“Barbie” pokes fun at the world’s most famous doll and even at its maker; g1 already seen
“Barbie” is an ambitious film that makes fun of the most famous doll in the world, but not only. In addition to her, her manufacturer Mattel, fans and haters are the butts of jokes. As expected, it is a feminist satire wrapped in a series of ironic scenes.
With its premiere this Thursday (20), the feature film, which caused even more excitement before its premiere, reveals a contrast between the fictional Barbielândia and the real world.
Plastic life is awesome
In the pink universe, Barbie is perfection in the form of a woman, or rather a doll. Sexy, successful, and happy, all of its versions live together in harmony, dominating everything around them, from makeup to astronomy.
Ken (Ryan Gosling), Barbie’s (Margot Robbie) love partner, doesn’t hold the same relevance as his compatriots. While they split into multiple roles as president, author, and journalist, he’s at best a man unsuccessfully trying to be good at surfing and spending late nights with his lover, who treats him with contempt most of the time.
The reference to the position that Ken occupies in the collective imagination is clear. Without the glamor of the doll, he was always limited to “Barbie’s boyfriend” status. Very different from her, which, as shown in Greta Gerwig’s film, is comparable to the monolith of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 A Space Odyssey” (1968).
In the hyperhappy world of Barbieland, there is no cellulite, no morning breath, and no thoughts of death. As the lyrics of Aqua say, life in plastic is awesome.
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Everything changes, however, when the “stereotypical Barbie” — as the characters call the main version of the doll, the sensual blonde with unrealistic proportions — begins to have flaws like flat feet.
When the protagonist finds out that the blemishes are the result of realworld manipulations in Barbieland, she goes against her will into the human universe to find the solution and eventually get rid of her cellulite.
Ken follows the character and together the two embark on a journey of discovery, the most important of which is the existence of patriarchy a concept that disturbs the protagonist but enchants the puppet.
As the owner of the play in enchanted Barbielândia, Barbie feels hurt, ignored and belittled in the world of flesh and blood. Not even Mattel, who brought his universe to life, is made up of powerful women.
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The film, which emphasizes gender inequality, sometimes sounds exaggerated in its allusion to patriarchal violence and contains, for example, very caricatured scenes about harassment. However, the choice manages to have a good dialogue with the script’s style, which is characterized by a mocking metalanguage.
One of the big mysteries surrounding the feature is how Gerwig would balance the doll’s controversies with its popularity. The result is a work that manages to portray this complexity with ease and wit.
One example is when Barbie, who swears she’s a feminist icon — because she has hundreds of jobs, is independent, and has the house of her dreams — discovers she’s hated by a legion of women.
Her feminine ideal is said to be fascist, capitalist and the personification of a chick a term used for vain girls who are sexually attractive.
We see the protagonist contemplating her own existence, highlighting her flaws and belittling her traits when comparing herself to other Barbies, which makes perfect sense on a planet of female rivalry like Earth.
live in my own world
Gerwig humanizes the toy in such a way that even those who roll their eyes at the puppet have to sympathize with her, adding new levels of duality to the plot. This is another reason why it promises to appeal to such a diverse audience.
The performers’ facial expressions and body movements attract attention by imitating the plasticity of the puppets.
Margot Robbie was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for I, Tonya (2017) and does an amazing job in Barbie. The same goes for “Ryan Gosling,” an actor who competed for an Oscar for “La La Land” (2017).
Playing with the contrast between Barbieland’s frufru scenario and the concrete jungle of Los Angeles is also another triumph that gives breath to the film and makes the desire for a few minutes in the enchanted world.
While it manages to balance humor and criticism and throws in a Mattel mea culpa “Barbie” also has glitches.
The racial contradictions of the doll, which, for example, took more than thirty years to have a black version, are mentioned even in the form of jokes, but do not gain much space.
The movie also has scenes that are very lengthy, such as a long Kens war, which might work better if it were slimmer.
However, none of these slipups detract from the scope of the work. Gerwig has made a film that is funny, dramatic and provocative all at the same time. It is no exaggeration to say that this is his most creative and best executed work.
Instead of dragging out scenes like in “Little Women” (2020) or clichés like in “Lady Bird: A Time to Fly” (2017), earlier directings by the American “Barbie” do not let the viewer tire of the screen and it also offers content that is full of originality right from the start.