[FILM] Barbie (and why I didn’t liked it as much)

This is not going to be a post on what the film is (watch it yourself. It’s worth the time) but how I felt before, during and after watching it.

Before watching Barbie, I was like this

fueled with positivity and eagerness to watch what could come out of it. “It’s Barbie after all, it’s not going to be anything serious” was what I thought, and boy was I horribly wrong.

During the film, my smile turned into this

“Is this going to be another film that is going to start a gender (in)equality conflict among the misogynist?” was just some of the many thoughts I had during the film.

I left the cinema looking like this

partly because the film did not turned out the way I expected it to be – a fun, nonsensical show full of laughter and free of worries.

The marketing was especially brilliant (and cruel) at luring audiences to believe that Barbie is a fun film, but it really was not for me when feminist and existentialism concepts come into play. A similar film Everything Everywhere All at Once was overly-hyped and Barbie just had to use its marketing advantage to talk about these big topics.

Don’t get me wrong. I love films that spark intellectual debate but I just felt tricked into watching Barbie when I wanted a worry-free movie. I should have paid clearer attention when the poster says “He’s just Ken” but man, the marketing team is really clever. No way would I have expected the film to be about identity, existentialism and gender equality.

The ending of Barbie was something I could not quite grasp either. We all know that Stereotypical Barbie rejected Barbieland for the real world and we thought she was going for a job interview at the ending. Turns out, she has an appointment with her gynaecologist which shows us that hey, Margot Robbie’s character now has reproductive organs! But is she pregnant? I was not very clear what the ending meant but I really wish she was not as it just diminishes her role to being just a mother. There is nothing wrong with being or just being a mother, but hasn’t Hollywood and the world been fighting for women to be more than just mothers?

If you asked me whether I would recommend Barbie to others? The answer is a firm yes but I would warn them to lower their expectations or not watch if they are expecting a fun film.