Feminist films exist because of the patriarchy and making feminist films in the patriarchy means the filmmaker is expected to address all aspects of the patriarchy in the film or it means they’ve been too patriarchal themselves. If that feels too difficult to just say, imagine how hard it must be to execute. In other words, feminist films often set themselves up for failure and disappointment because they’re accused of being too superficial, too elite, too privileged, too light-hearted, too…well, it’s too frikkin’ much.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is likely to face all of these accusations (it’s also too pink and too consumerist) but I laughed out loud at least six times in the movie, and I’m therefore going to say it is too good to be dismissed by lazy adjectives in articles titled ‘Why Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a missed opportunity’ that I can almost imagine a version of me writing.
Barbie is unabashedly pop feminism – a term that’s used to describe a kind of feminism that recognises gender inequality but doesn’t dig deep, and is satisfied with ‘girl power’ messaging. It’s mostly cute and non-threatening, and the patriarchy graciously allows it to flourish. But then, this is also why it is easily accessible and often becomes the entry point for someone who’s never thought about these ideas to consider them. Barbie is that film – it speaks to an audience that has loved the doll without any reservations, loved the doll but grown to hate all that it represents, or just plain hated the doll always. The Barbie legacy, Greta wants to say, is not so simple.
Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) is the first-ever Barbie and she’s the uncrowned queen of Barbieland that’s teeming with every kind of Barbie that Mattel ever made. It’s an interesting commentary on how the company adapted to its changing audience and the criticisms that it faced over the years, not for altruistic reasons but purely as a reaction to market dynamics. So, if Stereotypical Barbie is a stunning white blonde who has no career, there’s an African American Barbie who is President, a Barbie in a wheelchair, and a plus size Barbie too (as everyone should know by now, the old Barbie’s proportions were so unrealistic that her internal organs wouldn’t fit if she had any). There’s also Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) who has been roughed up by her owner and is something of an outcast.
In Barbieland, the Barbies are doctors, Supreme Court judges, lawyers, sportswomen and what have you. The Kens, on the other hand, are merely decorative and largely irrelevant. Ryan Gosling as Stereotypical Barbie’s boyfriend is a hoot – especially when he says “beach”, and he says that a lot. It is, of course, a reversal of how gender works in the real world, and Greta uses Mattel itself as a microcosm to showcase this reality. The decision-makers are all white men in suits, even if they might be selling and profiting from feminism. In moments like these, Barbie reveals a sense of self-awareness in how it has branded, marketed, and positioned itself – both as a doll and film.
The sparkly pink sets are instantly recognisable if you’ve ever played with a Barbie, and the songs are oh-so-fun. The conflict in the plot is – horror of horrors – cellulite on Stereotypical Barbie’s thigh – and she needs to get to the real world to fix it. Ken invites himself on the trip, and the two of them discover many things about themselves and the human world that changes things forever. There’s a lot to enjoy in these scenes – the zany humour, Barbie’s increasing frustration, and Ken’s gobsmacked reactions when he sees men do more than just “beach” in the real world. But it’s also glib and fast as if the makers didn’t want anyone to be turned off by too much feminism. The version of the real world you get, therefore, is pretty reductive.
America Ferrera (Betty of Ugly Betty fame who was the opposite of Stereotypical Barbie) plays a bored Mattel employee with a teen daughter (Ariana Greenblatt). She’s a representative of people like me who used to love Barbie but understood later that Barbie is Deeply Problematic and we must de-condition our brains and dislike this symbol of All That’s Wrong with the World. Anyway, I imagine that’s why America is stuck saying all the right-sounding things that struck me as forced, but the audience with which I watched the film burst into spontaneous applause for one of her rants. It wasn’t anything original – but I suppose it matters that such rants are heard over a Dolby Atmos sound system.
My favourite and least favourite parts of the film are the same – the Barbies developing a political strategy. While it was extremely hilarious to watch the various ways in which men bore the hell out of women with their mansplaining (The Godfather reference had me howling with laughter), it also felt umm…unsatisfying that this was all that they could come up with as an organised group. It’s also not clear why the Barbies are all asexual while the Kens are forever lusting after them if nobody in Barbieland has any genitals. Considering the film ends with a hint at Barbie taking control of her body and sexuality, this discrepancy needed some explanation.
So, yes, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a missed opportunity in some ways. It’s fast-food feminism. But it is also a film that people are going to enjoy watching because it is funny, it is clever, and it is non-threatening. Not everyone will notice that Stereotypical Barbie, by the end of the film, is wearing flats and not heels. But some will, and maybe many will. That should still be considered a win in my books.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the producers or any other members of its cast and crew.
Sowmya Rajendran writes on gender, culture, and cinema. She has written over 25 books, including a nonfiction book on gender for adolescents. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her novel Mayil Will Not Be Quiet in 2015. Views expressed are the author's own.