July 22, 2023
FILM: BARBIE
DIRECTED BY: GRETA GERWIG
STARRING: MARGOT ROBBIE, RYAN GOSLING, ISSA RAE
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
You may have noticed that I don’t tend review a lot of the big summer blockbusters. My interests lie more in the indie/international/foreign film territories. Fantasy has never really grabbed me. Sometimes though a high-profile film gets released that is intriguing enough for me to delve into if for no other reason than to try to understand the public and its passions and obsessions at large. We are in the weekend of “Barbenheimer” where both Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenhiemer are getting major wide releases. As of this writing, Barbie has been winning the box office battle making an astounding $70.5 million in its first two days of release.
I had the great pleasure of joining two of my neighbors, three of their daughters, and several of their friends to see the film last night at what appeared to be an almost sold-out screening in suburban Warrenville, Illinois. Everyone dressed up, especially the young girls, mostly in Barbie-pink. (Frank and I wore blue pastel shirts to represent the other side of the coin – Ken.) There was great excitement in the air that I noticed died down a bit after 35 minutes of commercials and previews before the film actually began.
The first act of Barbie is full of broad humor and some witty commentary by narrator Helen Mirren. It’s a colorful recreation of everything Barbie, down to the extreme pinks to the various costumes, cars, and homes that people have associated with the doll for decades. One of the elements that screenwriters Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach immediately address is the preponderance of Barbies in pop culture with the Matel created character representing dentists, Nobel Prize winners, and just about any profession you can imagine. Margot Robbie is “stereotypic” Barbie which has probably been the most commonly associated version of the doll. You know: she’s blonde, beautiful, stylish, and in love with Ken. Because this is BarbieLand, there are numerous of these Barbies in the film, from many different races, as well as one “weird” Barbie played by Kate McKinnon. (Is she “weird” because McKinnon is an out lesbian which doesn’t seem to fit into the traditional world of Barbieland?) The main Ken here is played by Ryan Gosling but others are played by various Black, Asian, and other racially defined actors.
It’s all very light, airy, and innocent until Robbie’s Barbie begins to notice some changes to her personality including a feeling of depression. Trying to figure this out during the second act of the film, Barbie and Ken make their way to the Real World where colors are significantly muted and a patriarchy of men, including Matel’s board led by Will Ferrell, are seemingly in charge of everything. Suddenly, Barbie and Ken experience an existential crisis, uncertain of who they are and what their identities represent.
It is at this point where I could feel the energy in the theater really begin to shift. There wasn’t a lot of laughter coming from the crowd, which is probably appropriate since this second act shifts the tone and brings the film to a much darker place. Without spoiling any other details, suffice to say that the narrative moves a bit into both worlds thus blending together the fantasy elements of BarbieLand with the harsh realities of our world as we know it.
I liked the film but didn’t love it. There’s a coldness to it that may be due to the fictitious Matel created BarbieLand along with the muted depiction of L.A. and its mostly stereotypic male characters. There are also a number of wasted comedic talents in the film. Michael Cera is always fun to watch and listen to but it was never quite clear who his character Allan was supposed to be and why he was even there. Ferrell is okay but one of his board members is played by British actor Jamie Demetriou who stars in the very funny series Stath Lets Flats which I reviewed earlier this week. He’s given very little to do. Other cameos include John Cena, Emerald Fennell, and costumer Ann Roth.
The most interesting aspect of seeing Barbie was getting the reactions from the many people I attended the screening with. One of the younger teenaged girls absolutely hated it. She didn’t like where Barbie ended up by the end of the film. Another thought it was made for a more adult audience. One of the moms was disappointed that the film didn’t stay within the world of Barbie as we’ve previously known it. When I tried to address the more feminist leanings of the film to another, it was clear that discussion wasn’t of interest. Many of these, mostly female, audience members expected the film to be romantic and in keeping with the tradition of what the original Barbie seemingly was meant to be. Forget about the many versions of Barbie that have come along in the last 60+ years, there was still a desire to see Barbie as a fantasy character who gets the man she wants and all of the beautiful clothes and things the Matel has associated her with since the beginning.
I suspect these audience members won’t be alone in their feelings about the film. The way Barbie has been marketed suggests that the film will be full of the colorful escapism that has drawn young females to the character for decades. Here’s the thing though: as a culture we need to look beyond trailers and all the hype. The fact that this film was directed by Greta Gerwig signaled to me that this was never going to be that type of film. Gerwig has been gaining massive critical attention for her finely-toned and deeply layered scripts to films such as Lady Bird and Little Women. While I thought some of the attention given to the former was a bit overly generous, I thought Gerwig added an original take on the latter, infusing it with plenty of feminist ideas from the perspective of the 21st Century. Gerwig has never gone the traditional route as a writer/director or in the roles she chose as an actress (check out her brilliant Frances Ha.)
Gerwig (and her co-writer and life partner Baumbach) were more interested in looking at the idealized version of Barbie that has always been a part of our culture. Yes, women can be all they want to be but they are still confronted by a mostly white, male dominated society. Gerwig was never going to embrace Barbieland for all it was created to be. It depicts an unrealistic idea about what women might expect in the world pertaining to careers, but in particular, an overhyped sense of, and desire for, beautiful things and hot men. It can set up young girls for ultimately a lot of disappointment and dwarf some of their own attempts to stand for and be themselves.
That said, I recognize that Barbie, like most play things, is mostly meant to be a toy for fantasy and imagination. It’s okay for it to serve that function. We all need it! However, I also think it’s important to be aware of the distinction between fantasy and reality and to educate young people early on to see the truth of the world they will eventually enter as adults. While not a perfectly executed project, I think this is exactly what Greta Gerwig set out to do with Barbie.
Barbie is currently playing in wide theatrical release.
FILM: BARBIE
DIRECTED BY: GRETA GERWIG
STARRING: MARGOT ROBBIE, RYAN GOSLING, ISSA RAE
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
You may have noticed that I don’t tend review a lot of the big summer blockbusters. My interests lie more in the indie/international/foreign film territories. Fantasy has never really grabbed me. Sometimes though a high-profile film gets released that is intriguing enough for me to delve into if for no other reason than to try to understand the public and its passions and obsessions at large. We are in the weekend of “Barbenheimer” where both Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenhiemer are getting major wide releases. As of this writing, Barbie has been winning the box office battle making an astounding $70.5 million in its first two days of release.
I had the great pleasure of joining two of my neighbors, three of their daughters, and several of their friends to see the film last night at what appeared to be an almost sold-out screening in suburban Warrenville, Illinois. Everyone dressed up, especially the young girls, mostly in Barbie-pink. (Frank and I wore blue pastel shirts to represent the other side of the coin – Ken.) There was great excitement in the air that I noticed died down a bit after 35 minutes of commercials and previews before the film actually began.
The first act of Barbie is full of broad humor and some witty commentary by narrator Helen Mirren. It’s a colorful recreation of everything Barbie, down to the extreme pinks to the various costumes, cars, and homes that people have associated with the doll for decades. One of the elements that screenwriters Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach immediately address is the preponderance of Barbies in pop culture with the Matel created character representing dentists, Nobel Prize winners, and just about any profession you can imagine. Margot Robbie is “stereotypic” Barbie which has probably been the most commonly associated version of the doll. You know: she’s blonde, beautiful, stylish, and in love with Ken. Because this is BarbieLand, there are numerous of these Barbies in the film, from many different races, as well as one “weird” Barbie played by Kate McKinnon. (Is she “weird” because McKinnon is an out lesbian which doesn’t seem to fit into the traditional world of Barbieland?) The main Ken here is played by Ryan Gosling but others are played by various Black, Asian, and other racially defined actors.
It’s all very light, airy, and innocent until Robbie’s Barbie begins to notice some changes to her personality including a feeling of depression. Trying to figure this out during the second act of the film, Barbie and Ken make their way to the Real World where colors are significantly muted and a patriarchy of men, including Matel’s board led by Will Ferrell, are seemingly in charge of everything. Suddenly, Barbie and Ken experience an existential crisis, uncertain of who they are and what their identities represent.
It is at this point where I could feel the energy in the theater really begin to shift. There wasn’t a lot of laughter coming from the crowd, which is probably appropriate since this second act shifts the tone and brings the film to a much darker place. Without spoiling any other details, suffice to say that the narrative moves a bit into both worlds thus blending together the fantasy elements of BarbieLand with the harsh realities of our world as we know it.
I liked the film but didn’t love it. There’s a coldness to it that may be due to the fictitious Matel created BarbieLand along with the muted depiction of L.A. and its mostly stereotypic male characters. There are also a number of wasted comedic talents in the film. Michael Cera is always fun to watch and listen to but it was never quite clear who his character Allan was supposed to be and why he was even there. Ferrell is okay but one of his board members is played by British actor Jamie Demetriou who stars in the very funny series Stath Lets Flats which I reviewed earlier this week. He’s given very little to do. Other cameos include John Cena, Emerald Fennell, and costumer Ann Roth.
The most interesting aspect of seeing Barbie was getting the reactions from the many people I attended the screening with. One of the younger teenaged girls absolutely hated it. She didn’t like where Barbie ended up by the end of the film. Another thought it was made for a more adult audience. One of the moms was disappointed that the film didn’t stay within the world of Barbie as we’ve previously known it. When I tried to address the more feminist leanings of the film to another, it was clear that discussion wasn’t of interest. Many of these, mostly female, audience members expected the film to be romantic and in keeping with the tradition of what the original Barbie seemingly was meant to be. Forget about the many versions of Barbie that have come along in the last 60+ years, there was still a desire to see Barbie as a fantasy character who gets the man she wants and all of the beautiful clothes and things the Matel has associated her with since the beginning.
I suspect these audience members won’t be alone in their feelings about the film. The way Barbie has been marketed suggests that the film will be full of the colorful escapism that has drawn young females to the character for decades. Here’s the thing though: as a culture we need to look beyond trailers and all the hype. The fact that this film was directed by Greta Gerwig signaled to me that this was never going to be that type of film. Gerwig has been gaining massive critical attention for her finely-toned and deeply layered scripts to films such as Lady Bird and Little Women. While I thought some of the attention given to the former was a bit overly generous, I thought Gerwig added an original take on the latter, infusing it with plenty of feminist ideas from the perspective of the 21st Century. Gerwig has never gone the traditional route as a writer/director or in the roles she chose as an actress (check out her brilliant Frances Ha.)
Gerwig (and her co-writer and life partner Baumbach) were more interested in looking at the idealized version of Barbie that has always been a part of our culture. Yes, women can be all they want to be but they are still confronted by a mostly white, male dominated society. Gerwig was never going to embrace Barbieland for all it was created to be. It depicts an unrealistic idea about what women might expect in the world pertaining to careers, but in particular, an overhyped sense of, and desire for, beautiful things and hot men. It can set up young girls for ultimately a lot of disappointment and dwarf some of their own attempts to stand for and be themselves.
That said, I recognize that Barbie, like most play things, is mostly meant to be a toy for fantasy and imagination. It’s okay for it to serve that function. We all need it! However, I also think it’s important to be aware of the distinction between fantasy and reality and to educate young people early on to see the truth of the world they will eventually enter as adults. While not a perfectly executed project, I think this is exactly what Greta Gerwig set out to do with Barbie.
Barbie is currently playing in wide theatrical release.