While “Barbie” (2023) was undoubtedly one of the most successful and discussed movies of the year, I’ve found myself reflecting more after seeing the film than I had originally anticipated.
I was anticipating “Barbie” just as eagerly as the next person. While I never really played with the dolls myself, I was an avid fan of the animated TV show “Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse,” (2012) which I watched with my younger cousins. I am also a huge fan of actress, writer and director Greta Gerwig, who found fame with films “Lady Bird” (2017) and “Little Women” (2019).
So, when I saw the teaser trailer parodying “2001: A Space Odyssey” in theaters, I knew, as a film enthusiast, I had to be there.
So I did what I do every time there is a highly anticipated film coming out: I tried to avoid as much content or media surrounding the film as I could. I wanted to develop my own opinion on the film and I also wanted to experience it fully in theaters. Unfortunately, Mattel wasn’t going to let that happen.
It was the summer of Barbie. Barbie was everywhere. Barbie was in car commercials, on Architectural Digest giving a tour of her Dreamhouse and even on my frozen yogurt cup.
When I went to see “Barbie” I was in a room full of people excited and engaged in our shared experience. Almost everyone had at least a little pink in their outfits, and it was one of the most lively audiences I’ve been in. My Instagram feed was filled with Margot Robbie’s press tour Barbie-inspired red carpet looks. Even Google Barbie-fied their search engine; when the movie was released, websurfers who typed “Barbie” into Google were greeted by pink hues and retro animated sparkles.
Barbie. Was. Everywhere.
But of course it was everywhere — “Barbie” is a giant commercial for Mattel, even with Gerwig’s subversive and witty script.
After the film’s release, Mattel — independent of the box office revenue — made around $125 million. I couldn’t help but revisit the film in my head. I realized that I had a lot more issues with it than when I initially watched.
Obviously, a majority of the criticism for “Barbie” came from a lot of misogynistic perspectives — which is what usually happens when a woman tries to do anything transgressive — but I also felt a disconnect from people who viewed the film as a revolutionary piece of media that would spearhead feminist movements. “Barbie” was called a breath of fresh air from the cycle of commercial films and remakes that take up the Hollywood sphere. To that, I ask — did we watch the same movie?
Sometimes I wonder if I should stop looking for things to criticize, to just appreciate Barbie as a standard bearer of feminism in media. But, I also owe it to myself to be critical and acknowledge the man making money behind-the-scenes.
It’s not like during the film I was thinking about all the “Barbie” merchandise and other toys that Mattel could profit from; but as soon as I saw Will Ferrell playing the CEO of Mattel in a very weird, self-aware yet satirical tone, I started to feel slightly uncomfortable. Maybe it’s just me, but seeing Ferrell play the controlling, creepy and very real CEO of the company profiting from the movie felt a little too realistic.
That very self-awareness makes it that much more insidious to me. I don’t want to be called melodramatic for saying “Barbie” is insidious, because it’s not just “Barbie,” and it’s not just Mattel — it’s corporate consumerism. Multi-million dollar movies are funded by multi-billion dollar companies — that’s just the plain truth. There’s not really much we can do about it, except choosing whether or not to pay attention and be critical.
There is something to be wary of in the way that Mattel commercialized this movie as a feminist film despite its capitalist motivations. I realized the amount of privilege that allows someone to choose not to see underlying themes in a given piece of media, even themes that are staring you right in the face. Just because you are ignoring them, doesn’t mean they go away.
And the beauty of being critical of things I like or even love is that I don’t have to hate it. I think the true danger of consuming media would be to shy away from digging deeper, from being critical of the media surrounding us, because it does make an impact and does have real ramifications.
We are in a very interesting point of time, in our digital and postmodern moment, and while I think it is easy to be entertained by the media surrounding us, that doesn’t mean we should stop questioning it either.
Recently, Mattel announced a new upcoming film: Polly Pocket, to be directed by Lena Dunham and to star Lily Collins, among many other projects including a film on Barney, Hot Wheels and American Girl Dolls. So yeah, move over Marvel, there’s a new MCU in town.
Contact Sela Dingpontsawa at dingpontsawa@oxy.edu
