Barbie (2023)

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***Barbie*** is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. After 42 computer-animated direct-to-video and streaming television films based on Mattel's Barbie fashion dolls, it is the first live-action Barbie film.

## Plot

Stereotypical Barbie (Barbara Handler) enjoys a lovely life every day in the vibrant Barbie Land. She shows symptoms of being a human one day. She chooses to travel to the Real World to discover the cure and make herself perfect once more.

## Why It's a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World

1. It's both a love letter to the Barbie brand but also a complex deconstruction of it
2. It's one of the most unique and imaginative films ever; both in terms of presentation and narrative. Everything looks creative and special and zappy: The sets, the colors, the outfits, the characters, all which feels straight out of a nostalgic kids cartoon; and while still telling a compelling, relatable, and mature story about identity and who we should be as individuals. We simply don't get movies like this anymore. And the fact that this is based on a known toy brand is just incredible.
3. This film is fully faithful to the source material.
4. Awesome direction by Greta Gerwig. You can pretty much tell that she, and the actors, had the time of their lives making this movie.
5. Superb writing by Gerwig herself and her husband and fellow writer/filmmaker Noah Baumbach; resulting in witty and funny dialogue and a marvelous story.
6. The soundtrack in this movie is very catchy and memorable; featuring artists like Dua Lipa, Karol G, Nicki Minaj, Charlie XCX, Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, and more.
	* It helped a lot that many of the songs were released prior to the movie's release and immediatly became popular in apps, such as TikTok. Especially Dua Lipa's *Dance the Night.*
	* Billie Eilish's *What Was I Made For* is absolutely beautiful both in lyrics and melody, it really fits within the movie's story and scene it was used.
	* Gosling's "*I'm Just Ken*" is an absolute powerhouse rock ballad. It became one of the most popular songs in 2023. It works well within the scene, Gosling's vocals are spectacular. Simply an instantly iconic song.
7. This movie is notorious for having one of the most clever and unique marketing campaigns ever: From the early bts photos, the teasers and trailers, the colorful and happy character posters that even allowed users to create their own in the template, Margot Robbie's trend of wearing several trademark Barbie outfits during the movie's press tour and premieres, the early release of the soundtracks, the Barbie boxes being placed on movie theatres, obviously **Barbenheimer**; etc, All of these elements contributed to the worldwide runaway success of the film.
8. Gorgeous costume design. All of the outfits are bright and popping, for both the Barbies and Kens. The most memorable being the cowboy outfits, the rollerskate getups, Barbie's disco dress, and Ken's *I Am Kenough* hoodie.
9. Awesome and colorful cinematography.
10. Impressive production design through Barbieland, considering the entire place looks like one massive Barbie playset.
11. Very likeable and memorable characters, such as the variety of Barbies and Kens, as well as the human characters like Gloria and her daughter Sasha and the Mattel executives.
12. Great acting all around:
	* Margot Robbie is literally the perfect Barbie, and the role feels tailor made for her. Her performance is charming and lovely, and she uses all of her attributes in her favor: Her acting strenghts, her joyful persona, her notorious beauty, and more. While this may not be her best performance, it's definitely her best character.
	* Ryan Gosling's Ken is without a doubt the star of the show. Gosling, acclaimed more for her dramatic performances, is also known for having comedic skills which he has showed in *The Nice Guys* and the *Papyrus* sketch on SNL, and he got to exploit said skills to the max here. Gosling's performance as Ken and the character itself are an absolute riot. He gets most of the movie's funniest moments, the timing of his jokes is perfect, his presence is just pleasing, and even the way he delivers his lines and facial expressions are hilarious. He also works great on the dramatic moments.
	* Robbie and Gosling also have fantastic on-screen chemistry and their dynamics throughout the film is both convincing and entertaining.
	* The rest of the supporting cast is also great in their roles as well: America Ferrera is very strong and empowering on her performance and its great to see her back on film, Will Ferrell is hysterical as the Mattel executive Mother, Kate McKinnon's Weird Barbie is on par with her quirky humor style, and last but not least: **Michael Cera's Allan**, no need to say anything else.
	* We even get memorable cameos from Dua Lipa, John Cena, and Emerald Fennell.
13. A lot of memorable quotes that are either funny, amusing, and deep:
	* The tagline: *She's everything; he's just Ken.*
	* *Hi Barbie!*
	* *Did you bring your rollerblades?*
	* *Barbie has a great day every day. Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him*
	* *Come in to my Weird House! Hi, I'm Weird Barbie, I am in the splits, I have a funky haircut and I smell like basement*
	* *There are no multiples of Allan. He's just Allan.*
		+ *Yeah, I'm... confused about that.*
	* *FLAT FEET!*
	* *What would a Smart Barbie do?*
	* *I am the son of a mother, and the nephew of a female aunt. Some of my best friends... are Jewish!*
	* *It's like I've been in a dream where I was really invested in the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League*
	* *Allans have been in the real word before, no one's noticed! NSYNC? They're all Allans! Even that one!*
	* *She's not dying, she's just having an existential crisis.*
	* *Does the label "long-term long-distance low-commitment casual girlfriend" mean nothing to her?*
	* *To be honest, when I found out the patriarchy wasn't just about horses, I lost interest*
	* *My job ... it's just beach*
	* *I have **all** the genitals!*
	* *Sublime!*
	* *I'll see you on the Malibu Beach!*
	* *I'm just Ken and I'm enough, and I'm great at doing stuff*
	* *Ken is me!*
	* *I Am Kenough*
	* *Do you guys ever think about dying?*
	* *I'm a man with no power, does that make me a woman?*
	* *Humans have only one ending. Ideas live for ever*
	* *Being human's not something I need to ask for or even want? I can just... it's something that I just discover I am?*
	* *We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back and see how far they've come*
	* *I'm here to see my gynecologist!*
	* *You're so beautiful.*
		+ *I know it*
14. Four words: **Mojo Dojo Casa House**.
15. There is loads of funny moments throughout the entire movie, such as: Any time Allan gets a scene, Ken's big showstopper "*I'm Just Ken*", Barbie's idea of fascism being people who control railroads and commerce, the Godfather and Pride and Prejudice gags, the "Depressed Barbie" commercial, the narrator interrupting Barbie's breakdown by stating that Margot Robbie isn't the actress to cast to get that point across, all the Kens singing Matchbox 20's *Push* to the Barbies, and many more.
16. For a comedy, this movie has very deep and compelling themes and ideas on womanhood, masculinity, feminism, the patriarchy, and philosophy.
17. The message of the movie is fantastic, telling a lot about identity and autenthicity and how is always better to be your own self.
18. The scene where Gloria gives a tremendous monologue about the hardships women have to suffer under society is very powerful and empowering and relatable for women everywhere.
19. The ending of the film is very emotional and powerful; with Barbie assuming her own identity and become a human, especially when she interacts with her creator and starts to feel, having reflections on what it is to be human and experience emotions. The Billie Eilish song really added a lot. And the very final moment when she goes to her first gynecologist appointment is both surprising and hilarious.
20. **Barbenheimer:** This movie released alongside Christopher Nolan's epic biopic *Oppenheimer*, a drastically different film, and it became a worldwide pop culture phenomenom, but online and in real life which lead to several memes, edits, fan arts, and mainly audience members to go see both movies as a double feature; which even Tom Cruise himself and Margot Robbie & Greta Gerwig themselves, and even Cillian Murphy, supported the trend. The perfectly builded up movement helped both movies achieve a major success: Both films received critical acclaim, ruled the box office all the way to the first 3 spots of the highest grossing movies of the year, and both are currently strong awards contenders. Even *Variety* paired both Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy in their annual *Actors on Actors* discussions, making the trend officially canon. Simply a cinematic miracle.
	* It's also neat how it wasn't a competition between both movies at all. The casts and crews of the two films actually embraced the movement and supported the other along the way. In various interviews, the actors and filmmakers of *Barbie* and *Oppenheimer* commented on how this helped to get a lot of people into films and praised the other movie's merits. Plus, several movie theater chains around the world also took advantage of the trend to sell both movies.
21. The movie was so good and special that it actually surpassed the 1 billion mark at the worldwide box office and is currently the highest grossing film of 2023. It also hit several records like Greta Gerwig becoming the highest grossing female director and the film becoming the highest grossing comedy ever and the largest success for a film that isn't a sequel of superhero movie. Given how unique the film is, and also how Gerwig started her career as an indie actress and filmmaker, this is nothing short of miraculous.

## Qualities That Aren't Kenough

1. The film's morals, while fantastic, aren't that subtle and very on-your-face.
	* Although it does kind of have purpose; since both the Barbies and Kens have always lived in a perfect world and when they hear this ideas it's their introduction to the concepts of both feminism and the patriarchy.
2. Ken gets unlikable at many times.
3. Sasha can be quite unlikable at times, particularly in the scene where she and her friends make fun of Barbie and hurt her feelings, which makes her cry.
4. The movie is unsuitable for children as there transgender and homosexuality in fact turning a children's franchise into an adult film is a horrible idea

## Reception

### Controversies

Despite getting positive reviews, many Christians and Conservatives hated it and were burning Barbie dolls, asking people to boycott the film for being "anti-men" and full of "transgender and homosexuality". Their tactics backfired as the movie was a smash hit. In reality, the movie is far from "woke garbage" as there is no evidence the movie is pushing such agendas.

It has also gotten so bad to the point where Ben Shapiro has made three videos of the Barbie movie as of now, including a long-hour rant.

## Trivia

* The movie spawned lots of memes on the internet such as "Tickets to Barbie, please", Barbie movie poster parodies, and Barbenheimer due to its same-day release as *Oppenheimer*.
* The film was banned in Kuwait and other Islamic countries due to its content that "promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances", in Vietnam, it was banned because of maps featuring the "nine-dash line."
	+ However its ban on Lebanon was reverted after they found no reason to ban it, giving it a release in August.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/CultureCrave/status/1683967457105702912
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/PopBase/status/1684236724543836161