Over the Summer of 2023, several massively popular movies came out. One of the most popular movies of the summer was Barbie. Despite several decades of popular movies already existing under the Barbie franchise, this one stood out for several reasons. This version of Barbie was live-action, unlike the other ones, which were all animated movies. While each movie arguably had a valuable lesson to take from it, this one was a lot more tied to modern reality for a lot of the audience. Some audience members could even argue that this movie was impactful in a newer and bigger way.
Despite Barbie being a smashing success with an even bigger impact, there was still very loud backlash and even mocking from critics. One big example of a critic was from comedian Jo Koy at the Golden Globe Awards. The comedian was the host for the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards. Despite this being his first time hosting, he was courageous and didn’t hold back in the slightest. He made several attempts at cracking jokes to an unamused crowd.
He was very bold with his jab at the Barbie movie. Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies,” Koy said. The faces in the crowd fell flat as his joke immediately crashed and burned… badly. It doesn’t end there. No, he had the audacity to keep it going. “The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor,” Koy said. If looks could kill, we wouldn’t want to be Jo Koy at the Golden Globes. The faces in the crowd of A-list celebrities went from flat-faced to disgusted and even secondhand embarrassment.
For those who watched and comprehended the basic message of the movie, Barbie is beyond plastic. The premise of the movie was focused on how living in a patriarchal society affects all of us, men and women. It summed up the very basics of feminism and how it benefits everyone.
Barbie has no story and no ending. Barbie is meant to be every woman. She is meant to symbolize to little girls that their possibilities in life are endless! “I can be anything I wanna be,” is the Mattel commercial slogan for her. Barbie built her own perfect world in Barbie’s world. Eventually, she had to leave to visit the real world and go on an adventure, with her sidekick, Ken. Along the way, they get exposed to the realities of the patriarchal society we live in. When Ken innocently believed that patriarchy was about horses and being cool, he was still impacted by it without even understanding what it was. He went from Barbie’s sweet sidekick in Barbie’s world to causing chaos by constantly proving his masculinity in a way that impedes on the world that the Barbies created. Because of Ken’s actions under patriarchy, Barbie had to fight back. She had to demand to be viewed as an equal and rebuild what he attempted to build over. Along the way, Barbie and Ken learned how to coexist as equals. But it was a journey just to get there.
As a former little girl, I was a total Barbie girl. Not only was most of my doll collection Barbie, but the walls in my childhood bedroom were painted “Princess Pink” (yes, I do remember the name of the color I picked out at the store). I had so many dolls and accessories, and even made it a routine with my family to watch the movies. Every time I see a Barbie I get an instant flashback to happy childhood memories. To me, Barbie was my superhero growing up. I could be anything I wanted with the Barbie dolls! As a Barbie girl, I can confidently say that she’s had an impact on me.
Barbie might not be about a Pulitzer Prize-winning book. However, it’s impossible to deny her impact on the world. Since the 1950s, Barbie has been a symbol of womanhood and girlhood. To break her down into just a piece of plastic is an understatement of her impact. The Barbie movie utilizes an iconic symbol of girlhood to teach a valuable lesson applicable to our own world today.