WOMANHOOD by Barbie
" THE BARBIE MOVIE poster starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling"
Recently I visited to watch THE BARBIE MOVIE and it was unexpectedly heart touching I couldn’t make out that was it the story or the doll from the faint memory of childhood that made me relate to Barbie. Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy company Mattel and launched in 1959. The toy is the figurehead of the Barbie brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories. These dolls were part of childhood almost of every girl, when I used to play with barbies, I used to believe myself as barbie that could do anything in the world like Barbie can be anything A doctor, An Astronaut, Miss Universe anything in the world you can think off. The whole movie shifts audience focus from a plastic doll to theme of womanhood, Women are often pit against women whenever there’s an opportunity to exercise power in an ideological battle. Greta Gerwig brought us all together in theatre to make us realize how important is womanhood in our lives like how in childhood we all were united in the name of Barbie, to play with barbie was our dream, all of us wanted to own one barbie and just play with it. I hadn’t expected to go on such a fun yet intense whirlwind of thoughts and emotions throughout Gerwig’s exploration of the tumultuous journey in finding what it means to be a woman in Barbie. “Barbie” dives head-first into many controversial topics: consumer culture, growing up, parental relationships, gender dynamics and a multitude of other issues—offering commentary while managing to make the doll look great in the process. Barbie can be whatever you want, and Barbie supports all women. Whether Barbie’s feminism is direct or ironic, the movie seemed to say, it is guilt-free to buy her.
" shot from THE BARBIE MOVIE "
We’re all aware how Barbie dolls contribute to little girls’ distorted sense of self-image and insecurities. And so, the film made Barbie go through an existential crisis questioning her sense of self, having cellulitis, and the direst of it all: flat feet—which is a brilliant way to symbolize the shift in her state of mind, getting her inflated confidence smashed. We’re witnessing the naive, confident, self-assured Barbie spirals down as she gets off her toxic positivity and slowly into her “Depressed Barbie” era. It was both entertaining and disheartening all at the same time for me personally. Barbie started to feel human emotions and to cure this she visited weird barbie and then weird barbie suggested her to visit the real world as the child who is playing with her is getting the same thoughts of death and depression. So barbie decided to visit the real world from Barbieland where she is instantly sexualized and objectified, accused of being a fascist by teenagers and jailed for assault after punching a man who catcalls her. The movie follows somewhat of a barbie’s journey arc, complete with a car chase and a rise to leadership, as Barbie tries to rid herself of emotional turmoil—and eventually, as she tries to save Barbie Land from Ken (Ryan Gosling), who had a much more enjoyable time in the real world and decided to bring patriarchy back to Barbie Land with him. Ken here was very symbolic bringing patriarchy in barbie land which he uncovers in real world, seeing men taking over everywhere from construction site to being president which he couldn’t see in Barbieland and made him realise to bring patriarchy in the barbieland , so eventually all the Kens decided to go against Barbies and he converted Barbie dream house into Mojo Dojo Casa House which again refers to the symbolization of his bringing patriarchy into the Barbie land.
The human characters in the movie—particularly Gloria, a Mattel employee played by America Ferrera, and her daughter Sasha, played by Ariana Greenblatt—shift the focus away from an analysis of dollhood and toward an exploration of womanhood. As Gloria and Sasha discover that they are at fault for Barbie’s weird behavior, they attempt to help the doll reachieve stability for herself and her community. In doing so, the audience is privy to a moving exploration of what it means to grow up as a woman, from the perspective of both mother and daughter. The movie is almost painfully upfront about the struggles women face, giving voice to a certain exasperated frustration that may seem overly explicit, but for many responding to the film, just feels true. After Barbie is ready to give in to self-pity and existential dread, Gloria encourages Barbie to forgive herself for her mistakes and imperfections, expressing all the impossible expectations placed on modern women. “It’s too hard,” she says about womanhood, “It’s too contradictory.” Stereotypical Barbie stares at her wide-eyed, and Gloria’s daughter gives her a surprised smile. In giving voice to the emotions that started this journey, Gloria empowers the Barbies to reclaim Barbie Land.“ Greta Gerwig gave this movie as a gift to us woman and our womanhood , so she created a film by woman , for woman , about woman and for us woman"
So, what’s Barbie’s take on how women should be in the midst of all their internal and external battles?
First, time for an awakening. When the
Barbies in Barbieland are submitting to the patriarchy, the one way to wake
them up is by reminding them of their power. Of course, it’s easier done in the
Barbie film than in real life. When we’re talking about making women aware of
all the systemic cultural, socio-political power that work against them, we’re
talking about giving ALL women in the world a wake-up-call. In an ideal world,
all women make their independent choices. In a deeply patriarchal world, most
women don’t realize they can choose or are allowed to choose or know that there
are actually choices.
Okay, but fine whatever, once that’s
done, what’s the next step?
Find yourself, find your sense of purpose, find your happiness!
We know how it feels to be Barbie who one day
realizes she has outgrown who she was, and still in search of her new self—and
I personally think that’s how womanhood should be understood: With all the
systemic limitations and constraints, the very definition of womanhood is
always transforming and always shifting. During interval I went outside one girl approached me and told me "You look so beautiful can we have a picture together" And it was precious it's like admiring each and every woman you see like Barbie's use to do in the barbieland whenever they saw barbie they would go " Hey Barbie!!".
So, I guess, thank you Greta for Barbie!
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| Barbie from The Barbie Movie |
a project that is arguably an action-packed, 114-minute commercial for a doll, the main thematic takeaway from “Barbie” is that life as a real woman is significantly more difficult but resolutely more worthwhile than “life in plastic” could ever be.
For those who have been anticipating the release of “Barbie,” the sold-out theaters and tremendous box office numbers (Barbie brought in $155 million on its opening weekend) come as no surprise—nor does the vibrant appearance of the audience, a result of Mattel’s marketing campaign, which included pre-film partnerships with brands like Gap and Crocs.
Barbie became a huge success in worldwide box-office. Barbie has earned more than $1 billion in worldwide box office sales, according to ComScore. Barbie which debuted July 21, has brought in a total of $459 million in North American ticket sales, and another $572 million from theaters overseas. The film continued to attract movie-goers even in its third weekend in theaters, generating $53 million domestically and $74 million overseas. According to Dergarabedian, only about 50 films in history, unadjusted for inflation, have hit the billion-dollar mark. He added the movie’s marketing campaign was the first hint “Barbie” would be a box office smash. “The marketing campaign for ‘Barbie’ set into motion a chain of events that led to the word ‘Barbenheimer’ being added to the popular lexicon by virtue of its shared release date with ‘Oppenheimer,’ and that’s when we all knew something very special and unique was going to create a much bigger than expected outcome for the film not only for the opening weekend, but for its global run in theaters.
“Barbie” has become everything from a relationship litmus test to a celebration of womanhood
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| Grerta Gerwig and Margot Robbie during attend a "Barbie" celebration in Sydney, Australia, in June. Photo: James Gourley/Getty Images |
By: Anushka Roy Choudhary
to reach me mail at pallavisengupta18@gmail.com |
https://www.axios.com/2023/08/07/barbie-makes-history-as-film-surpasses-1b-in-box-office-sales
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