Leaving Barbieland

[Michie]

Some people seem to missing this crucial point. So I’m going to make it before I go a little – just a little – deeper into the movie.

You can pick out any number of themes from Barbie– and this is one of the film’s weaknesses: too many underdeveloped ideas – but this seems to me to be the central one:

Barbie leaves her plastic, idealized world behind and embraces the limits, fragility and inevitability of death that is real life – and so should you, dear viewer.

Let’s recap:

(Not a recap of the entire plot, just those points on this trajectory…)

The film begins with a startling scene, a clear evocation of Kubrick’s 2001: little girls playing on a beach with baby dolls, startled by the appearance of a monolith, out of which strides a huge, Margo Robbie presenting as the original, black-and-white striped suited Barbie, smiling, confident, beautiful. The little girls smash their baby dolls and give themselves over to Her.

Continued below.

Leaving Barbieland

Barbie left Barbieland. Some people seem to missing this crucial point. So I’m going to make it before I go a little – just a little – deeper into the movie. You can pick ou…

amywelborn.wordpress.com

 

[Michie]

Barbie

Life in plastic may be fantastic but the tedious ideology-driven comedy "Barbie" (Warner Bros.) is not. A review of the new Barbie movie.

www.oursundayvisitor.com

 

[Bob Crowley]

Never having had dolls (being a bloke) I find Barbie a bit plastic if you'll pardon the pun.

It reminds me of the joke - a bloke goes shopping for a gift for his young daughter.

He sees the Barbie dolls in a toy shop and asks the girl behind the counter about the price.

"Sir" she says not very interested and buffing her nails "Bikini Barbie is twenty dollars; Ballet Barbie is twenty dollars: Cowgirl Barbie is twenty dollars; and Divorced Barbie is one hundred and twenty dollars."

The bloke does a double take. "Hang on" he said "all the other Barbies are twenty dollars, but divorced Barbie is one hundred and twenty dollars - six times the price!!"

The cashier rolls her eyes. "Sir" she says, "Divorced Barbie comes with Ken's house, Ken's car, Ken's boat, Ken's motorbike, Ken's dog..."

 

[Michie]

Feminism Gets All Dolled Up To Appeal To A New Generation In ‘Barbie’...

 

[mourningdove~]

There are probably as many positive reviews, as there are negative, for this Barbie movie ...
since it seems our country is pretty much split 50/50 in the way we see things.

But I have read and heard the negative reviews, and cautioned by sister on taking my niece to go see it ...

My niece is a HUGE Barbie fan.
But from what I've seen and heard about this movie, the storyline is poorly written, confusing, loaded with confusing societal messages.
(What young girl's mind needs swamped with that?)

They have done a really swell job of marketing this movie.
Even had me thinking I might want to go see it ... lol ... until I learned more about it.