Barbie (2023) movie review
Leah Robinson
Joan Dudley
Comp 1
7 Dec 2024
Barbie (2023) movie review
Greta Gerwig is known for bringing different perspectives of womanhood to film and presenting it beautifully, with movies such as Lady Bird (2017) and the 2019 film adaptation of Little Women. Barbie (2023) , while aesthetically different, shares Gerwig's clear core values of feminism. Using a world full of pink, Gerwig uses the infamous Barbie Doll to show the effects of the patriarchy on society. “Barbie Land”, the alternate universe for Barbie’s and Ken’s, is a matriarchy in which Barbie’s work every occupation and the only thing Ken’s do is sit around and wait for the Barbie’s to notice them. This fun and exaggerated version of the gender roles in our patriarchal society is what Gerwig uses as a base to touch on these issues.
Unlike Lady Bird and Little Women, Barbie’s leading actress is in fact Margot Robbie instead of Saoirse Ronan. This was a wonderful choice on Gerwig’s part. While Ronan presented her previous roles great, Margot Robbie is seen to be the perfect pick for her role of “Superficial Barbie”. This was expected during the press tours of the movie where she was styled daily as different Barbie’s through history. Ryan Gosling, while critiqued by many for his age and questioned on whether he possessed Ken’s aura, is believed to be “The Ken” since the movie's release; with his well known song “I’m just Ken” being performed at the 2024 Oscars.
Barbie, while not a full-blown musical, utilizes music in telling its story as well. Beginning with Lizzo’s song “Pink”, Barbie lives a perfectly normal day in Barbie Land until later that night when she has thoughts of death. This is questioned by her fellow Barbie’s and brushed off until the next day when her morning begins wrongly with a cold shower and expired milk. The positive and upbeat “Pink” song even becomes negative with words like “cool” changing to “death”. Barbie goes on to realize that the human who is playing with her in the real world is transferring her own negative feelings onto Barbie. This causes Barbie to travel to the real world to find her and fix this issue. Because Ken is so engulfed with Barbie, he tags along and ends up discovering his own interests; the patriarchy. This discovery later forms the song “I’m just Ken” where he sings about his “love” for Barbie and how he feels being treated as an accessory to her. While on her own journey, Barbie discovers her owner in the real world and finds that the existence of Barbie did not cure sexism. During the heartfelt moments where Barbie feels these womanly emotions of sonder, realizing the intricacy of real womanhood, the Billie Eillish song “What was I made for?” plays softly in the background. The use of this song in the movie paired with Robbie’s performance sparks emotions, as the song delicately delivers the feeling of purposeless Barbie experiences and Robbie portrays it for the audience to see.
While I believe Barbie to be a beautiful movie, it does not shy away from corny or cringe worthy moments. From the existence of “Weird Barbie”, who portrays Barbie’s that are played with roughly, to Ken’s belief that the patriarchy is all about horses. Not to mention, Ken’s “I’m Kenough” sweater that became merchandise sold after the movie's release. The Barbie movie obviously did not “heal the world of women” as it was portrayed across social media before its release. While America Ferrera’s character's monologue about womanhood is beautifully said and holds much value in the media to this day, the work is not finished. The Barbie movie touches on the feelings of unappreciation and inadequacy that can come with being a woman, and this was needed for some to have an understanding of that. Whether a famous doll such as Barbie explains it or not, Gerwig stuck to her nature.
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