14 | Hi Barbie!

In this issue: Barbie.

Come on Barbie, let’s go review!

Barbie

Genre: Fantasy Comedy

Language: English

Gist: Believing that they have finished empowering women of the Real World, Barbies have been living their perpetual happily ever after. But one day, Stereotypical Barbie wakes up with thoughts of death and learns that the only way to fix her malfunction is by visiting the Real World.

Review: Barbie’s high production value, off-the-rails marketing, and overflowing star cast may distract you from the fact that the movie isn’t as smart as it’s making itself out to be. The humor misses in most places, but it has fun visuals, nostalgic trips and enough quips that will keep you entertained — especially thanks to Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, who really were born to be Barbie and Ken.
As a film that is dedicated to the female lived experience, it will strike a chord with anyone who identifies as one, even if the story ends up making zero sense.

SYWT? Come on Barbie, let’s go watch this (once)!

💗 Contains spoilers 💗

I like dwelling on that feeling you get after you’ve finished a movie. That’s the moment you know if the film was truly good for you or not. Barbie missed hitting that spot for me.

On paper, it ticked off a lot of boxes: Woke, feminist film parodying the real world, slugging mud at the big bad corporation, invoking plenty of stirring moments, and even reminding you that you are ‘k’enough.

But a lot of this could’ve been done in a 30-minute roll as well. In fact, most of this was covered in America Ferrera’s monologue. That scene itself captured the point Gerwig was trying to make that it rendered the whole film unnecessary.

So I would’ve liked for film to give us more — why did Barbie decide to become human, and more specifically, a woman, whose life, as we’ve understood, is arguably harder? How does Ken’s arc actually translate into the “real world”? And why do we not explore more of Gloria, who is the one to save Barbie Land?

Plus, SO MANY big stars in this movie, and most of them did not have an ounce of characterization. Dua Lipa might as well have been a cut-out poster for all the acting she did.

While narratively Barbie may have been far from perfect for me, it seemed like an important cultural moment. Barbie became more than its film. It became an idea. And in Gerwig’s words: Ideas live forever.

When I was little, I hated the colour pink and refused to wear it or own it.

Pink is girly and girly is weak.

And now, we’ve arrived at a moment where a movie has facilitated millions of people around the world to step over these prejudices that were fed to us, smush it with our flat heels and wear pink because, isn’t it pretty? Barbie definitely did not cause this revolution but it is nice that there is a film that calls to celebrate the being of a woman in all the shades we can be.

The bros may argue with me on this one but being a woman is hard, even in your own home. So in light of that, Barbie as a toy that propagates the idea that you can be anything you want is pretty empowering. As such, the movie is a good reminder.

While I have been quite critical of Barbie in this review, I did not actually have high expectations from it, nor was I disappointed about what it finally delivered. I know in my heart that even if Barbie had the potential to be a great movie, all it really had to do was exist and give people a reason to be excited about something. That’s why what I enjoyed more is the community it built, the memes it generated, the silliness that ensued, and all the pink we ended up wearing.

This is the second time in a row that I’ve come to you with something other than a short review and we also can’t ignore the fact that there’s been no issues in the last month. Life, work, and play have been hectic (as I always say) but I have been watching a lot of fun stuff, so expect some great updates in your inboxes in the coming weeks!

What did you think about Barbie? Did it live up to your expectations? Let me know in the comments!

Before I go:

1. Barbie did not have a unique marketing strategy, but it sure did have a lot of money. And it worked! Read more.

2. If you’d like to read the previous issues, here’s a link to SYWT’s archive.

3. Looking for any title in particular? Cue the database — This has the list of movies/TV shows covered so far with ratings and links to the newsletters they were reviewed in.

4. What’s stuck in my head:

bye-bye,

sal.