The Ending of Barbie in the Nutcracker: Theories, an Analysis and (Hopefully) an Explanation
It has been 15 years since the film shown above was released becoming a staple of the holiday season for many, a permanent part of many more people’s childhoods and for a smaller but still vocal group, still very much apart of their life today (like myself). But even though ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’ is 15 years old (making myself a year older oh dear), the movie still has a plethora of people who are still confused by the ending or technically the two endings the film had. I’ll be going over the second ending first as it is a much simpler and easier explanation then the first ending.
The Second Ending is where the film itself ends which is shown to be Barbie finishing telling the story of the Nutcracker to her sister, Kelly. Now, after having watched the movie a million times, I always wondered why they’d return to Barbie and Kelly in the dance studio and Barbie finishing the story when Clara and Prince Eric dancing after they reunited was a perfectly fine ending?
The simple explanation is that well, it was just a story and they wanted to show Barbie finish it. But I also have a different conclusion, that the short story line between Barbie and Kelly is a separate and overarching narrative among the first three of the second generation Barbie films (2001-2009), a story of Barbie helping her guide Kelly and help her grow as a person thus why in ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’, ‘Barbie as Rapunzel’ and ‘Barbie of Swan Lake’, each begin and end with Kelly and Barbie, with Kelly having grown in confidence and as a person.
Kelly also serves as a parallel and reinforcement of the message each film sends within the main story such as the main message in ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’ being “it what’s on the inside that counts and will help you overcome your obstacles” (as well as believing in yourself of course) and this is reinforced in Kelly at the end when she over comes her obstacle and sees that she has the strength and willpower inside her to do those damn ballet steps perfectly and she does.
But either way, whether my personal theory or the simple explanation, the second ending is easily explained. Now, onto the trickier part.
The first ending of ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’ is Clara being reunited with Prince Eric within her own world and it finishes on them dancing together. Or are their two worlds as separate as we’re lead to believe? While many people assume the film is based off the Ballet alone, it actually draws a much heavier influence from the book the ballet was based off as well, ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’ by E.T.A Hoffman and thus by making connections to both the film’s source material, we can start to breakdown the ending and come up with not only a theory but an analysis and of course, an explanation.
Let’s begin with our biggest “clue”, Aunt Elizabeth or should I say, Drosselmeyer. Drosselmeyer in the ballet is Clara’s godfather, he is a skilled clock and toy maker and is the one who presents Clara with the Nutcracker (or in the film, Prince Eric as we all know) as a gift for her. In Hoffman’s novel, Drosselmeyer is also their godfather but he is a clock maker and inventor and after Clara (or Marie as she is named in the novel) witnesses the battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, is told the story of the Nutcracker by the Mouse King, he was not a Prince in this version (unlike the film or the ballet) but rather, Drosselmeyer’s nephew who fell victim to a curse.
In the novel, Clara (Like I’ve mentioned before, her name is Marie in the novel but it is much easier and less confusing to call her Clara since I have to talk about three different versions of the story) falls victim to a deal with the Mouse King, saying that he will eat the Nutcracker if she doesn’t give him her sweets and dolls and she does so to save the Nutcracker. The Mouse King only demands more and the Nutcracker asks Clara to get him a sword to defeat him. The Mouse King is defeated by the Nutcracker but no one believes Clara about the events. She later confesses to Drosselmeyer when looking at the Nutcracker in the workshop that she would love the Nutcracker no matter what he looked like. The next day, Drosselmeyer’s nephew arrives (a handsome young man no less) and Drosselmeyer reveals that her saying she would love him despite what he looked like was what broke the curse and then happily ever after stuff.
Now I didn’t mean to drop a bunch of exposition on you but for the sake of understanding our biggest clue within Aunt Elizabeth/Drosselmeyer, the answer needed a lot of context and understanding of the events in Hoffman’s novel. Now, back to the film. In ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’, the role of Drosselmeyer has been changed to Aunt Elizabeth but despite the change in sex and name, they are still essentially the same person/character. In the novel, Drosselmeyer was not only in the “real world” but also apart of the “Doll Kingdom” or “Parthenia” as it is known in the film and in the novel Drosselmeyer is also working with the royal family.
At the end of the film when Aunt Elizabeth comes in with Eric, she introduces him by saying “this is Eric, the son of a dear friend of mine.” Just like the Drosselmeyer in the novel, Aunt Elizabeth is connected with the royal family in Parthenia/the Doll Kingdom and through her ability to travel between the worlds, she is able to reunite Clara and Eric. Now, onto “clue” #2, the locket.
While the magical locket was something that was never present in the book or the ballet, it is important here. The locket not only proves that it wasn’t some dream (unlike the Ballet) but that the events that took place really happened. In fact, the whole film follows the structure of the Hero’s Journey narrative and uses the locket as a symbol throughout. Let me explain.
This circle (source here) above represents the circular narrative structure of the Hero’s Journey, a structure for narrative that is present in thousands of different texts (two particularly of note are ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone’). In fact, the Hero’s Journey not only follows Clara but also Eric. The two steps in the Hero’s Journey that are important to the ending are 11. The Resurrection and 12. Return with Elixir.
11. THE RESURRECTION. At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home. He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level. By the hero’s action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved. (source here)
Eric’s last sacrifice was of course, jumping in front of Clara to save her and then his ‘rebirth’ was his curse being broken by Clara’s love, revealing himself to be Prince Eric, a new and transformed prince who will rule his kingdom with wisdom and then that is followed by Clara’s own sacrifice and rebirth, as from her brave actions and sacrifices she made to help Eric and the kingdom, she is ‘reborn’ and the Sugar Plum Princess, revealing it was her all along. But it is not her final sacrifice, as the locket is snatched from her neck by the Mouse King and opened up, making her disappear and return home, leading me to…
12. RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR. The hero returns home or continues the journey, bearing some element of the treasure that has the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed. (source here)
Clara is returned home, leaving the special world, Parthenia but she has not returned with an element of the treasure that she had found which was the courage inside herself as well as her love for Eric. The locket is a symbol of both these things so not only does it complete Clara’s journey when it is returned to her, it also reaffirms that what had happened was real.
So now, we’ve gone through the Aunt Elizabeth/Drosselmeyer connection, the locket and now, our last “clue”, the snow globe at the end.
I apologize for the low quality of the image, I took a screenshot from a downloaded copy on my laptop as I currently don’t own ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’ on DVD. (Although it damn well deserves a Blu Ray remaster)
In the end of the film, it transitions from Clara and Eric dancing, to a snow globe where they are doing the same thing but as their true and ‘reborn’ selves, the King and Queen of Parthenia. But the snow globe is not just a symbolic representation of how they have both grown as people via their Hero’s Journey but also as a physical representation of the real end of the story between Clara and Eric.
At the end of ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’, after Clara meets Drosselmeyer’s nephew (in the film, this role is taken by Eric of course), he asks her to marry him which she accepts. Then a year and a day later, he returns for her and takes her to the Doll Kingdom (in the film Parthenia) where he makes her his Queen and they live happily ever after.
This snow globe represents the ending of Hoffman’s novel and the true ending of Clara and Eric’s story, once reunited they have been returned to Parthenia and now rule together as King and Queen like what was intended.
But how does Clara go back? Well, Aunt Elizabeth/Drosselmeyer of course. We’ve already established by looking at dialogue in the film, her sudden arrival with Eric in tow and her original role as Clara’s godfather, Drosselmeyer, in E.T.A Hoffman’s novel, ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’, that Aunt Elizabeth is connected to Eric’s world and is very close with the royal family.
“But!” I hear you cry, her grandfather wouldn’t let Clara leave as he was so against the ideas of Aunt Elizabeth as well as Clara travelling in general. Well, her Grandfather reluctantly allowed Clara to travel with Aunt Elizabeth, thus through her, returning to Parthenia and living out her true happy ending, reunited with her “true love” (as cliche as that sounds I know), Prince (or technically King) Eric.
And now we can celebrate because we can finally draw from all my analyzing and theorizing, a final conclusion and an explanation! Hooray!
So, the ending of ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’ is two separate endings that are related through parallelism and the message presented in the main story (Clara and Eric’s) via Kelly, Barbie’s little sister. The first ending of the film (Clara and Eric’s story) confirms the events of the film are real and that Clara and Eric return to Parthenia by examining the film’s source material (’The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’ by E.T.A Hoffman) as well as evidence within the film itself ie. Aunt Elizabeth/Drosselmeyer connection, Clara’s locket and the Snow Globe at the end of the film along with comparing the film’s narrative to that of narrative structure known as the Hero’s Journey.
So there, I hoped clear up some confusion as well as provide new insight and discussion around the ending of one of the best Barbie movies (in my opinion), ‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’.
‘Barbie in the Nutcracker’ has been one of my favourite films since I was a child and I especially loved Clara and Eric, this movie (as well as ‘Barbie of Swan Lake’ (my favourite), ‘Barbie Fairytopia’ and ‘Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus’) is a staple of my childhood and the Barbie films hold a very special place in my heart so pouring over this film and finding all these things to help strengthen this post was really special and a lot of fun and I am thankful to all the posts of people saying they were confused that inspired me to write this! In fact, I may analyze other Barbie films in the future!
Anyway, I hope you gained new knowledge and insight and I’m very thankful to those who read this whole thing as well as those who like and reblog this!
Thank You and Merry Christmas!
