When I was 13 I had a deep, dark secret. Something I feared the other girls in my grade would find out about…
I still played with Barbies.
At age 13, on the cusp of teenager-dom, this was a red flag. Saying you still played with Barbies was akin to saying you still wore a nappy. Like, grow up.
When you are 13, you are supposed to read fashion magazines from Paperweight, you are supposed to use deodorant, shave your legs, and wonder if the boy who sits in front of you likes you too. I mean, I did all that, but I just could not quit my Barbies.
Why though? I’m no psychologist BUT I can suggest that there were a lot of changes in my life at the time and escaping into Barbieland gave me a distraction and a sense of control. And I honestly felt bad for Barbies. Like they were so abandoned on my shelf, I had to at least switch up their outfits every couple of days.
No one found out my secret. And I had an alibi in case any of the girls from school suddenly dropped by my house when I was playing with the dolls (like that would ever happen). But that memory and the shame have stuck with me.
Last night my friends and I went to go watch Barbie at the cinema. Now I have been looking forward to this film forever, and expected to have a good time watching it. What I didn’t expect was to have a cinema experience so transcendent that I was thinking about it long after I had left the big screen behind.
The film is everything that everyone is saying it is. It’s campy, it’s a stunning technicolour musical, and it’s incredibly FUNNY. Like I laughed out loud so many times. And it reminds you of lots of other great films that have come before. But it’s also extremely heartfelt.
Everyone wants to be Barbie and maybe that factored in why I was enamoured with this toy much more than any other, why I struggled to let go of her. Everything fits perfectly on a Barbie, she always has a smile plastered onto her face, things are simple with Barbie. Being a human is much more complicated. This is what the film bites into.
As much as I shall forever be a Barbie girl, the character that cut through to me was Gloria, played by America Ferrera. Not to spoil anything, but Gloria is an integral part of the film and a mom in the Real World. She has a special connection to Barbie, and as an adult who maybe is not having a good time right now with life and feelings and stuff, she struck right to the core. The core of why we feel we need to connect to childhood memories and toys that brought us stability and a sense of control, the core of the need to make our toys or characters look or feel like us, the core of what it means to be a woman in society and to constantly feel like you are failing. She did all that and more. I was in a full screening and everyone was silent during America’s monologue scene because it hit home for most of us.
Barbie is a fun film that tackles some hard truths. It has the makings of a classic. I wasn’t even done watching it for the first time and I knew I would be re-watching it many more times. I can’t wait to share this film with future generations.
Some other thoughts about the film:
Ryan Gosling is excellent, just as everyone is saying, and is the comedic centre of this film.
Margot Robbie again proves why she is one of the best actors currently working.
The cameos are INSANE for tv nerds. Rhea Perlman, hunny what you doing here? Rob Brydon, what?
The album is filled with bangers but Billie Eilish’s ‘What Am I Made For’ is a hauntingly beautiful song.
Try your best to watch this film in cinemas, it is an amazing experience.
I'm so excited to see this Movie. Barbie really was there for us in our most vulnerable moments with a welcome escape. Looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you after I've seen it