Lost in Translation 454 – Barbie (2023)

Dolls are one of the oldest toys in existence, with only the stick being older. Children could use the dolls and their imagination to explore what it would be like to grow up. For girls, this meant learning how to be a mother. However, adult interests did lead to a more grown up doll, leading to Bild-Lilly, based on a cartoon published in the German magazine Bild. Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, was searching for a doll for her daughter, Barbara, that wasn’t a baby doll, found Bild-Lilly and brought one to her fellow designers to modify and produce, leading to the 1959 debut of Barbie.

Barbie wound up being a breakthrough in dolls for girls. Instead of pretending to be a mother, girls could explore what they could when they grew up beyond the maternal role. The first Barbie had a strapless black and white striped bathing suit, but Mattel also produced fashion for the doll. Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend, debuted in 1961. To round out the doll, Mattel released her best friend, Midge, in 1963 and Barbie’s little sister, Skipper, in 1964. The first black Barbie doll. Christie, appeared in 1968. Today, the Barbie line up has a number of dolls, including Barbie, her sisters Skipper, Stacie, and Kelly, her friends Christie, Teresa, Raquelle, and Daisy, Ken, and a long line of Fashionistas.

Mattel has also a collectors’ line for adults, featuring more elaborate clothes and costumes, more detailed and delicate facial sculpts, and fashion designers behind the looks. The collectors’ line also includes celebrations of franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars, celebrations of women in history, and holidays and cultural celebrations.

The play line, intended for girls aged three years old and up, has gone from just Barbie in 1959 to a range of dolls. Over time, Mattel has expanded the play lines, introducing new dolls every few years. As a corporation, Mattel is susceptible to public perception and public opinion, and when diversity became expected, the company did respond. Barbie’s body has changed from her early years, adding waist movement, joint articulation, leading to the Made to Move body with twenty-two points of articulation. Mattel took another step forward when it released three new body types for Barbie – curvy, petite, and tall. The current Fashionista line has a mix of skin tones, hair styles, and body types, making it easier to find a Barbie for all girls.

Mattel and Barbie are no strangers to controversy. Barbie’s shape and early lack of friends beyond Ken led to accusations of being a sex symbol. Parent groups accused the doll of having an unrealistic body shape, leading to the revamp of Barbie’s body in 1999 to the Belly Button Body. Some controversies could have been avoided with a more diverse or connected marketing department, like Oreo Barbie and Christie. Others, like Tokidoki Barbie, were from a confusion between play and collector lines. Yet, she persists.

Barbie does fulfill the goal set out, allowing girls to imagine what they see themselves to be in the future. The doll has had over 200 careers, with the first being an astronaut in 1965. Since then, Barbie has been everything from baby sitter to surgeon, from carhop to robotics engineer, and has served in the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. All while taking care of three younger sisters. Ken, the slacker, has only had forty careers, but he also served with the same service branches as Barbie.

The doll has appeared in other media, the first being an adaptation of The Nutcracker. Barbie appeared as herself in Pixar’s Toy Story series and has a You Tube channel where she vlogged and began the Life in the Dreamhouse series before it moved over to Netflix. There is a line of direct to DVD movies starring Barbie and her friends, some adaptations, other with original stories based on new play lines. The only thing missing was a live action adaptation.

That lack was corrected with the 2023 release of Barbie, starring Margot Robbie as Barbie, Ryan Gosling as Ken, and directed by Greta Gerwig. The film also had Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Ship, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kanye, Ritu Arya, Dua Lipa, and Nicola Coughlan as Barbie, referred to by their position in Barbieland and McKinnon as “Weird” Barbie. Also playing Ken were Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, and John Cena, again, referred to by what they do; Cena, for example, was Mermaid Ken. The rest of the doll cast includes Michael Cera as Allan, Emerald Fennell as Midge, Erica Ford as Skipper, and Hannah Khalique-Brown as “Growing Up” Skipper. The non-doll cast includes America Ferrera as Gloria, Ariana Greenblatt as Gloria’s daughter Sasha, Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel, Helen Mirren as the narrator, Connor Swindells as low-level Mattel employee Aaron Dinkins, and Rhea Perlman as Ruth.

The film opens with a brief history of dolls done as an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Barbie as the Monolith. The scene then switches to a typical day for Barbie in Barbieland, with waking up in her Dreamhouse, grabbing a shower, breakfast of a glass of milk and a heart-shaped waffle, and then sliding down to the pool before getting into her car to say hello to every Barbie as she heads to the beach to spend the day with other Barbies. Everything in Barbieland is done by Barbie, or, at least, a Barbie. Mail delivery? Postal Barbie. Road work? Construction Barbie? Running Barbieland? President Barbie. Robbie’s Barbie is Stereotypical Barbie, to be called Barbie herein.

Ken, in the meantime, exists solely to be noticed by Barbie. Gosling’s Ken, “Beach” Ken, or just Ken for the review, has a rivalry with the other Kens, including Liu’s “Tourist” Ken, over getting Barbie’s attention. The Kens don’t have careers like the Barbies, but most don’t mind. But Ken, Gosling’s Ken, is starting to feel limited. When he wants to spend time with Barbie that night, he gets told that it’s girls’ night in the Dreamhouse, complete with elaborate dance number. As the Narrator puts it, “Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.”

However, during a close moment during the dance number, a thought intrudes Barbie’s head which she blurts out, “Do you guys ever think about dying?” She quickly backtracks in order to not spoil the girls’ night, and the day comes to an end.

The next day begins as usual, with Barbie waking up in her Dreamhouse. Things change when her shower runs cold, her milk is expired, and her morning heart waffle is burnt. However, Barbie continues with her routine and heads to the beach. When she takes off her shoes, she winds up standing on flat feet. Trying not to panic, Barbie finds a place to sit to hide her feet. Other Barbies join her and find out what’s happening. They recommend going to Weird Barbie for help.

Weird Barbie examines Barbie’s feet and realizes what has happened. Each Barbie in Barbieland has a girl in the Real World, and how that girl’s Barbie affects her life in Barbieland. It’s how Weird Barbie became weird; she was played with hard by her girl. The only way to cure Barbie is to go into the Real World, find the girl playing with her, and help her through her problems. Weird Barbie then gives a Matrix-like choice – a white high heel representing staying in Barbieland and continuing her life or a flat sandal representing going to the Real World. It takes some convincing to get Barbie to go to the Real World.

Ken, in the meantime, has been following Barbie, trying to get her attention. He hides in the back of her car, joining Barbie in singing with the radio once on the road out of Barbieland. Barbie allows him to join her on the trip to the Real World, ending up on Malibu Beach and looking out of place in their colourful outfits. They try to find more appropriate clothes, ending up in Western outfits and then in cuffs as neither Barbie nor Ken comprehend money.

The arrest alerts the FBI, who call Mattel, reaching Aaron Dinkins. Aaron heads up to the executive suite and gets past the c-suite receptionist, Gloria, to break into a board meeting. The news of Barbie in the Real World is enough to interrupt the meeting. It’s not the first time a Barbie has reached the Real World; a Skipper managed to slip through only to enter a house to start babysitting. Even Allan has reached the Real World, as NSYNC, but no one noticed. The CEO is worried and tells the board that they need to get Barbie back in the box.

Barbie, once released, tracks down who she thinks is the girl playing with her, and finds her at school. Sasha, however, hasn’t played with Barbies in years and has some serious accusations, some based on the real world concerns about Barbie being an impossible standard for girls. When she sees Sasha’s mother, Gloria, during afterschool pickup, Barbie realizes who was playing with her doll. Gloria has been having problems – a teenaged daughter trying to become her own woman, a job that doesn’t allow her to be creative, and a society that forces her to be twice as good just to be be seen as adequate – and she’s been using Barbie to work out her feelings.

Gloria feels the attachment to Barbie and offers to drive her to Mattel’s headquarters in LA. Barbie enters the office and heads straight to the c-suite to talk to the CEO. The CEO manages to get her into the box, but the board isn’t fast enough to keep her in it. Barbie escapes, running through Mattel’s offices away from the board. On the seventeenth floor, she spots a wooden door that’s out of place in the sterile corporate environment, and dashes in. Barbie finds herself in a kitchen, with an older woman who introduces herself as Ruth. Ruth gives Barbie a chance to rest, a spot of tea, real tea as opposed to the imaginary milk from breakfast, and a chance to talk. With Ruth’s help, Barbie escapes from Mattel and back to Gloria.

Ken takes this time to do his own investigating. He learns about horses. He learns about the Patriarchy, where men are honoured and respected and in charge. He grabs a few books and returns to Barbieland. He presents the idea to the other Kens. When Barbie returns with Gloria and Sasha, Barbieland is all but gone with Kendom in its place. The Kens have taken over the Dreamhouses, with Ken turning Barbie’s into Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa Houses. Worse, in the Real World, Mattel is shipping Mojo Dojo Casa Houses by the truckload. The Barbies have been brainwashed into submissive girlfriends.

All is not lost. There are Barbies who haven’t been brainwashed. Weird Barbie, being an outsider, still has all her faculties, as have a few Barbies who were discontinued, like “Growing Up” Skipper. Barbie herself isn’t affected, but she is having an existential crisis. Gloria snaps her out if it, and a plan is made to restore Barbieland and its inhabitants. There is a deadline; the Kens have a vote coming up to change the Barbieland constitution.

Part one of the plan works. As a non-brainwashed Barbie distracts a Ken, a brainwashed Barbie is lead to a van where the brainwashing is broken. These newly freed Barbies then go out to do the same thing. Step two is to get the Kens fighting amonst themselves, leading to an epic dance war between Ken and Tourist Ken. While they dance, President Barbie holds a vote affirming the Barbieland constitution. Knowing when he’s defeated, Ken gives up, admitting that he just preferred the horse part of the Patriarchy.

However, Barbie is still having problems. She no longer feels like Stereotypical Barbie. Mattel’s current marketing for Barbie is “You Can Be Anything”, but what can Barbie be when she no longer feels like she fits in? The CEO, Gloria, Sasha, they all don’t have an answer, but Ruth does. She provides the words of wisdome Barbie needs to make her decision.

Like with The LEGO Movie and other movies adapting toys, Barbie was dealing with a doll that allowed for all sorts of imaginative play. There isn’t a wrong way to play with Barbie that doesn’t cross into violating the law. The “You Can Be Anything” campaign emphasizes that Barbie and the girls playing with her can do anything; it’s how the doll wound up with over two hundred careers over sixty-five years. The animated Barbie movies either have Barbie as an actress stepping into a role, such as in Barbie in the Nutcracker or as herself in a DVD meant to promote a new line of Barbies, such as Barbie Fairytopia series. Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse was a slice if life series, focused more on Barbie and her friends and family than any specific plot.

Barbie works around that by explicitly going with a stereotypical Barbie, one that represents all Barbies but existing with other, more specific, dolls. She’s still within the realm of imagination, though the imagination of a woman dealing with real world problems in the only way she can think of. This Barbie still had a good life, even when she had to deal with overwhelming existential crisis thanks to her friends. Other Barbies had other girls and women and didn’t have to deal with flat feet.

Casting is key. Even with the diversity of Barbies available today, there is a look expected from the doll – blonde, leggy, perpetual smile. Same with Ken. Margo Robbie and Ryan Gosling look the parts already. Robbie could go from the happy Barbie seen at the beginning through to existential crisis Barbie and still be believable. Ken wasn’t a himbo; he had feelings, ones that needed validation. Neither are brainless beauties in the film; the characters just didn’t have the needed experiences to survive the Real World, but Barbieland exists so that the Barbies and the Kens don’t need to. Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie plays her as one who has been played with for a long time; she’s not as cheery as the typical Barbie, but that is expected by a Barbie with a bad haircut and bad makeup. Dame Helen Mirren brings a combination of sass and snark the movie needs to keep it grounded while still allowing for the characters to be larger than life.

The writing is tight. Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have been nominated for an Academy Award for writing the film’s script. There are action moments, breathing moments, character moments, all building towards the end. It would have been easy to have Mattel’s CEO be the villain; he isn’t but his concerns are for Mattel, not Barbie. Ken could have been turned into the villain; instead, he was just lead down the wrong path. Even Sasha, introduced as a mean girl, is given time to discover who she is. Gloria’s problems aren’t completely wrapped up.

Even the dialogue is on point. When Barbie cries that she’s “not Stereotypical Barbie pretty!” the Narrator comes back with, “Note to the filmmakers: Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast to make this point.” Even more on point to the film’s theme is Aaron Dinkins asking, “I am a man with no power. Does that make me a woman?” The movie could have remained light entertainment and still be successful, but the script takes the extra step. The movie also doesn’t shy away from the controversies; Sasha might have gone overboard, but Barbie’s build is not a realistic goal for girls. The film also is up front about Ruth Handler’s tax evasion, though does say that it’s for a different movie.

With any adaptation based on a toy, the details are key. In The LEGO Movie, the filmmakers used LEGO sets that the company released, with Benny’s helmet breaking the same way his LEGO equivalent. Barbie makes the effort to recreate the Dreamhouses in Barbieland to be the same as the ones Mattel has released in the past. Same with the vehicles; the ambulance is one that is available today, the camper van used to transit between Barbieland and the Real World was available in 1976, and there’s even a quick appearance of the 1970 Country Camper. Every Barbie that appears in the film either exists today or has been available in the past. Mattel, not missing a marketing beat, even has released dolls based on the film. Every outfit a Barbie wears is accurate to what Mattel has released.

Barbie could have taken the easy way out, with Barbie as actress or Barbie in Barbieland having adventures. Instead, it became a film that mothers can take daughters to and come out with a positive shared experience. Barbieland is a fantasy, but instead of being escapist, it’s aspirational, what the world could become. Barbie is a film that points out today’s problems and, instead of accepting them, encourages the audience to work to solve them without vilifying anyone. “You Can Be Anything,” even a force for change for the better. That might not be what Mattel intended, but when a girl of any age plays with a Barbie, anything is possible.