With the release of the Barbie movie, Barbie has turned into an icon for women’s empowerment, feminism, and self-actualization. I think it would be safe to say that many consider Barbie a hero for women all around the globe. But Barbie was my hero long before the Barbie movie came out.
I grew up as an only girl between two brothers. My world was full of everything: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek, you name it. I loved all of it. I would swordfight my brothers in our basement and pretend to be a Jedi knight running around our yard after school. However, I often felt like I had a split personality. On the weeknights, I went to ballet class and wore tutus. I played princess dress-up with my friends at playdates. It always felt like one or the other. My persona would change as soon as I entered my different worlds. But I was both “girly” and “tomboyish”; I embraced both “glitter” and “dirt.”
Enter Barbie and the Three Musketeers. The movie follows Corinne (Barbie), a young girl who wants to venture to Paris to become a musketeer like her father before her. Over the course of the movie, Corinne meets three other women who all want a chance to fight and protect the crown. They are ridiculed for being women and must overcome the blatant misogyny of people who believe a woman could never be a musketeer.
While I didn’t really understand the deeper message until I was much older, what made me love this movie was the fact that Corinne was both “girly,” but also “tomboyish” – the same traits I saw in myself. Corinne was a blend of my two worlds. I learned that I didn’t have to separate out my two seemingly opposite sides. Corinne would swordfight the bad guys in a dress, why couldn’t I?
Watching this movie gave me the confidence that I didn’t have to hide my “girly” side when I was with my brothers or my “boyish” love for roughhousing when I was with my friends. Barbie and the Three Musketeers helped me to grow into myself and be proud of all aspects of who I was. Even today, I am influenced by the lessons I learned from watching that movie.
So, for as much credit as I give Greta Gerwig’s Barbie Movie, Corinne from Barbie and the Three Musketeers will forever be my hero and someone to whom my inner 6 year old self will always look up.