Barbie Huge Spoiler Alert Review

If you have seen the movie, you know what I mean when I say "There's a lot to unpack here." After having a COVID baby, going to the theaters to watch an actual movie is a luxury and hence I try to be wise with my choices. But boy did Barbie deliver. Greta and Noah is such a writing and directing power couple. I thoroughly loved Frances Ha, Lady Bird and Little Women but the writing for Barbie is incomparable. 

We start off with the premise that Barbie (played by Robbie) is starting to have human emotions, somber ones to be specific and is beginning to age. She is told she needs to go into the real world and find her "owner" in order to bring herself back to normal. However, soon Barbie finds that the real world is so much more complex than Barbieland. Women are still being objectified and token feminism is at works. All the while Ken (played by Gosling) is discovering (in vain) what the patriarchy is and means.

All of this is done with very well paced narration and dialogue. The narration and dialogue pokes fun satirically and briskly which highlights how easily we gloss over these issues in real life. And when the story does slow down, it allows for us to take in and register those emotional moments.

Prior to the movie (thanks to the media) I already knew America Ferrera was going to have a monologue but about what I can only guess. Once again this proves to be great writing. Women, as opposed to the male counterpart have so many paradoxical stereotypes that are the products of the patriarchy. Our body types, needing to be great mothers as well as career driven, needing to be pretty but not too pretty to tempt. The laundry list goes on with vigorous urgency for change in which the movie does go onto to attempt. This for me, was the best part of the movie.

Another thing I found interesting in this story is how Ken doesn't always have to have it together. Ken is allowed to feel lost, have emotions and cry. Men in real life should be allowed to do these things, too. And I think at the end of the day that's what gender equality is, not just seeking agency for women but also how we accept men. 

I think the only issue I had about the movie was the method of how women ganged up and told lies to men to get what they needed. This all boils down to whether the ends justify the means? For me, it rendered America Ferrara's monologue useless. If men were morally questionably, we'll steep to their low? That didn't ring right to me. 

For critics that lament that Barbie and Ken didn't up being together has missed the point. There is no one single trajectory for Barbie. Barbie can choose whatever she wishes to become and who she wishes to be with, not some arranged marriage.

I very much enjoyed the visual representation of Barbieland. From the saturated, pastels and everything in between pink, to the blend of documentary styled clips and magical realism, I thoroughly enjoyed all the work put into imagining this fictitious world. The dance number was also a real treat and evidently thought-through choreography. 

I would recommend people giving this one a try!