The Barbie Movie, and What it Means to be a Woman

What is a little girl without dreams?

The universal thought of “when I grow up…” that every little girl has was perceived as a fantasy until the introduction of the Barbie doll – when it became a physical reassurance and promise of any and every future; a little girl’s dreams made tangible.

In the same way that Ruth Handler gifted her daughter — and the world — Barbie in 1959, I too was gifted a Barbie in 2009 by my mother, not realising the significance of this action until much later in my own journey to womanhood. The dreams, aspirations and future potential packaged in a polyvinyl chloride shell (plus additive chemicals) was quite a strange torch to be passed on from mother to daughter, but a rite of passage nonetheless.

The Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig (Ladybird, Little Women), is a multi-thematic venture into patriarchy, feminism, ageing, motherhood, individuality and identity, even touching on corporate greed. But by far, the most prominent theme encapsulates what it means to be a woman. In this way, Barbie is a love letter to women and the lives we lead.

In the movie, the world is divided into Barbie Land and the real world. Barbie Land is a “little girl’s world” dreamt up by Barbies and little girls alike. Women have positions of power, and every day is ‘the best day’. It is what one may consider an ideal world of perfection. When Barbie leaves this “little girl’s world” for the real world, she is imminently catcalled, sexually harassed, and arrested for defending herself against a man, learning the reality of being a woman within a mere few minutes; there’s an anxious realisation that the real world isn’t what she thought it would be.

In this sense, Barbie represents the transformation from a little girl to a woman. It is the realisation that women are not as highly regarded as men, that women are objectified and sexualised in the real world, and that women, even in this shared struggle, will hate, envy and ostracise other women for what they aren’t because they can’t fit the societal mould that is imposed onto them by others and themselves.

Gerwig mentions in an interview that this movie encapsulates an ‘ache of contradictions, of never being able to totally bridge that gap between adulthood and childhood.’ The shattering reality of growing up as a girl is learning you cannot always be everything you dreamed to be, and even if you can manage to reach those dreams with hard work, you will end up being overlooked and dismissed by both men and women alike.

This is mirrored in Gloria’s (America Ferrera) monologue, which articulates the contradictory standards women are held to – aesthetically and on a societal scale. The complete exhaustion carried by women in order to garner likeability is destructive in nature, and Gloria goes on to say, ‘If all of that is true for a doll just representing women, then [she doesn’t] even know.’ This vivid depiction of inescapable helplessness arises with the realisation that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to attain those standards.

Not only does the film discuss what it means to enter womanhood in a society rooted in patriarchy, but also how it transforms men. Where Barbie represents what it means to grow up to be a woman, Ken represents growing up to be a man. He starts out as loving, enthusiastic and supportive of Barbie, much like boys with girls their age pre-adolescence, only to become pretentious, cold and misogynistic once introduced to the concept of ‘patriarchy’. Ken begins to actively perpetuate harmful ideas and stereotypes, leaning into toxic masculinity without even realising the weight of his actions.

Being a woman not only means struggling under the privilege of men, but watching those little boys you once knew grow up to be something unrecognisable and seeing them perpetuate those same ideas.

Another significant moment in the movie is when Barbie asks Ruth’s permission to become human. Ruth tells her she shouldn’t have to ask and that she doesn’t need permission from other people to exist or be perfect. Barbie realises she doesn’t have to be a Nobel prize-winning physicist or a doctor to be accepted. It is imperfection that makes humans so wonderful to Barbie because it means she’s not held back by her previous ‘title’ of stereotypical Barbie. She can be Barbara — with her own identity. This is something desperately needed in today’s materialistic and results-driven society. Being good at something should not determine a person’s worth, let alone that of a woman who is already at a disadvantage for being a woman. Barbie not only explores what it means to be a woman, but what it means to be a person.

Where Barbie is a little girl’s dreams made tangible, the Barbie movie is the recognition of womanhood and its struggles. To be a woman is a collective struggle, and Barbie serves to unify us and provide a platform to voice and encourage dialogue on underrepresented experiences. When I left the cinema, I saw the smiling and tear-stained faces of many women, young and old alike, and I knew the magnitude of a movie like this. Barbie can be seen as a catalyst for change in a world still entrenched in antiquated ideology.

– By Georgia