Barbie’s Depiction of Girlhood, Femininity, and Loss of Youth

I wrote this back in the summer when Barbie first came out but I never posted it. Trying not to be such a harsh critic of my writing, especially when it’s just for fun, and in light of Oscar nominations coming out today, I decided to upload this. I’m sure nothing is original or groundbreaking, and probably anything there is to say about this film has been said but I don’t care. Here are my thoughts. Enjoy.

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I grew up loving Barbie; I watched all the movies, had so many dolls (and so many mangled, chewed up by my dogs, “Weird” Barbies), and even today I still have a lot of my dolls and various merchandise items from when I was a kid (the Swan Lake plate at my grandma’s house is the only one I ever use and I still have a 12 Dancing Princesses pillow on my bed). All this to say, I was very excited about the live action Barbie movie (U.S.A, Greta Gerwig, 2023), even before I had seen any trailers or had any idea what the story would be about. After finding something pink to wear, I watched it in the cinema and now that I have had a few days to think about it, I have gathered some ideas of things I want to write and say about it. I’m sure none of this is completely original or profound, but I really enjoyed the movie and I enjoy writing about movies in general, so here is my brief analysis of Barbie’s depictions of girlhood and the loss of innocence, and the devaluing of femininity. 

One aspect that stood out to me in the film is the depiction and idea of not only growing up as a girl, but growing up and learning that you are a girl. Of course girls/women are not a monolith, so not all experiences are the same, but personally I think that one of the first times you really realize that you are a girl is not being explicitly told you are a girl, but the first time you are treated differently because you are a girl. This could be in many different forms, be it being told you should or shouldn’t play with certain toys, hearing the teachers in school say they need the strong boys to help them move the desks and chairs, being told not to throw, hit, punch, etc “like a girl”...the list goes on. In the film, the moment that Barbie (Margot Robbie) first realizes that she is treated differently because she is a girl is when she first enters the real world and is ogled and catcalled by the men. She notices immediately, questioning why everyone is looking at her like she is an object and why she feels scared though she is not sure what exactly she is scared of. I think it is safe to say that every woman has had this experience at some point in their life and, unfortunately, for many women, the first time they ever experience it is when they are still children; the first time you are catcalled or your body is looked at differently or you are sexualized is often when you are a child, regardless of if you have hit puberty yet or not (although puberty arguably makes this worse and this is an issue that is experienced both more often and at a young age for non white girls).

This experience is, in a sense, a loss of youth. It occurs for the first time at a young age and it alters your experience of the world going forward, as represented in Barbie at the end of the movie; she does not celebrate with everyone else because she is the only one that has experienced the real world and she can no longer go back to the blissful innocence she previously had in BarbieLand. Alternatively, or concurrently, as this happens, you notice how the boys around you grow up and learn that they are boys, and that rather than being treated differently, they can treat you differently. Similarly, when Barbie and Ken (Ryan Gosling) enter the real world, he immediately recognizes that he loves it, even if at first he does not know why, and cannot understand why Barbie feels scared. He learns, and later teaches the other Kens, about this difference between the Barbies and Kens - between men and women.

The discounting of femininity that exists was also present, both within the narrative of the film and the release of the film itself. While this is quite clear in the narrative in the creation of the Kendom and its patriarchy, it can further be seen in Allan (Michael Cera). As they explain in the film, there are no multiples of Allan - he’s just Allan. Allan represents the unfortunate few, actually good and safe guys that look out for the Barbies. He does not fit in with the Kens because he does not disrespect the Barbies, and as a result he is not deemed equal with the Kens either. The film later raises this question when a Mattel executive asks, “I’m a man with no power. Does that make me a woman?” While it is meant to be a joke, it is an important comment - that one definitive difference/marker of gender is that of power, which is often synonymous with male masculinity. Anything that can be viewed as feminine is looked down upon; even among men, particularly non white, non heterosexual, and non cis men who do not perform this sort of dominant masculinity - the Allans of our world -  this statement is present. 

The movie itself as an entity represents and proves this issue of femininity; so many people discounted the movie before they had even seen it, were surprised that it did so well in theatres - even better than Oppenheimer in its opening weekend (and now being the highest film of the year). Many people were surprised that it was not some frivolous, ditsy movie and that it actually had meaning. Anything that appears traditionally feminine is deemed less than worthy and is treated as such, including women, including the film, despite the evident fact that there is a demand for femininity and for woman made and marketed things. This discounting and looking down upon femininity is present everywhere and many girls internalize this as children. How many young girls go through a phase of suddenly hating dresses, hating the colour pink, and rejecting everything that they previously liked that is girly in the name of not being like “other girls”. There is nothing inherently wrong with those “other” (girly) girls, but we learn that being a girly girl means you are not taken seriously, means that you are automatically a ditzy, and means that you are who will be made fun of by the boys, so this childhood femininity is rejected in hopes of being treated as equals. (Side note: this does not work. Because it’s not femininity that is the problem here). 

This is seen even in Barbie herself in the film, who is viewed as a bimbo and a sex object, despite her origins being to show girls they can be something other than a mother. This also ties into Gloria’s (America Ferrera) speech at the end of the movie; women are constantly criticized for not meeting expectations of womanhood but are also criticized when they do meet them. Ironically, the film, and particularly this speech has been criticized for not being radically feminist enough and for being too surface level feminism. Yes, it is feminism 101. However that does not mean we do not need to hear it in an easily accessible, mass marketed and released piece of media. Not everyone was raised knowing the things that Gloria discusses, not everyone has access to online or academic feminist circles to learn these things. So while yes, to some (myself included) this may be very basic feminism that we already know and have known, we can and should still recognize and appreciate the importance of having it in a film such as this.

It is also important to remember (and America Ferrera has since addressed this) the fact that despite the film’s entry level feminism, it was still banned in various places around the world. It outraged so many people even in places where it was not banned. If a feminism as basic as the one in Barbie is being banned and causing conservative uproar for being too much, that is evidence enough that it is still a message that is much needed - especially in the digestible, accessible form in which it is delivered. 

Regardless of your personal opinions on Barbie, it is a historical, record breaking film. It was the highest grossing film not only of 2023, but of any film from Warner Brothers and of any woman director of all time. Barbie was an absolute ode and love letter not only to women, but to the history of film and cinema itself as seen through its technical aspects and the various nods to previous eras of cinema, and it deserves to be taken seriously and recognized as such.