I’m not one of those people who feel the need to apologize for watching ‘Barbie‘. In my opinion there are no bad movie genres, there are only good movies and bad movies. And the cinema is also popular entertainment, and buying a big bowl of popcorn and sitting in the air-conditioned theater to watch a musical comedy that features some of the most talented actors of the moment can’t be the worst thing on a hot summer day. ‘Barbie‘, Greta Gerwig‘s film did not make me regret the decision to watch it for at least three quarters of its duration.
Barbie lives in an ideal world called Barbieland. Actually, I should use the plural, but I don’t really know how, because it’s not just about the blonde doll we all know, but about all the incarnations she has received over the decades – blondes and brunettes, with white, yellow, black or other skin colors, thinner or bigger. The multiple Barbies have the most diverse professions, from doctor to Nobel laureate writer, from astronaut to president of the United States. Ultimately, the Barbie universe was imagined to give courage and self-confidence to little girls and instill in them the idea that anything is possible. There are also boys, they are generally called Ken, but their purpose is to be the Barbies’ (asexual) partners when those are willing to pay attention to them. The introduction to the film is excellent, with a quote from Kubrick’s ‘A Space Odyssey’ and voiceovers narrated by Helen Mirren. When stereotypical blonde Barbie starts getting into trouble, the source is in the real world. Barbie must face reality and the conflict between universes is inevitable. The real world is not like the ideal world and the mixture of them will cause a revolution in Barbieland that will not necessarily be in the right direction. The awakening to reality or, if you will, the humanization of Barbie comes at a price.
‘Barbie‘ – the movie works well most of the time, especially when the focus is on the comedic and musical side and the message is integrated into the entertainment. The production is excellent. The sets, the costumes, the cinematography will surely receive Academy Awards nominations, and in some categories ‘Barbie‘ may be the winner. The soundtrack reminds at some points fragments from the history of the pop and ballad genres of the 70s and 80s. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are excellent in the lead roles and I wouldn’t be surprised if Barbie dolls borrow their faces (if they haven’t already). The messages are well-punched and come across the screen quite well – genuine and fake feminism and the way Barbie products reflect society’s conception of the place, role and appearance of women, the more or less camouflaged misogyny of contemporary society, corporations with their seemingly socially aligned messages camouflaging capitalist greed. All of this is well dosed and combined with what happens on screen until the final part of the film, when either the writers took themselves a little too seriously, or they did not have enough inspiration and instead of continuing to infuse the dissolved messages into entertainment they resorted to rhetoric and created an ending that I found forced and didactic. ‘Barbie‘ was worth seeing for the fun part, for the colours, music and humour. When playing with dolls it is good not to be overly serious.