The Island Cinephile

Barbie: A Sermon about the Patriarchy

Directed by Greta Gerwig

“The real world isn’t what I thought it was.”

Barbie

The Barbie movie portrayed a conglomeration of real-life problems finding its way into a fictional world – Barbie land. The stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) were living perfect lives until they found themselves in the real world. Barbie discovers the horror of being a woman meanwhile Ken discovers his limitless opportunity to benefit from the patriarchy and horses – which he takes back to Barbie land to usurp authority from the Barbie’s. With the help of Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), the Barbie’s attempt to set things straight.

The cinematography was beautiful, and the set design gave it a playful feeling. There was a lack of verisimilitude in the movie due to the outlandish nature of the script itself but what do you expect from Barbie land? The areas where the movie may be denigrated mostly is the ‘men are brainless’ message. To display the unfairness of patriarchal society, the film outfits biased discourse about the men and the Ken’s. The male characters were reduced to bumbling airheads with little-to-no understanding of the real world. Yet Barbie’s are astronauts, congresswomen and all the powerful things women are not allowed to be in the real world.

What I like about the movie is its originality for bringing a new concept to cinema. It is helpful to have discussions concerning societal issues as Barbie wishes to address. However, it is necessary for a film to encourage diverse thinking rather than to enforce it. Opposingly, one would say that for years, men have conveyed messages that disparage women throughout film. However, there are good films that attempt to address the chasm between both sexes and do so without the amplification of one group over the other but rather acknowledge their differences. A good film that handles a bit of sexism well is Demi Moore’s character in A Few Good Men – which is in my opinion, a well-written character who is not motivated by their gender ideology or skin-color but rather, their belief. The films decision to constantly stress the issues within the patriarchy comes across as disingenuous because it does not appear to root for equal opportunity for women and men but rather, the reversal of roles where women run everything. Major props should be given to the costuming of the film, the choreographed dance sequences and the beautiful cinematography. Margot Robbie did a marvelous job as Barbie, and Ryan Gosling’s “Ken” provided major comic relief. The supporting characters were strong. America Ferrera did a great job, though her speech felt too preachy. Barbie is still strong because of its originality to bring a new idea to modern cinema instead of rehashing a bunch of remakes, the costuming was beautiful, and the supporting characters did a wonderful job.

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