I am that woman. That woman who grew up thinking of Barbie as a blonde, blue-eyed woman with an impossible body intended to make us all feel inadequate. I did not like Barbie. I did not look forward to The Barbie Movie.
I could not have been more wrong.
Gerwig’s film is a feminist manifesto that should strike fear into the hearts of anyone invested in the patriarchy.
Here are seven takeaways inspired by the movie that will leave you ready to go out and change the world. Yes, the characters actually do say those quotes! (Spoiler alert! If you want to know absolutely nothing about the movie, don’t read this until you’ve seen it.)
“Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.” – Barbie Narrator
LESSON 1: Don’t let a man define you.
One of the most powerful lessons in the movie comes from, of all characters, Ken. In our culture, many women are still sent the message that to be fulfilled they must find their Prince. Men must look at them, love them, and validate them with their attention. In Barbieland, this is flipped. Ken, and indeed all the Kens, live for Barbie. And they look, well, pitiful. Watching the movie I wanted to scream, “Ken, you don’t need Barbie to be a fully actualized human.” Gerwig clearly wanted to scream that to women as well, and it works. Ken reminds us all throughout that we can never really find love or fulfillment until we find ourselves.
“The real world is forever and irrevocably messed up.” – Barbie
LESSON 2: Patriarchy is worse than we think.
When Barbie goes into the real world, we experience her shock and disbelief at how patriarchal it is. She is harassed. She is groped. Her words matter less than her appearance. She shares this with Ken, who suddenly feels on top of the world. Because he is now a man in the real world. After being in Barbieland at the beginning of the movie, seeing the world that we live in hits the audience hard. In the theater, I could hear women crying. We see through Barbie’s eyes example after example of misogyny in the real world. Barbie sends us a visceral reminder of what women live with every day, and that we should never accept the unacceptable.
“Everybody turn to the Barbie next to you and tell her how much you love her. Compliment her.” – President Barbie
LESSON 3: Utopia is not a man’s world.
When I was growing up as a young feminist in the 80s and 90s, my idea of utopia was inclusion. I dreamed of women walking into traditionally male-dominated spaces and being included. Barbie reminds us inclusion is not enough. At the beginning of the movie, we see what it would look like if space was built by women for women. In this world, women aren’t rewarded for competing against each other. They talk about how it’s good to balance logic with feelings. They express pride in their work without apology. Upon getting a Nobel Prize Barbie thanks everyone for the award and then proudly says, “I work hard so I deserve it.” And in the end, their ability to communicate and uplift each other saves them. Barbie reminds us we will not truly be liberated until some of the things that we value as women are integrated into the spaces we all create together. We shouldn’t just be included in men’s spaces; the spaces need to be equally ours.
“How’s that feel? It’s not fun, is it?” – Ken
LESSON 4: Oppressing others, or even disregarding them, has consequences.
Without giving too much away, there is a point in the movie where Ken has had enough, and Barbie finds herself living the experience that Ken has lived for so long. He looks at her, rife with emotion, and points out that what she’s experiencing now doesn’t feel so good. The rage and sorrow and desperation that brings Ken to hiss these words into Barbie’s ear is an ominous reminder to all those who would disregard or oppress another human being. You can only hold onto power for so long until you suffer the consequences of your unchecked privilege.
“No one rests until this doll is back in the box!” – Mattel CEO
LESSON 5: Don’t let anyone put you in a box.
The movie is ultimately a story about Barbie’s journey, and as she learns more about the world and patriarchy, she becomes more powerful and dangerous. This doesn’t go over well. A group of mediocre men in charge quite literally try to convince her to go back into her Barbie box. Audre Lorde said, “Women are powerful and dangerous.” The movie reminds us that society will try to put powerful women in boxes with labels, shame, legal controls, etc., and that we should never walk into that box willingly.
“I want to be a part of the people that make meaning, not the thing that is made.” – Barbie
LESSON 6: Don’t give up on changing the world.
Barbie shows us a world where women have power derived from kindness, unity, and self-actualization. She helps the audience believe that not only is that world possible, anything less is unacceptable. She doesn’t, however, say creating this world will be easy. It won’t be because the real world can be hard. But just as Barbie learns, hard isn’t bad. You can’t hope to live in Barbieland without living in the real world and working to create it yourself.
“By giving voice to the cognitive dissonance required to be a woman under the patriarchy, you’ve robbed it of its power.” – Gloria
LESSON 8: Speak truth to power. (But really, do it!)
Gerwig’s Barbie movie is a feminist manifesto that pulls back the veil of normalcy that women must convince themselves they live in and lays bare the patriarchy. The most powerful thing about this movie is not that it shows us anything new. It’s that Gerwig has said the quiet thing out loud. See the truth, speak the truth. It will set us free.
So go to the movie. Bring your tissues and bring your rage. Let’s work together to make the world a little more like Barbieland. We’ve worked hard, so we deserve it.
Eliza VanCort, #1 bestselling author of A Woman’s Guide to Claiming Space: Stand Tall. Raise Your Voice. Be Heard (named Maria Shriver’s book of the week), has dedicated her life to empowering women to live bravely and claim the space they deserve.
.