Recently, the Barbie movie has taken over the world. From countless ads and magazines, all the way to pink carpets, the world has gone completely mad over the movie. The Barbie movie was directed by Greta Gerwig and was written about the famous Barbie fashion dolls by the company Mattel. The film shows Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken’s (Ryan Gosling) travels all over the Barbie and real world. The movie ranges from finding their true selves, patriarchy and feminism to name a few.
Greta Gerwig
Gerwig is known for her iconic movies: Lady Bird and Little Women. Her fans were having a hard time thinking she was capable of something so drastically different from her previous films. But her incredible amount of talent led her to create a cultural masterpiece. Greta told TIME, “Kids were drinking, and I was playing with dolls.” Greta was a huge fan of dolls when she was younger, leading her to bring personal experience to the film. TIME wrote about how she had to fight to be able to fill the movie with all of the crazy and controversial topics that she wanted to. But with her motivation and expertise, she was able to capture every aspect of the iconic doll that she wanted to.
interview during the premiere
of Barbie. (Flikr/Carrie_Dorean)
Pink
I think it is crucial to talk about the single thing everyone thinks about when Barbie is mentioned: pink. If you adventured out and got a chance to watch the movie, chances are you saw many wearing the color pink. The color is so tied to the movie so much that the set of Barbie got so carried away with pink paint that it led to a shortage of pink paint. CNN says, “Creating the perfect backdrop for the upcoming “Barbie” movie required so much pink paint that it led to a global shortage, according to its production designer.” Gerwig told CNN, “Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount,” she said. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.” Having pink everywhere was one of the most important aspects of the film.
Marketing
Many companies jumped on the rise of the film to take a part of the ever-growing franchise. The term Barbiecore was created after the collaborations that Barbie took on were never ending. Impala created roller skates to mimic the skates that Robbie and Gosling wore in the film along with . Just in time for summer, Funboy created a pool float in the shape of a “B” hoping to take a piece of the merchandising for themselves too. Barbie merch completely took over the fashion industry including popular brands like GAP, Forever 21, BooHoo, Pacsun and Kendra Scott to name a few. A few others are Ruggable Rugs, Crocs, Kipling, Coastal Pet Products, etc… So if you haven’t purchased anything Barbie-related or are looking to purchase some roller skating gear, now is the time.
Message
The movie is filled with many important messages and quotes that many have been touched by. While many sit back after watching, sincerely touched and brought to tears, many believe that the movie was completely unrealistic and offensive to the male population. LATimes says that, “attacking the film as anti-male propaganda is ignoring its central message, which is that patriarchy harms everyone, regardless of gender.” In the film Barbie world is a utopia where Barbies are praised. Ken visits the real world and realizes that he doesn’t have to be treated the way he does. Throughout the long journey of Ken trying to figure out where he belongs, Barbie helps him find his true self and his own personality instead of being “Barbie’s Ken.”
