Barbie Mania
Hello!
I was dying to discuss the Barbie movie, but I had to finish with the Dubai content first.
I have been a Barbie fan ever since I knew about the doll. I am not sure when I had my first Barbie but it was probably a Christmas gift from my parents. Back when I was a kid, most of my toys would come from abroad. It was cheaper to buy toys abroad, as there were more variety there. My Dad would often buy them during his business trips to Europe, or ask a friend living abroad to get them for him. Growing up I had several Barbies and Barbies knock off.
One of the Barbie I remember the most was a Black Barbie. She had on a silver glamorous dress and a ice blue coat with fur trimming. The Barbie could also bend her arms and lift them up, which was hard to do with the previous ones I had. My best friend had the same exact one. In fact, we were gifted it at the same time. I was staying at her house in Washington DC with my Dad and my brother during Summer 87. I am not sure who got us the dolls, her father or mine or both. However, we were both very infatuated with the thing.
I think I liked Barbie because she was just glamorous. She would often come with a nice outfit and interesting accessories such as her pink pumps and dangling earrings. It was fun to dress and undress her, to comb her silky blond hair (most of my Barbies were white with blond hair). Her entire body was goal: she was skinny with interminable legs. She also had a family, a house, a car. My family was never rich enough to get me all the Barbie accessories I wanted. But I could play with them at my cousins' house. They had a huge trunk filled with Barbies and her accessories. I loved going to their house to play with the dolls. I also had a neighborhood friend who had an entire bathtub with her Barbie. We could bathe her and even wash her hair. It was just magical.
They had this photo booth at the cinema so I had to try it out.
The last doll I had was a Barbie knock off that came with a family: a Ken and twin babies. She also had a house with beds and such. My Dad bought it for me at a fair. I used to love playing with the dolls. I played with them until I went to middle school. At some point, I was ashamed to admit to my classmates that I still played with dolls so I gave them away.
There is so much controversy surrounding Barbie, the doll itself and the movie. I am not going to dwelve into the controversy surrounding the doll (bad body image, lack of diversity, not proper female role model, ect.), you can go do your own research. But there was so much talk about the movie that I had to go see it because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
I went with the boys. I did not have to drag them. They had a choice between Oppenheimer and Barbie. Frankly I told them that I was not about to go see a movie about someone who invented the nuclear bomb. How depressing that would be. We could watch it once it is out on the streaming platforms. So one saturday evening, we went to the nearest cinema to watch Barbie.
I am not going to spoil the movie for you. My take was that it was a decent movie. Was is the best thing I have ever watched? No! Truthfully, They cloned Tyrone was far better. Yet the movie was entertaining. The message was clear, I did not see it as being overly woke or feminist. It was just a portrayal of the world seen by Barbie. And it totally made sense to me as a woman. Some men might take offense at the way Ken was treated. But I just find it ironic that men who treat their wives or girlfriends like a second class citizen, have something to say about Barbie's treatement of Ken. Anyway, at times I felt that the movie was dragging its feet. Nevertheless, the actors were great in their role. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosseling were just perfect, so perfect it was cringy.
I did enjoy the costumes. As usuall, I was drowned to the clothes the Barbies wore (and some of the Ken's too). It was exactly what Barbie would wear but with a modern twist. It was ridiculous, unpractical and over the top pink. But as we progressed into the movie, and as Barbie is evolving, we see her wear more "normal" clothes. The set design was too much for me. Only the 8 year old Me could have appreciated it. And I guess that is what I felt while watching the movie. I was transported back to a time I was playing with my dolls, trying to recreate "adult life", where I would be independent, own my own house, drive my own car, with a husband and two kids. That was the dream for me. Oh life!
This dress on Weird Barbie was by far my favorite.
I absolutely loved the yellow ruffle dress Barbie wore towards the end of the movie with white wedges. Too bad I could not find an full outfit online.
Barbie's hair was to die for with its pink hues
tote and birkenstock.
I think why the Barbie movie was so beloved was that it was pushing grown women from all over, to tap into their inner child. Women were dressing up in pink (or in Barbiecore), and turned watching the movie into a party. It was a celebration of womanhood and just pure joy. During these hard times, it just feels nice to escape even if it is for a few hours in a magical word. And for that we have to thank Greta Gerwig.
So did you watch the movie? What did you think about it?
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