#barbie animation

[barbiesource]

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (2004) Dir. William Lau ↳Parallels

[crazyaboutto]

They are the same person

[deweyduck]

BARBIE: A TOUCH OF MAGIC | 01x06 "Skate to Me, Barbie"

[ineffabletaylor]

barbie characters + taylor swift eras | (template by @jessource)

[autumns-drafts]

"Do you know what it takes to be a princess?"

"A crown?"

"Not a crown, character. All our classes in poise, manners, dancing. They’re not superficial. They build confidence. Confidence without character is dangerous."

— Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011) | dir. Ezekiel Norton

[possibly-god]

Theory: Not only does the Suez Canal (or an equivalent artificial waterway) exist in the Barbie Animated Cinematic Universe, it existed possibly a century or more before it did in our reality.

Base Assumptions

The Barbie animated movies take place in the same universe - while all evidence for this theory is sourced from Barbie as the Island Princess (2007), based on various cross-references (Easter eggs, model sharing, etc.) and other scholars' work, I am a believer in the BACU.

The Barbie planet is some version of Earth - while cultural history may be different, details in dialogue, ecology, etc. imply that landmasses themselves are laid out similar to those on Earth.

Events happened factually in-universe as presented in the film - this is one Barbie movie that doesn't have a framing device as a story being told, and while Barbie's presence as an "actress" and the diegesis of the musical numbers complicate matters, the overall presentation implies that this is in-universe historical reality.

Point 1 - Locations

There are two key locations in the film, those being Ro's Island and the Kingdom of Apollonia. Ro's Island is identified as being in the "South Seas" - looking at the native wildlife (red pandas, peacocks, Asian elephants, and saltwater crocodiles) narrows it down to in or near the Bay of Bengal. Apollonia, meanwhile, can't be pinpointed with as much accuracy, but context (architecture, fashion, language, etc.) implies it is somewhere in Europe.

Point 2 - Travel Time

When Ro leaves the island with Prince Antonio, they are able to reach Apollonia within a single musical montage - while this is hardly a standard measure of time, we know it is not long enough for Ro and Prince Antonio's relationship to meaningfully progress despite being isolated in close quarters, and not a long enough absence to be remarked upon as anything more than an inconvenience to Apollonia's royal family. Additionally, no overland travel is shown - the journey is entirely by sea. The most efficient natural waterway between the Bay of Bengal and Europe would be sailing all the way around the southern tip of Africa - even a one-way trip could easily take up to half a year with the sailing ships shown in the film. Clearly a more efficient route is being used, and the most direct waterway between these two points would be cutting between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean - the Suez Canal.

Point 2.5 - Regional Relations

Consistent and efficient travel between Europe and South Asia in this universe is further evinced by Queen Danielle's ownership of a rhesus monkey and Queen Ariana's use of "sunset herb" (both endemic to the Bay of Bengal) implying trade relations between the regions, and by Ro's presence on her island to begin with, the revelation of her Paladian royal heritage (Paladia being presumably another European kingdom based on its apparent proximity to Apollonia) implying regular travel between the regions of her origin and shipwreck.

Point 3 - Historical Era

Pinpointing a specific historical era in a Barbie film is difficult, as cultural elements which are contemporary to each other in their universe correspond to many different eras in ours - the shipbuilding is 17th century, the fashions are 18th century, the germ theory is 19th century, etc. That said, only the most recent cultural reference points would place the time period consistent with that of the construction of the Suez Canal (1859-1869), while all others would indicate an earlier point in history. Thus, it's likely that the Suez Canal in the Barbie universe was constructed some time before ours.

I welcome contributions from other BACU scholars, whether to refute my observations or build upon them. The implications of this theory, while unclear to me, are undoubtedly far-reaching in terms of the Barbie universe's geopolitics.

[barbiesource]

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006) Dir. Greg Richardson

[barbiesource]

"When you live your dream, you'll find destiny Is written in your heart"

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper: Headcanons - OT4