I’ve been doing a little better recently, though life is still feeling pretty stressful and tough, and I’m trying to manage full time work in a new job as well as the weight gain, and I guess also just trying to manage the transition from inpatient care and my life centreing around an eating disorder to it being something more? Anyway – I had a few days off in a row, and I went to see the new Barbie movie (my second time going to the cinema in about a decade!!!), and I had THOUGHTS. So I decided to write a review:
‘Barbie’ – where do I begin now? Barbie was an icon of my childhood, like so many other girls, being one of my favourite toys but also certainly an inspirational figure for me not just in play but in books, films, TV shows…I distinctly remeber my teacher Barbie, my flying fairy princess Barbie, my ‘walk the dog’ Barbie, and her various friends, whom I’d spend hours acting out dramas with in my room. I sold my Barbies long ago – something I do occasionally regret when I’m feeling a little nostalgic and am missing my childhood – but over the years she’s cropped up in discussions about her role in society, and just how ‘good’ she is for young girls. I’ve honestly always defended her and dismissed ideas that she creates an unrealistic expectation of women, because, in my mind, Barbie was always just a way of me using my imagination and having fun, and I felt this concept of her being anything more than that was just society playing the blame game. Having watched this film…I have to admit, I have been wrong! Yes society has been using Barbie is a scapegoat, but she has always been so much more than just a tool for ‘fun’.
I don’t want to give too much away, but the Barbie movie is by no means a film for children – it suits the young adult and adult market best, with lots of pop culture references and sub-textual jokes. The plot seems simple – Barbie realises she wants more from her life than the Barbie world offers, goes to the real world, where she discovers patriarchy and a society in which men dominate, and chaos ensues in both ‘Barbie world’ and the real world, before she helps breathe new hope and passion into a woman whose self esteem has been eaten away at by reality’s endless criticism and stubborn unwillingness to appeciate women for who they are. However, the film has been cleverly entwined with a message of female empowerment, equality for men and women, and the reminder of what Barbie has always truly been about: being free to be who they are. And, more to the point, this is all carried through beautifully, rather than feeling forced, and fake. I think much of this is down to the creative genius of director Greta Gerwig.
Some of my key take aways from the film:
- It’s all about acceptance and loving yourself, and being happy for who you are as you are
- Society has distorted Barbie and changed the point of her
- Both men and women can feel lost; when Ken was in the real world where men have power, he felt empowered – the crippled self esteem of women is not to do with men or women being different, but how society is shaped
- Being a Barbie or a Ken is nothing to do with being perfect – in fact there is beauty in our imperfections – and anyone can be a Barbie or a Ken because being a Barbie or Ken means being whatever you want to be, and that can be a brain surgeon, but it can also be a dog walker, or someone who loves the beach, or a mum, or a baker, or whatever you want it to be
- We all constantly compare and criticise and worry about being as good as someone else because we feel like society needs us to be more, but we can never win
- LIFE IS FOR LIVING!
And a few notes I have about the production itself:
- THE SONGS ARE INCREDIBLE, as is the choreography
- America Ferrera, one of my favourite actresses, actually has a very significant role, which the Barbie team very much did NOT give away
- There are some great comments on how society is male-dominated
- I like all the references to previously released Barbie dolls!
- The cast is excellent – I particularly loved America, Ryan, Margot, Simu, Kingsley, Ncuti, Rhea and Sharon’s roles
- The glossy filming style and overall production really suits it, and that’s normally something I find off putting in films
- I loved how Barbie solves things without physical fighting, while the Ken’s straight away resort to that
- I also loved the positive portrayal of aging, which is unusual to see in Hollywood!
I came away from this film feeling so, so…okay with myself. A feeling of excitement for life and wanting to be more…me. Wanting to stop punishing myself. And it was also one of the few films in recent years that I have actually enjoyed watching from start to finish, without doing something else at the same time. The feelings I came out of the film with reminded me a lot of my previous reality check about running your own race, and life actually being about just being happy, and not about trying to meet expectations or progress towards goals that are not your own.
(Pink) hats off to Barbie!
(Oh, and I did dress up in outfits inspired by the rollerskate Barbie and Ken!)
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