This movie did not have to do much to win me over. I went into it predisposed to like it. I’m a fan of Greta Gerwig’s work, I’m a fan of many of the actors in the movie, the aesthetic, the vibe, the soundtrack, the subject matter – it had everything going for it. This movie did not have to work that hard for me to like it. And yet it still did. It put in the work. It’s not brainless fluff. It’s not one long commercial for Mattel. It’s not a lot of pink and no real plot. This movie has important things to say, smart jokes to make, and a whole world to create. Combined with phenomenal acting performances, a completely unique look, feel, and tone, and an almost accidental cult-like phenomenon, I don’t see how Barbie could fail. This movie tries to do so much and accomplishes most of it. It is by no means perfect, but deserves all the credit for trying. In a time of sequels and superheroes, this is an original story told through the specific voice of an auteur instead of a company. They could have just made a simple, fun, bright movie about Barbies, but the fact that they took it seriously and put in 110% effort elevated the movie that much more for me.

Before we get any further into this, I need to get this out of the way. Does the movie hit you over the head with feminism? Yes. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If you’re rolling your eyes right now at the word “feminism”, you’re either a man or a woman suffering from internalized misogyny and this movie probably isn’t for you. The movie at its core is about feminism and the patriarchy. 

People think feminism is “anti-men” but it’s not and this movie is not. Feminism literally means that all genders should have equal rights. In Barbie, Barbie and Ken are both important and are both given space to find and understand themselves. In that journey, many salient points and funny jokes are made about feminism and the patriarchy and they’re funny because they’re true. If you are a woman or care about women, this movie underlines some really great points about the struggle of being a women in society in both blunt and obvious ways and other more subtle ways. Some have criticized it for not saying anything new or revolutionary about these subjects. But the issues still exist. Just because things have been said, doesn’t mean anything has been done. We will keep saying the same things until people finally listen. This is not a canon story about Barbie. It’s a story about feminism and the patriarchy using Barbie as a lens to give it mass appeal and a wide audience. 

One of the well-worn points the film makes is through a powerful speech given by America Ferrera’s character at the climax of the film. You should 100% watch the movie and experience the full scene for yourself, but the gist of the speech is that women are expected to be everything all the time. When thinking about this afterwards, I realized how this idea ties into the tagline of the movie, the one on all the posters: “She’s everything. He’s just Ken.” At first, it reads as very empowering for women. Women can be anything. In Barbie Land, women are doctors, presidents, pilots, Nobel Prize winners, and more. The Kens are fairly basic and average. But in the context of that speech, there’s a darker undertone to the tagline. Women don’t get to be everything, they have to be. Society expects nothing less. While men are allowed to be just themselves and no one thinks twice about it. It’s a really ingenious way of showing how empowerment can have mixed messages and pressure to be so much and “regular women” who have struggles are just as equal and important as women who can do it all. 

Another detail I wanted to mention is a line Margot Robbie’s Barbie says at a pivotal moment in the film. Without context to avoid major spoilers, she says, “I want to do the imagining, not be the idea.” This was significant to me because it immediately reminded me of a line from Daisy Jones and the Six where Daisy says, “I am not a muse. I am the somebody.” Barbie and Daisy are two entirely different people who don’t have much in common but, at the end of the day, they’re both strong female characters who, even in their own stories, feel like they have to fight to be the lead. They don’t want to stand there and look pretty for the benefit of other people. They want agency, they want action, and they want to be in control of their own lives. It’s a good message for everybody, not just women; we’re not here to serve other people’s purposes, only our own. “Being the somebody” is an idea that I loved in Daisy Jones and was happy to hear echoed in Barbie.

I previously mentioned the cult-like phenomenon that occurred around the release and I really want to address the impact of this movie on society at the moment. Part of this was the “Barbenheimer” sensation that took over the internet. For those who are less online, this concept came out of the fact that Barbie and Oppenheimer were being released in theaters on the same day. It started as online conversation about which movie people preferred to see first, and then turned into people dressing in costume for double features of the two films, memes, merch, in person experiences – it became an event that likely helped both films to greater box office success than they would have had without all the fanfare. But the other part of the societal impact of this movie has to do with (you guessed it) feminism.

Barbie tells us that you can be feminine and girly and still be smart and real and human. The movie doubles down on this, both in the plot but also with the real life moviegoers out in the world who are dressing up to go see the film. Women deserve to be taken seriously and being interested in things that are stereotypically “girly” doesn’t take away from your intelligence. Society is always looking for ways and reasons to put women down and make them feel lesser and being dismissive of things where the majority of the audience/fan base is women (particularly women under 30) is a way to do that. But between Barbie and the Eras Tour (losing count of how many posts I’ve referenced Taylor Swift in), 2023 is the year of reclaiming femininity. 

This is a lesson we should have all learned from Legally Blonde 20 years ago: wearing pink doesn’t mean you’re stupid. Wanting to be feminine and look pretty and wear bright colors and dresses and bows and glitter and sparkles and jewelry and liking pop music about having crushes and boys breaking your heart has nothing to do with your intelligence or your value. It doesn’t make you ditzy or superficial or unimportant. I’ve seen many, many women on the internet say that the major celebration around both Barbie and the Eras Tour have been really healing because for so long we were all judged and made to feel ashamed for liking things like that and now we’re able to connect both in person and online with an enormous community of people who care about the same things. We can openly and unapologetically express our love for them and not worry about seeming dumb or uncool. Basically what I’m saying is it’s 2023 – let people like what they like and stop judging other people’s taste just because it’s different from your own. People find meaning and value in different things. Girly girls can be smart girls too, and if you can’t understand that, then maybe you’re the one who’s not so smart. Women are eager for things created by women for women instead of things created by men about what they think women like. And the astronomical financial success of both Barbie and the Eras Tour are definitive proof that there is a huge market there that has been previously underserved. 

Well if you made it through all that and you’re still with me, then you should definitely go see this movie. It is genuinely really funny, really fun, and honestly unique. Is it a perfect movie? Of course not. There were some characters and storylines that I found unnecessary and the end gets messy and a tad confusing. But a movie does not have to be perfect to be good and enjoyable. At the end of the day, you just can’t think too hard about it or try to apply any logic to it. It’s a movie about a world of imagination, so really anything goes.

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are absolutely phenomenal. They seriously both deserve Oscar nominations. Gosling just fully goes for it and his comedic energy comes close to stealing the entire show, but this movie would simply not work at all without Margot Robbie’s pitch perfect performance. She manages to strike such an impossible balance of emotions while also being the most stunning actual real life human Barbie doll. There’s actually a line that references this in the movie that is one of the funniest jokes in the film and one of the most meta moments. The movie does break the fourth wall occasionally in yet another way it takes risks that pay off. 

Go see Barbie for the women in your life, for the women of the world, for your inner child, for your feminine side, and, most importantly, for yourself. There’s really something for everyone.

2023 Count: 15 seasons, 34 movies, 1 special