Directed by the American Greta Gerwig - made famous by her films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019) - the film undertook the difficult task of turning a heavily criticised doll for its impact on the perception and the idealisation of women in society into a feminist figure. By contrasting Barbie Land where women are in power and men put to the sidelines with our reality where the opposite is true, Gerwig denounces the hegemony of one gender over the other in all its forms.
Although its feminist nature made it the favourite target of the misogynistic agenda, Barbie reached an unforeseen number of milestones. Only three weeks after coming out, it had reached one billion dollars, a first for a solo female director! As of recently, it also became the USA’s highest grossing film of 2023 (surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie). These are only a few testaments to its grandeur.
Barbie is a film celebrating women, friendship, and girlhood
The casting also deserves its own round of applause with the Australian actress Margot Robbie as stereotypical Barbie - a choice that had no equal match - and a heavily bleached Ryan Gosling as Ken joined with a talented and famous cast including Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera and Will Ferrell.
Gerwig denounces the hegemony of one gender over the other in all its forms
Barbie is a film celebrating women, friendship, and girlhood. It depicts a world where feminine ‘girly’ women are also allowed to be authoritative and powerful without questioning it. Although the topics hold nothing truly revolutionary, the light, humorous and head-on manner of approaching them is what makes Barbie so important to women right now.