Six months ago, we were enraptured by the Barbie movie. But what has it really done for feminism half a year later?
On July 21, 2023, the highly anticipated “Barbie” movie was released in theaters. Directed by the talented Greta Gerwig and starring celebrities like Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, and Ryan Gosling, it was bound to be a success. Additionally, there was a lot of hype surrounding the movie before it was even released, with trailers hinting at themes of female empowerment and modern feminism. This came with its pros and cons, the pros being that any attention is good attention (for a movie) and the cons being the towering waves of hate that were directed to any and everything that was associated with the film at all. Naturally, women were the ones that received the brunt of the backlash, with misogynists calling it a “misandrist” film though the portrayal of the male characters was a satiric approach to the over-sexualized image of female actresses in so many Hollywood movies. This irony was also what attracted a lot of attention, clearly both positive and negative once again.
After “Barbie” was released, the hype did not die down for a while. As many people may know, it was released on the same day as “Oppenheimer,” another highly anticipated film directed by Christopher Nolan. The opposite genres and aesthetics of the two films clashed in a way that made the juxtaposition attractive and humorous. The creation of such a meme only added to the success of the two films, with people often wanting to watch both movies on the same day, even if they weren’t initially interested in one or the other.
However, a lot of the valid criticism of the film came from marginalized groups that felt “Barbie” was too basic. Essentially, people began to call it a “white feminist” film since it revolved around a white, conventionally attractive woman (doll) and did not really touch on a lot of the ethical dilemmas within feminism itself, such as problems that surround race and gender. Additionally, there was a lot of backlash from modern feminists who thought it was too basic of a message. According to critics, “Barbie” was not the groundbreaking feminist film that people initially expected it to be. Though it discussed a lot of important issues like body image, depression (and other mental illnesses), and misandry, it could have included more “diverse” problems as well as issues that have more of a stigma around them.
Here lies the issue of people pleasing and individual validity when it comes to something as vastly broadcasted as a multi-million dollar grossing film. There is only so much you can say, and so far, you can delve into issues because every little detail that people personally disagree with is money down the drain. If “Barbie” were, in fact, a film that touched on more diverse issues and condemned the exclusivity of white feminism, it wouldn’t have been successful, even if it was more informative and truly feminist. The backlash from people was already extensive, with misandry and over-sexualization already running rampant through every single comment section on news articles and social media. It’s both disheartening and sadly believable that this would be minuscule in comparison to the potential backlash of this idealized version of the film. So, though I do not personally agree with everything about the “Barbie” movie, I fully understand why this choice was made, and I want to believe that this is a step in the right direction. Perhaps one day, we could make the movie that everyone so badly wanted “Barbie” to be in terms of social dilemmas and intersectional feminism.
Since it was such a popular release, there were high expectations for the film in terms of award nominations and wins. Half of that prediction has come true thus far. Though “Barbie” has received numerous nominations for Oscars, Golden Globes, Academy Awards, Critic’s Choice awards, and more, so far, the wins have not matched up, especially for the women in the film.
Ryan Gosling has been gracing news headlines as of late, speaking up about the unfairness of his nominations and wins when he believes his female co-workers were more essential to the film and, therefore, deserved it just as much as he did. When his original song for the film, “I’m Just Ken” won over Billie Eilish’s emotional masterpiece “What Was I Made For” at the Critics’ Choice Awards, he went viral online for his disgruntled facial expression.
After that, the Oscars “snubbed” both Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig, choosing Gosling’s performances to nominate instead.
Gosling has been praised for his role as Ken for the past six months, becoming an even bigger star than before. Though he did perform exceptionally as his character, it is impossible to ignore the irony of Ken being more popular than Barbie herself. Everything that the movie stood for was basically shunted aside as people flocked to buy replicas of a hoodie that Ken wore, streamed Gosling’s songs from the film, and started using his character’s memorable phrases like “I’m Kenough” or “I’m Just Ken.” In December, Gosling released a Christmas cover of his aforementioned award-winning song, which also got a lot of attention for both his character and himself. Actions like these have been deeply criticized, with people saying that he is aware of the irony but profiting from it regardless.
I believe that a lot of the criticism that surrounds this film was the result of high expectations. This does not mean that the critiques are invalid or that we can brush aside these potentially problematic characteristics, but it does mean that we have to remember the factors that surrounded the creation of the movie itself. There is only so much that one can broadcast to the world without ruining their career, even if what they’re fighting for is right. There is only so much a woman can do in a world that prefers men. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying.
After all, if Barbie can go to her first gynecology appointment fearlessly, then she can do anything.