The Barbie Movie: A Memoir
To be a woman is to perform. To be a girl is to feel the need to fulfill implausible standards that we set for ourselves, just to fit into society. To balance intelligence and feeling at the same time is seen as a weakness, a flaw. Self acceptance and
confidence in our mind and bodies is a luxury that many women don’t get to experience. We live in a society with a social hierarchy that seems to hold no bounds as to when women will climb above the standard that was set oppressively against them. And, while it is upsetting and nauseating to think about, it’s true. Yet, on top of all this, women all over the world still rise above their stations to make ground-breaking discoveries, solve new problems, construct new ideas, and create masterpieces- like The Barbie Movie.
The first time I saw this movie was July 24th, 2023, at Regal- Clifton Park. I was with three of my best friends. We had all dressed up in dresses, and mine was a light pink mini dress with a sweetheart neckline. My hair was straight and blonde, I wore gold jewelry and a rose pin in my hair, and held a white purse. I really did feel like Barbie as I walked into Regal. The four of us sat down in the very back of the theater. I was most excited for the soundtrack of the movie, since so many amazing artists had contributed to the movie and the songs were amazing. I had seen some videos on how sad and deep the movie was, but I usually don’t cry because of movies, and my expectations weren’t very high for that factor at least.
The lamps surrounding the room dimmed until we were left sitting in the dark. I settled into my seat, put my feet up on the chair in front of me, and silenced my phone. The first scene seemed to prove my pessimistic point of view on how significant the movie would be, because to be honest: it was a little weird. The very beginning seemed like an ad for Barbie dolls, and I was a little skeptical of how the movie would progress- since the first 20 minutes seemed not so deep. I was wondering if Oppenheimer would be more enjoyable.
Some of the videos I had seen leading up to my first time seeing it had talked about how the Barbie Movie had induced tears, heartfelt emotions to mothers around the world- and that everyone walked out of the theater crying. These were all videos made by women and girls that had seen the production, and it seemed to have resonated deeply with the creators of every video I watched. I had seen none made by men. Even some of my guy friends had talked about how bad the movie was, how it had no deep meaning of any kind, or that whatever meaning they ended up getting from the movie was meaningless. I was very willing to listen to the girls on this one.
Once Barbie and Ken had made it to the real world and Ken made his way around the city, I sat up straight. There was this montage of the stereotypical “Man of America,” and Ken was realizing that men basically ran the world. When he walked through the streets in his cowboy outfit, he could visibly feel the power that he held, in comparison to how he felt in Barbieland. Barbie, on the other hand, was trying to emulate a connection between her and the child (mother, as we later find out) playing with her, and she turned to a woman sitting on the bench next to her. “You’re so beautiful,” was all she said, but it invoked such a deep feeling. When she looked around, she saw people existing, having feelings, leaves blowing in the wind, and took in the beauty of the nature surrounding her. The sheer difference in the two of them was meaningful enough already, and we hadn’t even gotten to the middle of the movie yet.
I thought about some of the things in my life that I don’t notice enough. The sound of the rain as it hits my roof at night, the time people put into making a good handshake, the way writers will get frustrated over their work. Every little thing we have ever done is so meaningless in the grand scheme of things, yet means so much to all of us. One bad test grade isn’t the end of the world, an argument isn’t the end of a relationship. I thought about how deeply I feel about things. I wondered if others felt the same way, and how they dealt with overwhelming thoughts about death. And cellulite.
Once Barbie got to Mattel headquarters, she was greeted by a council full of only men. On one hand, the casting for the council was very good- but at this point I could not rip my mind away from thinking about the deeper meaning. Mattel was a company started by a woman, made for women, and it was run completely by men. Its purpose was to inspire girls to be anything they wanted to- but the hypocrisy of the company was portrayed in a hilarious but deeply saddening way. They tried to send Barbie back to Barbie Land by zip tying her into an original Barbie package, and the cameras cut to her hands being fastened at her waist as she was being tied down in a little box that smelled of plastic- while being watched by a roomful of men.
This resonated with me as a girl- even though I have never experienced being physically trapped in a box, I recognized the feeling that was being portrayed. There have been and always will be times where I will be scoffed at or put down by boys just because I’m a girl. Boys comment on the things I hate most about myself, and that’s no matter how confident, smart, or talented I am.
As I’m writing this, I’m listening to the instrumental of “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish, and it is really bringing me back to the final scenes of the movie. Barbie is shown a montage of mothers and their daughters of all ages, from all different time periods. She and Ruth -the creator of Barbe/kind of her mom- are standing towards each other with a white, aura, color changing backdrop. As they hold hands, this song plays in the background, with its simple melody and heavy chords underneath it. Barbie watches this in order to fully grasp the true meaning of what it is to be a woman, the core, deep cause- and that is to have love. To surround yourself with loved ones, to have fun, to laugh and smile, cry, and to feel.
Barbie opens her eyes to look at Ruth as the song fades out- and she simply says: “Yes.” At this point I am leaning forwards towards the screen, the song resonating through my head, as I cry my eyes out thinking about what this movie is about. I think of my mom, and my little sisters. I think about what it’s like to have a group of girlfriends, who support and care for you through everything. I get sad now when I think about how much harder society has made it for women to climb up the social ladder, and how so many men in the world want to keep it this way. The movie encapsulated so much meaning within such a short amount of time- and as I rubbed my eyes I felt mascara coating my teary cheeks.
As the screen jumped to the credits, we all sat still for a few moments to process what we had watched, what we had learned. I looked over to my best friend and saw that she was crying too. I rubbed her back and helped her up. The four of us went to the bathroom after the movie ended, and looked at each other breathing in a staggered and heavy rhythm. We all hugged each other and comforted one another, and I’m sure all of my friends were having similar thoughts as I was. We took pictures in the mirror, threw away our popcorn buckets and candy wrappers, and headed outside to be blinded by the daylight. I never did end up seeing Oppenheimer.
A few days after the movie as I was scrolling through Snapchat stories, I saw one of a few boys from our school saying that they left the Barbie movie early because of how bad it was. I asked my uncle if he had liked the movie, and he said that he didn’t get the hype about it. My dad never saw it in theaters, and when we got him to watch it at home, he left when it finished with a bored smile on his face. It was a different movie for all of the men I talked to. They didn’t get the meaning or importance of the movie, or how incredible it was that women now had this move that represents our struggles so well.
My mom and sisters saw the movie in separate theaters on that same day. My mom said she cried at the end as well. She raved about how good the movie was with me. Even my two younger sisters could grasp just how meaningful the movie was on some level, if not yet fully.
In just 3 weeks it will be 1 year since the movie came out, and yet here I am, still able to hear my heartbeat in my chest, and feel the sounds in my body.