Tickled Pink: Barbie Movie is a Satirical Delight

I just thought Barbie was a fun toy. A pretty doll with cute clothes. A vehicle for my imagination.

Feminist icon? No. Future political lighting rod? No, neither of those things. I was only 6 years old.

My little-girl self was only concerned with Barbie’s adventures. “Where will she go in her purple Dream Vette today?” was my first thought on Saturday mornings. I built elaborate worlds for Barbie and her friends using my books and other toys.

I spent hours scooting across the carpet on my hands and knees while I rolled the car along or “walked” Barbie into whatever my story called for–a friend’s house, the pet store, a restaurant, the White House... The possibilities were limitless!

Barbie even traveled to the moon courtesy of my brother’s GI Joe lunar capsule. That was fun until he threw the capsule into the deep end of our pool and I thought for sure Barbie was doomed. She handled it like a pro––never stopped smiling.

Barbie equaled hours of entertainment for me. I never thought about what she represented or compared myself to her. I had a Jaime Somers Bionic Woman doll, too. I was a regular viewer of this 1970s hit TV show about a woman transformed with bionic powers. Jaime could jump over walls, uproot trees and hear whispers from great distances.

The doll’s bionic hearing was “activated” when her head was turned and it clicked. I never expected to hear my classmates talking across the playground if I turned my head the same way. That was a toy after all.

Now, I’m all grown up and don’t play with dolls, but I still remember the fun I had with them. It’s with this appreciation I went to see the 2023 “Barbie” movie directed by Greta Gerwig.

I heard the rumblings of “politicization” before the movie even premiered. I guess that’s no surprise. Social commentary about the Barbie doll has popped up in the news for as long as I can remember.

Does Barbie make little girls feel bad about themselves? Is Barbie bad for women? And, with the movie’s release, came statements of male bashing, hyper feminism and gender roles.

I blocked out the pundit talk. I wanted to see Barbie’s dreamy world. Would it match what I imagined? Or, maybe even better!

A few days after “Barbie” premiered, my friend and fellow movie lover, Jen, met me at a local Regal Cinema. Jen has a great sense of humor and showed up with heart-shaped, pink glasses for us to wear.

As the lights dimmed and the movie started, our only expectation was fun and we had it. We laughed out loud along with everyone else in the crowded theater. There’s no way everyone there shared the same political belief system, but we all laughed at the same on-screen moments.

In the story, Stereotypical Barbie (Margo Robbie) has a crisis of self. She’s feeling down and doesn’t know why. Things in her perfect, plastic, non-real life are going haywire. She’s walking flat footed for goodness sake!

The answer may lie with Gloria (America Ferrera), the little girl who played with Barbie in the real world. So, Barbie and Ken (Ryan Gosling), slip the boundaries of Barbie Land and enter modern-day Los Angeles in search of Gloria. The experience is eye-opening.

Gloria is now all grown up and has problems of her own. To Barbie’s dismay, things aren’t perfect for women in the real world. She left Barbie Land, a world of innocence and platonic relationships, to experience sexism for the first time, a realization punctuated by a man who smacks her bottom when passing by.

Ken is exposed to stereotypical masculine images, especially those manufactured in Hollywood like a pumped up Sylvester Stallone. And then there are the horses––lots of images of strong horses running. In this moment, Ken discovers the patriarchy and eventually takes his knowledge back to Barbie Land where trouble ensues.

Avoiding spoilers, let’s just say with conversation, honesty, musical numbers and soul searching everything works out.

Along with Gerwig’s skilled direction and the actors’ performances, the movie is entertaining, smart and funny. Visually, the film is a cotton-candy delight. Barbie Land is an explosion of pinks and soft colors.

The production and set design–everything from the dreamhouses to the fashion–truly looks like a toy land come to life. The use of flat sets and imagery in the travel scenes along with dolphins that look like paper cutouts adds to the movies' fantasy quality.

Gerwig wrote "Barbie" along with her partner, Noah Baumbach, a successful filmmaker in his own right. The pair were tasked with writing a screenplay about a doll. A DOLL.

Every story needs an arch and conflict so it makes sense to tap into the conversations that have swirled around Barbie for decades. What else could they write about? Barbie meets aliens. Barbie sees a podiatrist. Barbie searches for the Arch of the Covenant. I mean really, the writer’s choices make sense and the result is a clever satire.

Gerwig said her goal was to make a fun, playful movie about being human even though the characters are dolls. In a Warner Brothers’ short about the movie, Gerwig said, “I feel like we’ve always used dolls as a way to kind of understand ourselves through play. And, I thought, well, wouldn’t it be wonderful if she was allowed to be like us and to be flawed and messy and not have to be perfectly perfect.”

Gerwig and Baumbach’s story takes Barbie through a hero’s journey, a classic structure for telling stories in books and movies. The “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars” movies, for instance, follow a hero’s journey format.

It works because it's relatable. As audience members, we're pulled in and along for ride. We root for the characters and see parts of ourselves in them. Everyday, regular people don’t slay beasts or destroy the death star, but we empathize with the emotional struggle of Harry and Luke Skywalker. And, like Ken and Barbie, regular people question life choices, too.

"Barbie" is a delightful, funny story that's also visually entertaining. I don’t think the movie is meant to be taken too seriously even though serious topics come up. Just look at Ken, he declares his disinterest in the patriarchy once he realizes it's not all about horses. Come on, that’s funny.

Humor helps us digest difficult topics with a spoonful of sugar. Stand-up comics, for instance, are sharp, often biting observers of truth and we take in their insights a little easier because it comes with giggles and laughs.

Humor gives us permission to laugh at ourselves and society while acknowledging our shortcomings and problems. Sometimes humor is the best way to start a difficult conversation. Certainly, nothing is ever solved when everyone is angry.

If you go see "Barbie" armed with pundit soundbites in your head and ready to be offended, then you probably will be. I didn’t and wasn't. Ticket sales have exceeded 1 billion, so it's safe to say most people weren’t either.

I never believed I could have bionic powers like Jaime Somers. I never wondered why Barbie had an impossibly small waist and lacked private parts down below. I never expected the "Barbie" movie to be a deep allegory. Having seen the movie, I still don't characterize it that way even though it touches on important issues worth addressing.

It's okay for a movie to just entertain us. It's also okay for a movie to serve as a jumping off place for deeper discussions. That's the beauty of the arts. We all come from different worldviews and perspectives, so our interpretations will differ, too.

The "Barbie" movie is a satirical delight. It's a well-crafted, humorous movie that clearly resonates with audiences as seen by its massive box office returns and all the surround debate and conversation. For me, the movie's take-away is to figure out the life you want to lead. And, most importantly, bravely be yourself. Life isn’t perfect, but make yours genuine and real––flat feet and all.