Thoughts on Barbie - Feminism, Power Fantasies, Isekai, & ExistentialismĀ - SPOILERS!
I really like how the feminism in Barbie is actually kept simplistic. I donāt think the feminism in it needs to be super layered to make for an excellent and engaging movie, especially due to how Barbie the Movie, itself, is structured.
Of course the feminism presented in it is rather simplistic in nature. This makes sense since this is Stereotypical Barbieās first exposure to feminist ideology and thoughts. She was a doll with a very childlike understanding of how the world works and functions. This also makes sense, since the Barbies in general are all toys geared at young girls. Their world is a reflection of the fluffy promises and hopes that we, as adults, feed to young children (especially girls). This idea that they can be anything and do anything.
But the reality is much more messy and complicated than that. We see the Barbies (and Kens) beginning to understand this towards the end of the movie - after they have all beenĀ ātouchedā by the Real World. They have engaged with Gloria and Sasha and the CEO of Mattel and so on and so forth. There is now no instant change in ideology (like what we see happen when Ken brings over patriarchy to Barbie Land), instead, we see the sort of social change that happens in the Real World - slow moving and made in small intervals. But, at the same time, we see Stereotypical Barbie and Ken working through more complex ideas and emotions surrounding feminist thoughts and ideologies.Ā
I also feel like it was less the feminism itself that makes the movie stand out in a way, but the way they present it. They donāt hide it behind a dark and grim story, they donāt have it being presented just generally to the audience or subtlety hinted at - instead the movie is bright and colorful and silly - and we have two older women (Gloria and Ruth) guidingĀ younger women (Sasha and the Barbies) through the ups and downs of womanhood. Right, Sasha is a teen girl in the Real World who is starting to understand more and more of lifeās complexities, but still missing some of the time and experience that can add more nuance and understanding to many areas of life. While Barbie is like a young adult woman - a college girl that is just getting ready to graduate and really head out into the actual Real World.Ā
So itās all about being able to relate (whether in a big way or a small way) to the shared experiences that are being depicted on the screen. Itās a movie created by a woman specifically for women (and yes, that includes trans women - the Youtuber, Kat Blaque, who is a trans woman, did a review of Barbie where she talked about the trans rep and how they got it right - Iāll link her video below). It is speaking directly to us women. All of us.
Which also gets me into thinking about power fantasies, isekai (and reverse isekai) a genre that is aboutĀ ānormal human ends up in a fantasy land,ā with the reverse being that a fantasy being (usually of some high power or standing) ending up in the normal human world, and how men and women tend to play into these narratives.Ā
Many power fantasties that we see tend to involve men - even the ones aimed at women - such as the take Iāve seen of howĀ āteen girl x immortal (usually male) beingā in YA novels is about girls seeing themselves in a place of emotional power over men. Superhero narratives are all about normal people gaining superhuman powers - usually in a way that makes them physicallyĀ stronger - and these all tend to play into male power fantasies and gazes, even when the superhero is a woman. Even if they may touch on feminist ideologies, the way the power fantasy element is handled is still very different from what we see here in Barbie.
In Barbie, we follow Stereotypical Barbie. She is like that ordinary human. Nothing about her really stands out and she doesnāt have any amazing job. That being said, there are elements about her existence that we, as humans, would find to be almost superhuman or advantages over us - never aging, never dying, being able to float from the top of your house right into your car, etc. But, Stereotypical Barbie herself, like within her own world, doesnāt hold any kind of power or high standing. Her journey into the Real World is essentially a reverse isekai.Ā
In the end, Barbie chooses to stay in the Real World and become a human. She chooses the more flawed existence over the more perfected one (or seemingly perfected one anyway). And I think it is the moments that touch on this aspect of Barbieās journey which is what makes the movie so special to so many women. Not necessarily the Feminism 101 aspect, which is just an element to Barbieās journey into womanhood. Itās Barbie seeing the elderly lady next to her on the bench and seeing the beauty in her. It is Barbie meeting Sasha and Gloria and learning from them about how hard life is for women in the Real World still. It is Barbieās talks with Ruth. Quiet and introspective and filled with a soft patience that comes with age and life. And it is Barbie seeing and experiencing all of these things and thenĀ choosing to become human and live in the Real World.
Not because of men. Not because of romance. Not because of any sort of power fantasy that engages in a male gaze and perspective. But because of the women she has met in the Real World. The connections she made with them and the hopes, dreams, and feelings of all girls and women in the Real World.
Thatās the moment that makes Barbie so special. Thatās the moment that really makes everyone in the theater feel connected, especially the other women and girls present there. That moment is what made the movie for me. The culmination of Barbieās exploration of existentialists ideologies through a purposefully and specifically woman focused lens.Ā
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