Hating Barbie is not a hot take
Seriously.
Look, I’m out of touch with some of the social media influencers, so I did not know we were supposed to get dolled up (lol) for the Barbie movie. And, there I was, with three friends and our tween-age kids looking like idgaf Barbie waiting for movie tickets. Oops.
It got better after that. I laughed harder at the Barbie movie than I have at any movie since the sloth scene in Zootopia (try as hard as you want, but nothing will ever top that). Sure, there were cringe moments (Space Odessy baby doll smashing was a bit much for me) and I really wanted
[SPOILER]
Will Ferrell to be a recovering Ken doll,
[End SPOILER]
but I really liked it.
The Barbie movie was important to me. In the early 2000s I got “unwelcomed” from women’s studies group in college for wearing lipstick and defending Disney and Barbie. Defending what helped me cope with a crappy childhood wasn’t feminist enough, apparently, and there went my minor in women studies.
I wouldn’t understand it until years later when I read the phrase “femme ain’t frail” that their cheap knock-off of feminism really was just patriarchy in disguise. Sure, there’s plenty of anti-feminist messages in Disney or Barbie or anything else. But someone can still be a feminist and like those things. When we shut women down because they don’t hate what we hate or they don’t hate it enough, that feels like the opposite of solidarity. So, the Barbie movie and seeing all these 30 and 40 year old women in their pink glitter embracing the ridiculousness of the moment was pretty cathartic.
Then came all the social media hot takes about Barbie being a corporate capitalist movie. And the “yay, it’s inclusive of race and body type and ability status but it’s still just corporate feminism in action” think pieces. And I was like...duh?
Mattel is a multinational corporation that sells stuff to a consumerism-addicted audience (hi!). You pay to play in a capitalist system, and Barbie’s poking fun at the ethical complications of that was part of the gag. It’s not a hot take to call Barbie out for capitalism. Or for problematic feminism. That’s old school.
But Barbie really is more than that. Barbie did open up a world of possibility if not opportunity for a lot of young girls. Astronaut Barbie was released over a decade before NASA opened up training to women (though two years after Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space). When I brought my six year old to meet an astronaut, she brought astronaut Barbie. And a seasoned astronaut turned into a little girl for a minute when she saw that. (My daughter later remarked that they should let boys be astronauts too because it wasn’t fair that only girls could be….hahaha.)
Barbie could be an astronaut. Barbie could be a doctor. A firefighter. The president. Or just Barbie. Barbie wasn’t just limited to being pretty. Barbie could be pretty AND something else. She could be pretty and ANYthing else. It was kind of a big deal.
I get it. I’ve read the studies about Barbie and body image and thinness. But those messages about thinness and almond moms and heroin chic are being reinforced by society every day: that’s not Barbie’s fault. (Given that men are experiencing much higher rates of eating disorders and body image issues at extraordinarily high rates, unhealthy relationships with one’s body isn’t Barbie’s fault.)
Barbie let young girls see themselves as anything. Like every other social icon, her legacy is problematic. It took way too long to diversify. It took way to long to confront ableism and fat-phobia. She had some questionable design choices.
But that’s life as a woman. And as the bad ass mom in Barbie reminds us: the fact that a doll (and her movie) has to be everything to everyone in as unproblematic a way as possible simply by looking like and being for women sucks. The cognitive dissonance of existing as a woman in this world without fear, anger, and bitterness is a full time job. That’s not Barbie’s fault. That’s the fault of a culture that keeps moving the goal posts so that whatever women do is never enough.
So, I’m going to be here, standing with Barbie. And you can be over there hating Barbie. If that’s what repping your feminism means to you, go nuts. Just don’t expect me to go with you.