Barbie the movie had ruffled quite a number of right-wing feathers accusing it championing girl power over masculinity. A feminine piece of trash. They tried to actively review bomb it so people will not go to see it.
It turned out their coordinated bombing efforts had created a box office miracle on top of its original hype, delivering Warner Bros a historical domestic box office that surpassed even the Batman. It’s an alternate universe that Harley Quinn demolished the might of the Dark Knight in the box office.
I finally got a chance to see it, and did it live up to its hype?
Every moment of it.
It was a breath of fresh air to the cinema for me as it is not as plastic and formulaic as I thought, but every bit fantastic. The story was absurd, crazy but at the same time, strangely grounded. It addresses the long-term question of ‘What does Barbie represent?’
In a land that Barbie is just the most common name and nobody bet an eyelash about it, what’s the purpose and where does it end? And also, where does Ken sit in a world that ‘She’s Barbie, and he’s just Ken?’
For me Barbie the movie is a movie about finding who you are. Be it Barbie, Ken, or all of the characters from the real world. To some we will be always just another item in this world, but it is up to us, ourselves, to figure out who we are, what we want, where we place in this world. And this cannot be accomplished via some surface value ideology that eventually become the toxin of the world we live in. Insecurities came from a lack of understanding of ourselves and our purpose, and that’s what Barbie the movie is telling us, be it a boy, a girl or any gender you identified yourself as.
The right-wing mob rally against Barbie because they think that its about demolishing patriarchy, without actually listening to the dialogues properly, when Ken talked about patriarchy throughout the movie. In the movie, no matter which version of Ken or Barbie it is, it’s all about having a good understanding about their purpose and their place in the world, when you lost that to some superficial and shallow ideology without trying to really understand it, you lost yourself, and became a Lemming, falling off the plane of purposeful existence. I mean, in certain sense, this does explain why a fraction of the right-wing mob tried to destroy the merits of Barbie the movie. Simply a dash of pink is too much for them.
Margot Robbie is a very versatile actor. I am just glad that she is slowly moving away from just eye candy roles and attempting different projects. She definitely shines in the role of Stereotypical Barbie. I like that that the movie even talked about her casting in a round about way. Ryan Gosling as Ken was also funny, but as the Ken who is madly in love with Stereotypical Barbie, his mental state was put through hell, and Ryan delivered a layered and non-superficial performance that made his Ken very memorable. For me the surprise was Simu Liu, whom I liked a lot in Kim’s Convenience but was indifferent in Shang Chi. I think going back to his comedy roots you can see how at ease Simu Liu was. He delivered a flawless performance effortlessly as the rival Ken, and proved that he has so much more to give than just Shang Chi. Also coming off the ‘I don’t know what’s the purpose of that show’ Secret Invasion, Kingsley Ben-Adir was also extremely enjoyable to watch as another version of Ken. That quirkiness of his Ken trumps the skin-deep Gravik any time any day. And that is a testimony of the difference between good and bad character writing. Kate McKinnon as the Weird Barbie was really a show stopper, but then there is nothing really to difficult for an accomplished comedian and comedic actor such as Kate I supposed. And it was also delightful to see the movie addressing some of the elephants in the Barbieland – the failed to launch lines in the Barbie history. The other great part of Barbie the movie was it also addressed a more diverse and image positive view about the Barbie line. But, among all, the monologue delivered by America Ferrera was one of the most memorable moments, and that really pointed to what the film is about – among all the expectations of the world and others on you, who are you really?
Barbie the movie also sprinkled cameos like sprinkles on ice-cream. There are so many you blink and you missed it moments in the movie. So, make sure you get ready for it.
I felt that Barbie the movie is something we need to breathe a new life into our cinematic scene after all the sequels, prequels, franchises, franchises wannabe, and reboots. It is just great to see someone taking a risk and did something new.
So, don’t let others tell you what Barbie is about, for the verdict is yours to make. I encourage you to go see it for yourself, and make up your own mind about it.
