I feel that most of the comments miss the point. Barbie is a child's world. Seeing yourself as beautiful with pretty clothes, dates to all parties, with a beautiful place to live, surrounded by other little girls.
The ending is little girls choosing the real world, with all that includes, the good and bad. Mature body, sexuality, real challenges. While the opening was disturbing if you did not realize it was partially black humor, it reflected a real choice most girls want, to focus for a time on her own wants and needs, not the future role responsibilities of adulthood. We never criticize young men for playing soldier or astronaut. Why do we limit young girls in their trying on their dreams by playwriting them? Why would we insist little girls must playback motherhood but not insist little boys playback the responsibilities of fatherhood?
Tamra DodgeAugust 22, 2023
The opening scene was disturbing. Little girls portraying mothers, are suddenly dissatisfied after seeing ‘the perfect woman’ … then smash and destroy their baby dolls. That was dark, and uncalled for.
The opening scene in BarbieLand was every little girls imagination come to life. Remember, these are dolls.
After we left the theater, I asked my husband how he would have changed the storyline. How do you write a storyline for toys, that holds interest, involves characters, has a goal to accomplish, while staying true to the subject?
The problem was that Mattel didn’t integrate their toys to portray a family. They were sold separately. It was up to each child to turn them into families… We played dating; friends; weddings and babies arriving. That, was what we knew to be real in life.
This storyline was confusing, and disturbing. I didn’t like that the Kens were not important to the Barbies, or that the Barbies were so in love with being perfect.
The ‘Ugly Barbie’ seemed to be the problem solver, perhaps because she’s been through a ‘non-perfect experience’ at the hands of her Child owner. In the Toy Story series, some toys are abused and forgotten.
The human element in the Barbie movie were sad, bumbling depictions of people. Over-the-top in portraying real life. That was obviously a fantasy within the fantasy.
The expectation from the public was high! People dressed up as Barbies to attend. What a let-down.
Overall, I wouldn’t take a child to see this movie. It could have been so much better. More like how we actually played with these toys, and had a happy ending, that didn’t conclude with a gynecologist.
DeidreAugust 21, 2023
I think you are seriously lacking a sense of humor. I loved this movie.
Unfortunately, the empowered Ken's reminded me of every bad date I ever had in an LDS Singles Ward. Kens, wanting women content to spend hours just sitting there admiring them. Ever been invited to go on a date that turns out to be a man playing video games for hours while he wants you to watch him? Or a man inviting you to sit around the ward building alone for three hours so you can be in the audience while he gives a talk? And he dumped you three months ago without a word after dating for seven months. But Mr. Narcissist still wants you to fulfill your assigned role of admirer and audience member. The Kens, once they see themselves as being in charge.
The director nailed it. I highly recommend this movie.
Linda HawkeAugust 21, 2023
I agree this is not a movie for young children. I took my 16 year old granddaughter to see it, though, and she understood just fine. The story I got from it was that neither the "girls' night every night" Barbie nor "mojo dojo casa house" Ken was good, but that they would learn to integrate - share - compromise, whatever. I found it to be an amusing timeline caricature of attitudes, a funny and enjoyable movie for teens and adults. Sure we can and should discuss the ideas and portrayals, but we don't need to turn every movie into a deep dark depressing psychological drama with hidden motives. Ah, maybe I'm just tired.
Jenny Madsen SvendsenAugust 21, 2023
Thank yuou for your very insightful article about the Barbie movie, and examples of what happens in the movie. I live on an island in British Columbia, Canada, our 99 person Movie Theatre owner just posted that the tickets are sold out an hour before show time. He also posted, thank goodness, that they are in the proccess of getting the digital verison of Sound of Freedom, that is a movie I've seen, and will tell all my friends about it.
Susan RoylanceAugust 21, 2023
Thank you Nicholeen for alerting parents to the problems of this movie, and the negative impact it can have on the girls of today. Negative presentations of girls as mothers is very dangerous, and is contributing to the seriously reduced attitude toward motherhood. We need more women like you to stand up and speak out about the value of marriage a d motherhood.
Adela MusgraveAugust 21, 2023
I am happy to have read this article. I completely agree with the author. My 28 year old grand daughter saw the movie, and thought the movie had a great message for women, that the modern woman is expected to work full time, have children, run a home, etc, instead of being her own self and pursuing her dreams and not being enslaved by marriage and motherhood.
MaryannAugust 21, 2023
Wow! I didn't see the Barbie movie, so I had no idea about the contents. My children are grown, so I certainly was not taking them to this movie. Thank you for shedding a light on the false and dangerous concepts portrayed in this film. I certainly hope moms with young children will heed your warnings.
Judy PetersonAugust 21, 2023
This definitely is not how I saw the Barbie movie,, but then I didn’t think it was for kids. To me it was a very strong message of one of the unfortunate impact of the Barbie doll and what it has done to our culture. It painted a very negative view of feminism, and the fact that the feminism that has been so influential in our culture, has been destructive in many ways to both men and women. I got the message that fundamentally the family is the source of true happiness, and everything else that had gone on in the movie was a sham and a poor imitation. Maybe we see what we want to see? One thing, I will definitely agree with — this is not a movie for children! And with that agreement, it is apparently a movie for discussion in our families, if any of us choose to see it. I’m glad I did. Greta Gehrwig is not a shallow movie maker. Maybe we mothers could be better informed.
Comments | Return to Story
CarnenAugust 22, 2023
I feel that most of the comments miss the point. Barbie is a child's world. Seeing yourself as beautiful with pretty clothes, dates to all parties, with a beautiful place to live, surrounded by other little girls. The ending is little girls choosing the real world, with all that includes, the good and bad. Mature body, sexuality, real challenges. While the opening was disturbing if you did not realize it was partially black humor, it reflected a real choice most girls want, to focus for a time on her own wants and needs, not the future role responsibilities of adulthood. We never criticize young men for playing soldier or astronaut. Why do we limit young girls in their trying on their dreams by playwriting them? Why would we insist little girls must playback motherhood but not insist little boys playback the responsibilities of fatherhood?
Tamra DodgeAugust 22, 2023
The opening scene was disturbing. Little girls portraying mothers, are suddenly dissatisfied after seeing ‘the perfect woman’ … then smash and destroy their baby dolls. That was dark, and uncalled for. The opening scene in BarbieLand was every little girls imagination come to life. Remember, these are dolls. After we left the theater, I asked my husband how he would have changed the storyline. How do you write a storyline for toys, that holds interest, involves characters, has a goal to accomplish, while staying true to the subject? The problem was that Mattel didn’t integrate their toys to portray a family. They were sold separately. It was up to each child to turn them into families… We played dating; friends; weddings and babies arriving. That, was what we knew to be real in life. This storyline was confusing, and disturbing. I didn’t like that the Kens were not important to the Barbies, or that the Barbies were so in love with being perfect. The ‘Ugly Barbie’ seemed to be the problem solver, perhaps because she’s been through a ‘non-perfect experience’ at the hands of her Child owner. In the Toy Story series, some toys are abused and forgotten. The human element in the Barbie movie were sad, bumbling depictions of people. Over-the-top in portraying real life. That was obviously a fantasy within the fantasy. The expectation from the public was high! People dressed up as Barbies to attend. What a let-down. Overall, I wouldn’t take a child to see this movie. It could have been so much better. More like how we actually played with these toys, and had a happy ending, that didn’t conclude with a gynecologist.
DeidreAugust 21, 2023
I think you are seriously lacking a sense of humor. I loved this movie. Unfortunately, the empowered Ken's reminded me of every bad date I ever had in an LDS Singles Ward. Kens, wanting women content to spend hours just sitting there admiring them. Ever been invited to go on a date that turns out to be a man playing video games for hours while he wants you to watch him? Or a man inviting you to sit around the ward building alone for three hours so you can be in the audience while he gives a talk? And he dumped you three months ago without a word after dating for seven months. But Mr. Narcissist still wants you to fulfill your assigned role of admirer and audience member. The Kens, once they see themselves as being in charge. The director nailed it. I highly recommend this movie.
Linda HawkeAugust 21, 2023
I agree this is not a movie for young children. I took my 16 year old granddaughter to see it, though, and she understood just fine. The story I got from it was that neither the "girls' night every night" Barbie nor "mojo dojo casa house" Ken was good, but that they would learn to integrate - share - compromise, whatever. I found it to be an amusing timeline caricature of attitudes, a funny and enjoyable movie for teens and adults. Sure we can and should discuss the ideas and portrayals, but we don't need to turn every movie into a deep dark depressing psychological drama with hidden motives. Ah, maybe I'm just tired.
Jenny Madsen SvendsenAugust 21, 2023
Thank yuou for your very insightful article about the Barbie movie, and examples of what happens in the movie. I live on an island in British Columbia, Canada, our 99 person Movie Theatre owner just posted that the tickets are sold out an hour before show time. He also posted, thank goodness, that they are in the proccess of getting the digital verison of Sound of Freedom, that is a movie I've seen, and will tell all my friends about it.
Susan RoylanceAugust 21, 2023
Thank you Nicholeen for alerting parents to the problems of this movie, and the negative impact it can have on the girls of today. Negative presentations of girls as mothers is very dangerous, and is contributing to the seriously reduced attitude toward motherhood. We need more women like you to stand up and speak out about the value of marriage a d motherhood.
Adela MusgraveAugust 21, 2023
I am happy to have read this article. I completely agree with the author. My 28 year old grand daughter saw the movie, and thought the movie had a great message for women, that the modern woman is expected to work full time, have children, run a home, etc, instead of being her own self and pursuing her dreams and not being enslaved by marriage and motherhood.
MaryannAugust 21, 2023
Wow! I didn't see the Barbie movie, so I had no idea about the contents. My children are grown, so I certainly was not taking them to this movie. Thank you for shedding a light on the false and dangerous concepts portrayed in this film. I certainly hope moms with young children will heed your warnings.
Judy PetersonAugust 21, 2023
This definitely is not how I saw the Barbie movie,, but then I didn’t think it was for kids. To me it was a very strong message of one of the unfortunate impact of the Barbie doll and what it has done to our culture. It painted a very negative view of feminism, and the fact that the feminism that has been so influential in our culture, has been destructive in many ways to both men and women. I got the message that fundamentally the family is the source of true happiness, and everything else that had gone on in the movie was a sham and a poor imitation. Maybe we see what we want to see? One thing, I will definitely agree with — this is not a movie for children! And with that agreement, it is apparently a movie for discussion in our families, if any of us choose to see it. I’m glad I did. Greta Gehrwig is not a shallow movie maker. Maybe we mothers could be better informed.
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