BJ Miller

I really wanted to like this movie. Got a date, dressed up in pink, got to the theatre early, watched 45 minutes of loud annoying previews and ads and finally - Barbie. I tried really hard to enjoy the movie. I mean all the expensive sets and fabulous wardrobe, and star actors. But I am sorry I ended up feeling the same way I feel when I fall for a sales pitch and later realize my money just flew directly into the pockets of the already filthy rich 1%. This summer blockbuster was about making scads of money - not altruistic goals like ending body shaming or equal rights. Barbie was one giant missed opportunity. I looked for enlightenment on the unrealistic body dimensions and ability levels that dolls impose on girls and boys - Barbie is anatomically impossible - and so is superman. Barbie defined what a woman should be - and so did GI Joe. Instead of condemnation of the impossible standards - I see a glorification of the "kind little old lady" who invented Barbie. Yeah, it wasn't an old white man who imposed the Barbie standard on women - it was a woman. The opportunity to confront societal marginalization of gays was also carefully avoided - the movie avoided the gay issue just like money motivated Mattel always made it all about "Barbie and Ken" and never "Ken and Steve" or Barbie and Susie". How many of us kids grew up never knowing, or considering, the gay lifestyle? Finally, the opportunity to explore the roots of inequality were missed. The movie portrays the inequality faced by women as a case of Barbies vs. Kens. Men vs. Women. With men ( all the Kens ) pushing patriarchy and all the women ( Barbies ) fighting for matriarchy. That is not the real world - in the real world it is some Kens and some Barbies fighting for equality and some Kens and some Barbies fighting for inequality. As a veteran of the ERA struggle, I can tell you the amendment was defeated just as much by Phyllis Schlafly and conservative women as it was by chauvinistic men.