A film review by Subhuti.
Every day in Barbie’s world is a perfect day. And Barbie herself is played to perfection by Margot Robbie, with her blonde hair, her dazzling smile, and her pink dresses, living in her very pink house in… yes, you guessed… her very pink world.
Robbie wanted the role because, as she herself confessed, she was tired of playing the wife or girlfriend, in movies where the man was the central character.
And, oh boy, this time she has really broken out of the box.
The only jarring note in Barbieland is a discontented Ken, played by Ryan Gosling. As Barbie’s longtime male friend, Ken resents being just an appendage to Barbie herself. As he points out, he doesn’t even have his own house and never gets to spend the night with her, as reinforced by the female chorus: “Every night is girls’ night!”
Nevertheless, we, the viewing audience, are given the impression that, since Ken is a bit of a wimp, he will reluctantly continue in this inferior role.
But everything is about to change. Barbie herself starts to malfunction. Suddenly, she has troubling thoughts about dying, suffers from flat feet, and finds that her milk has passed its expiry date. OMG! Life is no longer perfect, and she must visit the “real world” to find out why.
Ken hides in Barbie’s pink car and accompanies her to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, where he is delighted to discover that men are in charge and that “the patriarchy” is alive and well.
Meanwhile, Barbie finds herself reduced to a sex object, feels extremely uncomfortable, slaps a guy for groping her, and with astonishing frankness explains to a group of ogling workmen that “I don’t have a vagina”.
But the real shock for Barbie is yet to come. When she finds her owner, a young teenage girl called Sasha, she expects to be welcomed with open arms. Instead, Sasha angrily accuses her of being a “fascist” who has pushed female liberation back years by giving unrealistic ideals to young women, especially with her stereotype blonde hair and big breasts.
Life is getting complicated and this, perhaps, is the movie’s basic message: that all young people, boys and girls alike, have to grow beyond the simple stereotypes presented to them in childhood and find their own unique sense of self-worth.
The movie is very funny, hilarious at times, and Margot Robbie holds centre stage with natural comedic timing and great lines supplied by writer-director Greta Gerwig. The two women worked closely together on the storyline.
In brief: Ken takes the patriarchy back to Barbieland, persuades the other Kens to take over, and tricks all the Barbie women into serving them.
Barbie herself comes back, with Sasha and her mother, and destroys the patriarchy in a very clever way – through exploiting male jealousy. She tells the Barbies to choose a boyfriend, pretend to be his, then leave him for another man. Instantly, the boys are at war with each other in a blow-by-blow “beach off”.
The Barbies regain power. But, in the end, this too, is unsatisfying. Barbie herself knows that her real challenge is back amid the complexities of the “real world”, and through heartfelt feeling she succeeds in transforming herself into a real woman.
In the closing scene, Barbie, as a woman, goes into an office in downtown Los Angeles and announces to the receptionist, “I’m here to see my gynaecologist.” Yep, biologically speaking, that’s about as realistically female as you can get.
Interestingly, as this movie was released, another female-male rivalry began. This time, it wasn’t between Barbie and Ken. It was between actress Margot Robbie and actor Tom Cruise, who was competing at the box office in his seventh sequel of the long-running “Mission Impossible” franchise.
Cruise, now over sixty years old, but still pulling off great stunts, had a budget of $300 million to show the world that all-action, testosterone-driven men don’t need to ponder over their inner psychological complexities when the world needs to be saved from evil powers.
Barbie, on the other hand, had a budget of $100 million and raised all kinds of gender-related issues concerning female and male self-discovery.
Who would win? Well, both did very well, but Barbie topped the box office. It might be said that the matriarchy edged out the patriarchy… well, kind of.
Meanwhile, a third blockbuster, titled “Oppenheimer”, also with a $100 million budget, was released, tracking the development of the first atomic bomb. This gritty, nail-biting movie reaches its climax with the scientists weighing the possibility, admittedly remote, that the chain reaction caused by a nuclear explosion could set fire to the Earth’s entire atmosphere and destroy all life on the planet.
No Tom Cruise. No Margot Robbie. No me. No you. No gender issues.
Fortunately, as testified by your presence here, now, in this moment, as you read this article, it didn’t happen.
PS By the way, the gender debate ain’t over. Recently, British TV host Piers Morgan described the Barbie movie as “an assault, not just on Ken, but on all men.” Well, Piers, all I can say is, if you feel threatened by Barbie, you don’t have much confidence in your own manhood.
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