Everything is perfect in Barbie land… until a series of unfortunate events ends in Barbie’s feet going flat. Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, has to venture into the real world to find the truth about the world and fix her flat feet. As Barbie ventures into the real world she has to find the girl who is playing with her. Along the way she finds out much more about herself and about the world.
The Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, came out July 21st. It has since made around $1.3 billion in the global box office making Gerwig the first solo female director with a billion-dollar movie, according to CNN.
With an original budget of $100 million that later escalated into $145 million they spent most of this money on costumes, cast, advertising, and the set, according to Collider. Although they went over budget it was worth it. The sets, the costumes, and the cast were all perfect and had a bright happy yet nostalgic feel to them.
They referenced actual old Barbies in the movie and used actual outfits that the Barbies had. Being able to see all of the different old Barbies and their outfits transported you back into your childhood. The sets were super bright and colorful, Barbie land would have been a dream as a child.
The movie had a good balance of the old fun Barbie that we all know and love, and a new Barbie with a message. There were multiple different ways you could take the message, the main theme was womanhood and how women experience the world.
One of the ways they showed this message was just through Barbie land as a whole. It was like the roles were reversed in Barbie land, the Barbie’s had all the power there. The only difference was how the Barbies treated the Kens versus how many men treat women in the real world.
Many of the Barbie movie haters state that it is just a feminist man-hating movie and maybe it is, but the people that are burning Barbies as a protest are honestly just making themselves look bad. If anything, the Barbie movie was not man-hating. It commented on what men in the real world do to hurt women but it also recognized struggles men have through Ken and his struggles with Barbie and his emotions.
Another thing that the movie did was touch on how Barbie has many times not been seen as a revolutionary new thing that did wonders for women. Barbie was just another standard set on women, that they had to be something extraordinary to be important.
“Either you’re brainwashed or you’re weird and ugly there is no in between.” One of the many things that Barbie learned venturing into the real world is that women just can’t seem to get it right. No matter what you do there always seems to be a criticism.
It seems like all the many messages of the Barbie movie would be hectic and crazy but Gerwig made it into a story line that made sense. The movie was well rounded, it was funny, it was bright and nostalgic, and it had a good message.
