Released on July 21st 2023, Barbie has overtaken all others. Making over $1 billion at the box office, it is clear that people loved Barbie. The movie comically expressed real life issues in a way that would grab the attention of everyone. Although the movie was aimed toward women, I think every gender should watch it.
Barbie is one of those movies you can’t watch just once. It was definitely the most fun one to go to. Everyone dressed up in pink and went all out. The movie was for sure worth all the hype.
Barbie follows a stereotypical Barbie and her journey of self discovery. We see her having human-like qualities in the seemingly perfect Barbie Land. She expresses her concerns to Weird Barbie, and is then sent to the real world to fix things. Barbie-obsessed Ken of course goes with her.
When in the real world Barbie and Ken realize how everything is flipped there. Ken then goes back and makes Barbie Land like the real world. From that point on, we see the unbrainwashed Barbies fight to get things back under control.
Many men were upset at Barbie and said it made them feel less than and mocked. The movie portrays Barbie Land as a women-run world. They do every job there is, and the Kens are just Kens.
Men felt that the movie was making fun of them because the Kens were portrayed as dependent on the Barbies and small minded, and the men in the real world were obsessed with horses and loved patriarchy.
It was made as an eye-opener to men, because women feel less than every single day for just being a woman.
Well, that is not what Barbie was made to do. It was made as an eye-opener to men, because women feel less than every single day for just being a woman. America Ferrera’s character Gloria gives the best monologue about what it’s truly like to be a woman. Watching it in the theater made me, and many other women, feel so seen.
There is a scene where Billie Eilish’s song “What Was I Made For?” plays over a montage of videos of women and little girls that are actually the cast and crew’s friends and family. It was so heartwarming and I loved how right before the videos Barbie said, “I want to be a part of the people that make meaning. Not the idea that’s made.” That line made me have an “exactly!” type of moment.
Towards the end of the movie when Barbie Land is restored, after seeing the effects of oppression, the Barbies realize their mistakes and they emphasize the idea of equality. That is the true point of the movie. Equality. Not that one gender is better than the other, but that we need to change our views.
Barbie was so special to so many people and deserves every award ever. If you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for? Barbie is the movie that truly deserves to be the best movie of 2023.
