*spoilers below*
If you don’t want spoilers, stop reading now.
I’m serious.
Okay, let’s start.
I loved Barbie. There are no “buts” to that sentence. It was excellent, even as it stepped on my toes for being a cliché for liking The Godfather too much. That is, I can take valid critique (usually). My wife, Cassie, loved it more than I did, I think, but that’s to be expected, I think, as there are aspects of feminine experiences with which I cannot empathize, even if I can sympathize. I’ve been thinking about it for about a week now, and I think that I’ve finally gathered my thoughts enough to put this interpretation into writing.
I’ve seen this movie once and have no way of going back to check my hypothesis without spending more money and going to see it again in theaters, which I might actually do. So, if I write something in error, please feel free to correct me graciously.
The Hypothesis: There is very little that is real in this movie, whether it’s in the “real world” or in Barbie Land. All of this is imaginary play from a real-world woman named Gloria experiencing an existential or mid-life crisis.
The Evidence and Hypothesis fleshed out:
Assuming you’ve seen this movie or don’t care about spoilers, something did not sit right with me about the “real” world in this movie. The overt sexism was obvious and was indicative of reality. But the further into the real world that the movie got, and especially when Barbie arrives at Mattel HQ, the more I was convinced that the “real world” was not actually real. It starts out very real: the construction workers objectifying, the cat-calling from young men, etc. That’s all reality in real and uncomfortable ways for women. The ubiquitous nature of the patriarchy in the real world starts out very real when Ken goes searching for what it means to be a human man. But as they spend more time in the real world, especially in the Mattel HQ, the patriarchy becomes more and more imaginary. The Board becomes a caricature of incapable men who can't chase this woman down - it’s the real world parallel to the choreography at Stereotypical Barbie’s house party. The chase itself isn’t real. It’s choreographed. Then Barbie encounters the ghost of Ruth Handler hiding out in what is clearly supposed to be the Oracle’s house from The Matrix, entered in through a hallway that I believe is meant to resemble coding backdoors from The Matrix Reloaded. And then, when they finally arrive at the door to try and keep her from escaping in Gloria’s car (America Ferriera was excellent in this movie), the patriarchy board members cannot even open the door to the building until they get away. Then they somehow can open the door.
This isn’t reality. This is fantasy.
Then, as Gloria is driving them away in a car chase scene, her daughter asks how she learned to drive like this. No real answer is given, other than “I don’t know. I just picked it up!” (Forgive my paraphrase.)
This isn’t reality. This is pretend. This is make-believe.
In the car, Gloria confesses to what is really going on: she’s been playing with Barbie again as an adult and has been imagining a version of Barbie that is going through what she is going through: cellulite, flat feet, contemplation of death. Barbie experiences these things in Barbie Land and begins to question the nature of her reality. But then, somehow, Gloria inserts herself and her daughter into these fantasies and becomes the savior of Barbie Land, with even her husband helping to take Barbie to her gynecologist appointment (super spoiler) at the end and speaking gringoized Español. My twisted conjecture is that she’s either made dolls as representations of her family or she’s found Barbie and Ken clothes that match what they dress like.
This is also fantasy.
There is no way a little roadtrip culminating in the “closer to fine” magically erases teenage angst and makes a stereotypically-woke, existentialist…middle schooler? high schooler? how old are kids these days?…cool with Barbie Land and fine with a mom who she despises. Gloria is playing make believe with her dolls and imagining a fictional land where their problems can disappear and everything will be actually closer to fine, a place that does not actually exist in her reality. Her husband is oblivious, incapable, and detached (ouch). Her daughter hates her. And she imagines a world where Barbie can help resolve all of that.
Another thing - it’s clear to me that Gloria has long since been through a deconstruction phase and is frustrated with women/dolls that need to be de-programmed from their brainwashing of patriarchy. But also - and this is pertinent to me as a man - so do the men! All these dolls need to be liberated from the grips of pratiarchy, and Gloria’s de-programming speech is enough to do it in Barbie Land. Were that it were so in the real “Real World.”
This movie screams out to me that this is a combination of, first and foremost, The Lego Movie (even down to the parallel of an adult Will Ferrell owning the toys themselves), The Matrix and its subsequent failures, and Elf. There are obvious questions about reality and perception about which I am just well-versed enough in philosophy to know that I am not equipped to answer. What is obvious to me is that the “real world” in Barbie is also a construct of the feminine imagination with some very valid and real critiques of our reality, if such a thing is even real.