Barbie: Big City Big Dreams is a lesbian romance set in New York and here’s why
So! The new Barbie movie came out a couple days ago and i did not anticipate that i’d want to write a whole essay enthusing about how in love the main characters are. Especially not after last year’s movie (Princess Adventure). But the protagonists said gay rights yet again, so Barbie fandom you can resurrect now-
This want to write about how much Barbie/Malibu, Barbie/Brooklyn nd Emily love each other is heavily inspired by this post on Diamond Castle — which is an amazing read!
Alright so, why write about Big City Big Dreams of all Barbie movies? Here’s a bit of background:
My sister nd i have made it our goal to watch every single piece of Barbie media that exists. A few days before it was released, we saw the trailer for Big City Big Dreams. At the time, we didn’t think much of it — thought they were gunna reuse the Princess and The Pauper plot yet again, plus we’re not big fans of the newer Barbie stuff (excluding Dolphin Magic, v fruity film 11/10). In summary, we weren’t all that excited — but we’d watch it anyway, ‘cause it’s Barbie.
Watched it and omllll was it funn; it’s essentially a lesbian romance story set in a performing arts summer camp in NYC, with surprisingly cool nd beautiful songs! For those reasons, imma rant to you about how gay it is.
(This post is super long and will focus more on Barbie/Malibu and Barbie/Brooklyn’s relationship since they have more screen time together, buuuut Emily has gotta be mentioned ‘cause the three of them together are adorableee).
———
Alright! So, the film begins with the Barbie we know, in a cab in New York, on her way to a performing arts school (Handler Arts Academy). According to what her friends say over the phone, Barbie worked really hard to get into the summer programme here. Her ardour could not be more evident as she fantasises fervently about what could come of this opportunity. (On a related note, we find out later that the programme’s best performing student gets to perform at Times Square).
When she gets there she somehow manages to lose her balance, causing her luggage to slide down the walkway in front of the academy. Fortunately for her, other Barbie skilfully catches it using ballet.
Seeing as their destination is same, the two start talking on the way into the school building. Their interaction here is slightly awkward with lots of giddy laughter, but this makes it all the more adorable. However, after a little while the conversation begins to flow; the chemistry is instant.
To prove my point, here’s some dialogue:
Barbie 1: “Oh my gosh! Thank you!”
Barbie 2: “I should be the one thanking you; I can never get enough practice in.”
Barbie 1: [giggling] “I wish I had two hands so I could applaud.”
Just cute, maybe even slightly teasing/flirtatious, remarks. They giggle at everything the other says, particularly because of the situation, and perhaps also because they’re nervous and excited to have just met.
Something that really cool about other Barbie is, as you’ll see again later, that whatever the situation she makes banter from it to make the other person feel comfortable. For Barbie, this is may be particularly comforting as she manages to get herself into all sorts of mayhem. They’re a good match!
This lasts until Barbie gets herself into another predicament at the academy’s doors, which are rotating doors. She falls while inside them, causing them to spin rapidly until they are both flung into the academy and all their belongings lie scattered on the floor.
Our other Barbie doesn’t seem the least bit annoyed or angry at what just happened, but rather amused, and says:
“I hope you’re better on the guitar than you are with doors.”
This marks beginning of their inside joke (yes, Barbie does get stuck in plenty of other doors).
Whilst they’re collecting their stuff, giggling at each other’s jokes, a member of staff informs them that they’ve arrived a day early. Aw damn! Fortunately, instead of going all the way back home, they’re allowed to set up their dorm (which they share — ‘and they were roommates’-) and get to spend the whole day together!
Until they get to their dorm, they have not idea that they both have identical names, so they adopt the nicknames ‘Malibu’ (because we all know Barbie lives in Malibu) and ‘Brooklyn’ (because Barbie is from Brooklyn). V cute! For the remainder of the movie they use those names, expect from around people they don’t know.
Then the first song starts, and it is a love song if I’ve ever heard one. The lyrics and visuals just show how quickly they’ve fallen for each other (bearing in mind, they only just met):
I love the concrete jungle
And I'm a beach girl
Together we're best of both possible worlds
Our duo's so dynamic
Like fire and rain
Together we can set it off
And make a Big Bang
Hey universe, look who's coming at ya
For the first time I found my perfect match and
How did we ever survive?
Before us (before us)
All I need now in my life
Is more us (is more us)
It's like we're meant to be like destiny so right
Yeah how did we ever survive?
Before us
And the second pre-chorus:
Through thick and thin we've got the brightest future
Where've you been cause I wish I'd met you sooner
Need i say more?
As for the visuals, here are some personal favourites (some of these things happen just before the song):
Here’s them playing a guitar duet together while snuggling into each other’s faces and throwing ‘I’m so in love with you’ glances at each other.
Here’s them dangling their slices of pizza above the other’s head and trying to stop the other from eating it. No idea how they found themselves doing that but, it’s really cute and they up laughing.
They also already share toothpaste…
and do other cool girlfriend things, such as:
Oh and Malibu gives Brooklyn a book, which seems to mean a lot to her because she hugs it to her chest. This book, i believe, is symbolic of their love for one another — the reasons behind this interpretation will become clearer later, but from this scene alone it’s evident that Malibu really likes Brooklyn, so much so that she willingly gives her a possession dear to her. A part of her if you will. Through this book, Brooklyn can learn more about Barbie and her interests — how cool eeeee
On an unrelated note, my sister and i like to think that the song ‘Try It On’, from Princess Adventure, is about trying different pronouns. So in the last film Malibu sang about pronouns and in this film she’s having a cool time with her gf Brooklyn and thinking about her sexuality/having her gay awakening part 2 (Dolphin Magic was part 1).
That aside, right after the song, they get on a train and Malibu has trouble with the doors yet again.
However, even though Malibu is imminent danger (to be more specific, when the train starts moving, she’ll probably die lmao), instead of wriggling out of the doors, she waits for Brooklyn to take her hand and pull her out.
Brooklyn doesn’t get annoyed either; she throws her some knowing glances and immediately eases Malibu’s embarrassment by joking about the situation:
Malibu: Was that a totally clueless tourist move?
Brooklyn: [sarcastically?] No, not at all!
Malibu: Honestly?
Brooklyn: [hint of sarcasm] No. [reaching for Malibu] Not at all.
Then they both lean in and laugh — it’s so sweettt
Now it’s time to sidetrack a little bit and talk about Brooklyn and Emily!
Soo, on the train, Malibu catches sight of a poster of the famous star Emily and, being a massive fan, enthuses about how great and popular she is. Brooklyn responds with apathy and disinterested remarks, pretending that she’s never heard of her, but then reveals (with pained expression) that she actually used to know Emily. She explains that they used to be good friends but one day Emily abruptly stopped talking to her; perhaps because her fame got to head.
At this point, i thought that maybe Brooklyn and Emily were in love but didn’t ever confess to each other — then Emmie left before either of them got the chance to.
Anyways, after that, the cutesttt thingg happens. Malibu, jet lagged and still adjusting to the time zone, yawns and Brooklyn teases her for getting sleepy. Drowsy Malibu protests, insisting that she isn’t tired because she wants to explore the rest of the city, but she falls asleep on Brooklyn’s shoulder. At this Brooklyn smiles, a long, lingering, fond smile; the kind where you’re lost the moment and thinking about something, or someone in her case. Still smiling, she then rests her head on Malibu’s and the two of them fall asleep.
Time skip to nighttime a couple days later when Ken gives Malibu a phone call. Dunno know much about the new Barbie Dreamhouse lore but Barbie nd Ken’s friendship is real cool — and being the supportive bestie that he is, Ken calls Barbie to ask how she’s doing nd encourage her. This phone call was well-timed because Malibu is feeling deflated from trying to keep up with the other students. She also tells Ken about Brooklyn; more specifically, she glances over at her while she’s sleeps and lovingly proclaims that she’s “amazing”.
It has only been a day and Malibu is already so enamoured with Brooklyn.
Alright, we’re just going to take a quick intermission for Rafa’s iconic self and equally as iconic line:
“The only labels we believe in are designer.”
Rafa is alsoo the designer that made the girls sparkly pride flag dresses: Malibu’s dress resembles the pansexual pride flag and Brooklyn’s somewhat resembles the bisexual pride flag. (Both dresses also have silver on them). Barbie, are you trying to tell us something?? (Can’t remember which movie it was but they also did the same thing with some fairies; they both had pride flag wings).
They also go on a little date later and change into their dresses, during which they take a surplus of selfies, stare at each other affectionately, hold hands and giddily spin around together.
It’s one of their very adorable moments because they seem to have made a habit of wandering off together in the city and ending up wherever, and wherever they go, they have an amazing time.
At one point during this little adventure, Brooklyn’s dad calls her and while she’s on the phone Malibu spontaneously tries to make her laugh — which works, and is so cute. She just wants to make her girlfriend happy.
Another thing that’s really cute about this is scene is what Brooklyn says to her dad on the phone:
“Yes. She’s very nice; you’d like her.” (About Malibu, while beaming at her with amusement and loving eyes). It’s as if she’s introducing her dad to her gf.
Then comes the big conflict, which even this couple’s bliss could not avoid. But before we get into that, let’s skip back a little to the moment when the girls and Rafa meet Emily.
So, to set the scene, it’s lunchtime, Brooklyn and Malibu are looking for a place to sit and they see free spaces at this table. Now, there’s someone already sitting at the table who introduces herself as Lee, when in actuality she’s Emily in disguise. She looks up and instantly notices Brooklyn; the surprise on her face is unmistakable.
Rafa comes by and sits next to Lee, whose disguise is soon blown by Brooklyn, who quickly realises that she’s Emily. Emily then explains that she’s wearing a disguise because she just wants a chance to train without anyone treating her differently because of her fame. She also tells them that when she started living with her dad, he stopped her from talking to her friends, basically so that he could exploit her fame.
i would include the scene or a gif here buuut I have surpassed the picture nd video limit, so here’s dialogue for the end of the scene:
Emily: “I even had to beg him [her father] too but my tour dates so I could come here this summer.”
Brooklyn: “I’m glad you did.”
Emily: “Yeah, me too. I’ve… missed you.”
Brooklyn: “Same.”
(They then smile fondly at each other in silence).
Brooklyn: “But don’t worry, I’m not gonna ask you for a selfie of for an autograph.”
Emily: “For you, I’d make an exception.”
Emily and Brooklyn are so obviously gay for each other, and, if you watch the whole scene, Malibu is just a bundle of gay excitement; it’s great.
Okay! So now let’s skip back to the present. Brooklyn, Malibu and Emmie are together on stage, presumably for a class of some sort, and warm-up together before it starts. Why? Well, Rafa is about to take a picture of everyone on stage and Emily, still wearing a disguise, doesn’t want to be noticed. So, being the considerate girlfriends they are, Brooklyn and Malibu walk Emily to rehearse in the corner furthest away from the camera.
The warm-up commences, and while they’re doing it, Emily catches Brooklyn bridal style and looks fondly into her eyes and she helps her back on her feet. Not only is this already incredibly adorable, but the fact that Brooklyn purposefully fell to be caught by Emmie makes it even better. That and the fact that Emily is a shortie.
Unfortunately, during this lovely scene, Malibu accidentally bumps into Brooklyn and she falls from the stage, resulting in a sprained ankle. From the instant that it happens, Malibu feels awful and at fault for her injury. It seems to be the only thing she think about, which is clear when she spends lunchtime ranting worriedly to Emily about it.
But as soon as she sees Brooklyn, she darts from her seat and to her side, all concerned but evidently excited to see her, and Brooklyn greets her with the same knowing smile and loving look she always has.
Brooklyn is actually on her way out of the building and Malibu, who was just eating lunch, follows her out. She just leaves her lunch to follow Brooklyn out of the academy to wherever she’s headed, all because she saw she was okay. It’s as if Malibu is so captivated by Brooklyn that she completely forgets herself — just gunna repeat this: they’re in love, i’m just saying!
Of course, on their way out, Malibu somehow got them stuck in the same rotating door situation as the first time they met — except this time she catches Brooklyn semi-bridal style. Once again, Brooklyn makes a joke out of what just happened to put Malibu at ease, which is just so sweet.
The girls end up at a park and another musical number commences.
The song’s actually pretty cool; they get to sing with Rafa, whose rapping part is nice. This song doesn’t lack in loving glances between Malibu and Brooklyn, and there are plenty of nuances of their affection. Here’s an example:
Interpret that clip how you will, but i like to think that Malibu is so taken by the moment that she almost kisses Brooklyn — and Brooklyn looks like she knows that Malibu’s about to, but they both decide against it in the last second. Why else would you stare into someone’s eyes and move that close to their face?
Alright so, we’re coming towards the end of the film, and now things are gunna take a turn for the worse.
Emily’s stinky, antagonistic father — who she is trying to get away from — decided to show up at the academy to make sure that Emily gets to perform at Times Square.
Annoyingly, he just had to be there when Malibu accidentally pushed Brooklyn off of the stage, so his bitchass uses the accident to his advantage by incriminating Malibu (i.e. claiming that she purposefully shoved Brooklyn to eliminate her competition) and has her expelled. All of this so that Emily has less competition in the contest to perform at Times Square.
So now Malibu is expelled, but before she gets the chance to tell Brooklyn, the headmistress does, and convinces Brooklyn that Malibu sabotaged her.
Upon hearing this, Brooklyn is in a state of shock and disbelief; she denies the possibility because she knows Malibu, and that she knows that Malibu cares about her — she would never do something like this. But this denial slowly becomes deep feelings of hurt and betrayal. It’s sad because, not too long ago, Brooklyn went through the same thing with Emily and now has to undergo that same emotional pain.
Throughout the scene, Brooklyn refers to ‘Barbie’ as ‘Malibu’ but realises that the headmistress has no idea who she’s taking about and hastily switches back to saying ‘Barbie’. Thought this was a nice detail as it could highlight how that was their personal thing, and how natural those nicknames became in such a short period of time. Alternatively, this could show the rift in their relationship as ‘Barbie’ seems formal now — she’s beginning to leave their amicability behind.
Later, Malibu finds Brooklyn in a practice room and tries to talk to her about what happened, but Brooklyn’s replies are cold because she believes what the headmistress said. Malibu protests, hurt that Brooklyn thinks she actually sabotaged her. They begin to argue, and then Brooklyn says the following:
“You know, for a while, I really I thought you were special.”
“I thought this [signalling between herself and Malibu] was special.”
“[Sighs] I guess I was wrong.”
At which I did squeal with a mixture of happiness and sadness; happy because i interpreted these lines to have romantic connotations, and sad because this is basically their break-up scene. Brooklyn called Malibu special!! She called their relationship special!!!! And with everything that’s happened so far, taking these words to mean something romantic just seemed right.
The song that follows is their version of Descendants’ ‘Space Between’, if you will. The lyrics, along with the music video, could be interpreted as a romantic ballad about heartbreak and reminisce.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics!
Brooklyn: Back here again, losing a friend
I thought I was strong, but I'm reeling
This time felt different, our connection was instant
But that was pure magical thinking
Brooklyn found a good friend in Malibu and then realised, now more than ever, that she loved her (suggested by the line “this time it felt different, our connection was instant”).
Sadly, their time together is now over and perhaps the idea that they could be something more was too good to be true, hence the line “but that was pure magical thinking” (as a pose to ‘wishful thinking’ — the change of phrasing here, from ‘wishful’ to ‘magical’, could refer to the surreal quality of their relationship and how ‘magical’ it was; like imagine meeting someone you get along perfectly with within a day of knowing them, you eat each other’s food, spontaneously gift them a an item of yours with sentimental value — in this case the book that Malibu gave Brooklyn, share toothpaste, wonder aimlessly around the city together, fall asleep on them, gaze at them fondly… etc etc).
Just move on from the pain
Soon it'll fade like a memory
You'll start over again
Evolving from this fateful origin story
The lyrics emphasise the extent of Brooklyn’s emotional withdrawal, which is a great amount. She’s trying to convince herself to move on but she keeps singing about Malibu, which could suggest that she’s having a difficult time letting go (further highlighting that she cared deeply about Malibu).
The line “soon it’ll fade like a memory” further implies that she doesn’t even want to forget about Malibu and allows their story to linger in her mind as a “memory”. “Fade” also suggests the gradual, instead of immediate, forgetting of their time together — her memories of their relationship may lose their vibrancy and colour, but they’ll still be there and somewhat intact.
Lastly, if i’m not mistaken, Brooklyn describes their relationship as a “fateful origin story” which are strong words — reemphasising the fact that what she and Malibu had was special.
A chariot streaks across the sky
So majestically
Two girls on an odyssey
In the city that never sleeps
Did a little research about what a “chariot” could symbolise in a romantic context and found out here (on a website about tarot cards, which i don’t know much about) that the chariot card? can mean that the person in question “has strong feelings for you, and they are trying to hold onto them without getting carried away by them”. Personally, i think this interpretation fits them because they refer to their bond as being special and surprisingly strong, and neither of them (not even now when they both feel betrayed) wants to let go/is finding it hard to let go. But they let themselves get carried away by the “magical thinking”, as Brooklyn put it.
However, the website also explains that these “strong feelings” could be a number of different things; romantic love, platonic love, hatred… And this could represent Brooklyn’s conflicting feelings as she sings this song; she’s not sure whether she loved Malibu, or if she hates her out of betrayal.
Riding high on a merry-go-round
Of modern mythology
Glory within reach
In the playground of our dreams, oh-whoa
The “playground” and “merry-go-round” described in the song could be symbols of eternal love, as merry-go-rounds spin and spin and spin, and the time you spend on the playground during your childhood seems to last forever. Nonetheless, at one point or another, these things come to an abrupt halt. But Malibu and Brooklyn weren’t prepared for the sudden stop their relationship would come to — perhaps they thought they’d last forever.
Our destiny with reality
In the race against the wind
Discovering a new part of me
In a fated friend
You’ll see it more as the song continues, but there is perhaps a semantic field of fate and mythology here. This brings to mind the star-crossed lovers trope: their encounter was destined, their relationship is basically sabotaged by external forces (namely, Emmie’s father), and it has now ended in tragedy.
Also, the line “discovering a new part of me in a faded friend” could be a continuation of the feelings expressed in the earlier lyric “this time felt different, our connection was instant”; could, in a romantic context, allude to her discovery of the fact that she likes girls, which she may’ve suspected with Emmie but confirmed with Malibu
Now you can read the rest, if you so wish, with just the occasional comment from me.
I knew finding you would be
An epic journey with no end
Or so that it seemed
In the playground of our dreams, oh-whoa
Brooklyn and Malibu: But you can't see shooting stars
In the city of marquee lights
Fate brought us together
Then tore us apart, tore us apart
Wish I could go back and restart
I'll race across the sky
To a world where dreams and friendships
Aren't destined to collide
Malibu: The chariot has landed
Stranded on this lonely island
Where great beginnings
Don't get happy endings
Glorious mythologies
Can slip out of your reach
In reality, best friends leave
The ride was just make believe
In the playground of our dreams, oh
One last thing before we move on from this love song; during the song we see Brooklyn enter their dorm to find all of Malibu’s stuff gone, except from the book she gave Brooklyn; which is lying alone on her naked mattress. Maybe she hopes that Brooklyn will remember her? Maybe she hopes that she remembers where they started? Maybe it’s a way of saying ‘you know the real me’? Either way, there seems to be this lingering hope on both sides that their relationship could be rekindled.
Right after the song ends, Brooklyn is practicing ballet in a dance studio, which may be her way of coping with/moving on from what just happened. Emily just so happens to walk up to the studio door, gazing fondly through the window with the most infatuation and fondness i have ever seen, at Brooklyn, and walks in.
She comes in just to see if Brooklyn’s okay and talk to her about the situation, but the expressions on her face just clearly indicate that she’s in love.
She also says that Brooklyn and Malibu “kinda reminded [her] of [herself and Brooklyn], you know?”, which says a lot because there is no heterosexual explanation for the way Emily looks at Brooklyn.
Moving on, when Malibu arrives home, she stays holed-up in her room, and when her parents come in to see how she’s doing, she says the following words:
Malibu’s mum: “Everyone who knows you would realises this is just a big misunderstanding.”
Malibu: [Exhales deeply] “I thought Brooklyn really knew me. Getting kicked out is unfair but, [voice gets croaky] Brooklyn thinking I pushed her? That’s worse.”
[Malibu’s parents leave and Playground of our Dreams instrumental version begins to play]
Aaaah she’s far more hurt by the fact that Brooklyn didn’t have faith in her than by losing the chance to fulfil the dream she struggled to keep in sight. Then, with sadness, she places her guitar in the space behind her mirror, where she can’t see it.
Interesting choice because every time she looks at herself she might be reminded of Brooklyn and everything she left behind in New York.
Malibu sinks into her knees and let’s out a lengthy sigh — but suddenly, she hears a faint singing voice. Listening intently, Malibu rises to her feet as the voice becomes clearer and clearer, until it’s owner is unmistakable. She dashes eagerly from her room to the bannister to find none other than Brooklyn singing ‘Before Us’ (their first song) at her front door. Brooklyn!! This girl flew all the way from New York to Malibu (which takes around 6 HOURS) just for Malibu, and to sing “how did we ever survive before us” to her, and also to apologise, and tell her that she’s not expelled because they found evidence of her innocence (courtesy of Rafa and Emmie).
Like she could’ve just called her, which would’ve been far more convenient. But she literally got her mum, who is a pilot, to fly her to Malibu (the place) and drive her to Malibu’s house.
Please, are they not in love???
They hold hands and hug and look at each other lovingly — even their parents give them the look: Malibu’s parents have the ‘oh okay, they’re in love let’s give them some privacy’ look on their faces and Brooklyn’s mum is just like ‘ohhh so this is the special girl she was telling me everything about’.
(Not to mention that the one of the first things Malibu notices about Brooklyn is her healed ankle — which is cute because it could suggest that her concern for Brooklyn came before anything else).
So after this, they fly back to the academy and find out that Barbie Roberts will be performing at Times Square. Which Barbie Roberts you ask? i honestly have no idea baghdhj because the film ends with them performing together in their pan and bi dresses.
Just lesbians being girlbosses on stage👏👏
Anddd thatt concludes this gay analysis of Big City Big Dreams! Sorry it was so long and if anyone is reading this, thanks for reading nd hope this has convinced you to watch the film✨
Fun hc for after the movie: Brooklyn and Malibu start dating nd Emmie confesses to Brooklyn, so they’re all dating now v cool
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