months, I have been slowly rebuilding my life for myself, proud of myself, and loving myself. Hearing this song while seeing Barbie observe life and experience the awe of being human resonated deeply with me, as it echoed my own recent personal discoveries on how precious life is.
Choosing to Live
Sometimes, being a woman in this world feels utterly hopeless. And unlike Barbie, women don't have a choice on being women. That's what makes the ending for Barbie so impactful to me. Barbie accepted all the pain, fear, and tragedy within life, the realities of being a human, of being a woman. Barbie chose to live. Barbie acknowledges there is more meaning and worth in choosing to live her own mortal life than in remaining a plastic and lifeless doll controlled by others.
Barbie faces this dilemma of choosing to live twice within the movie. Both times she is offered a "happy ending," and "all" it requires her to do is get back in her box and remain a carefree doll for the rest of time. The first is when Mattel catches her, worried about Barbie's existential crisis wreaking havoc on the Real World. The second is after rejoicing once the Barbies won back matriarchal control over Barbie Land. But there is more to life than a happy ending.
Barbie's inventor, Ruth, informs Barbie one last time of what it means to become human. Ruth created Barbie as an inspiration for girls that women can be anything. Ruth realized that her own creation wanted the very thing all girls
really want — to be human, to be free to feel, to live. Barbie chose the possibilities of life's uncertainty and finiteness over the eternal lifeless beauty of being an ideal, because Barbie understood it was more meaningful to be human than to be an object.
Now
that's my Barbie! 🩷
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