Greta Gerwig’s film about the most iconic doll of all time turns out to be a compelling women’s story that can provoke deep reflection about our everyday lives.
Every woman was a child in the past who spent all day playing with his Barbie. Within the walls of the bedroom, imagination and dreams found expression in the famous doll, which could become the face of a beautiful princess or a brave astronaut.
To sum it up, fashion doll created by Ruth Handler in 1959.despite all its contradictions, undoubtedly marked a turning point in the history of feminism. training girls of different generations who can strive to be what they want, transcending, at least in part, the union of woman and mother.
For all these reasons, Greta Gerving’s film (photo below)whose name is “Barbie” excited huge media interest even before showing in cinemas.
Distributed by Warner Bros., the film features some of the biggest names in the cast.
modern popular culture: from famous Hollywood stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Goslingnames associated with the music and television scene, such as the singer Dua Lipa and star of the series “Sex Education” Emma McKee.
This also contributed to the great anticipation surrounding the release of Barbie. a marketing strategy that is extremely effective it has already become a subject of study. With a budget of approx. $150 million (This is stated in a report by the Los Angeles weekly Variety.), the marketing team made sure that every nation was bombarded with advertisements for the film, partnering with famous fast food restaurants, fashion brands and more.
Make Barbie a blockbuster (just think that on its first weekend in Italy it took first place at the box office with more than 7,700,000 euro) was also a social phenomenon “Barbenheimer”, or the simultaneous release in most of the world of Greta Gerwig’s film and “Oppenheimer”, new film from the director of “Inception” Christopher Nolan which will be released in Italian cinemas on August 23. The problem is among these two blockbusters so different from each other that they sparked the enthusiasm of several thousand users, who unleashed their creativity by creating memes, posters and outfits to wear during the two shows.
Reading Barbie Data It seems that it is already a cult and very beloved film; however, while its iconicity is undeniable, the film has generated significant controversy.
The plot begins with an ironic narrative about Barbie’s daily life. (wonderfully played by the actress from The Wolf of Wall Street) Margot Robbie), who lives a perfect day every day in the fantasy world of Barbieland.
However, the doll idyll is suddenly interrupted. when his serenity is disturbed by disturbing thoughts of death and his ideal physique begins to change. Then Barbie will have to go on a journey into the real world.wherein Ken of the charming Ryan Goslingto trace the cause of his problems and therefore be able to return to the life of his dreams.
It is the antithesis between these two realities that drives the plot.: In a world populated by humans, some of the ways patriarchy permeates women’s lives are highlighted, while Barbieland imagines a utopian society ruled by a matriarchy.
Just this element of history was criticized by a section of the predominantly male audience who said they were offended by the portrayal of men.all are “idiots, fanatics or sad and rather pathetic losers” (as reported in an article in the British newspaper Dailymail).
Moreover, other people expressed their disagreement via social mediaaccusing the film of condemning any type of masculinity as predatory and toxic, as well as dramatizing the misandric prejudices of today’s society.
However, although Gervin’s film is overtly feminist in nature, like all the other films of his production, it does not aim to find a solution to patriarchy (a task that a film dedicated to a toy should not, of course, undertake), but wants to take the opportunity to speak in front of an extremely diverse audience to denounce the difficult situations that women are still forced to face in their daily lives. .
In this regard, “Barbie” does not pretend to be a groundbreaking film; on the contrary, he takes what he has learned from his studies of the genre’s film effects and decides to take a path that is as brilliant as it is risky: portraying male characters the same way Hollywood treated female characters. decades and forcing them to experience all the oppression and that feeling of powerlessness that has always tormented women.
Therefore, the very fact that many men felt deceived shows how unusual this was done Gervin and Noah Baumbach script writing, and how some people are so tied to their way of perceiving reality that they refuse to open their eyes where it would be uncomfortable.
This reasoning also leads to the exclusion of the hypothesis that the intention in Barbie is to celebrate matriarchy, which is seen not as a real solution to society’s problems, but as a mirror of modern society, so much so that the Barbies in Barbieland pretend that they intend to listen more to the voices of the Kens just like the women they have always done. were forced to agree to small concessions that were granted to them.
We can’t help but worry at the thought of the long-term effects that “Barbie” could have on generations of women who were finally told about their lives. realistic and sweet at the same time, without any attempt to romanticize.
LISA CRITELLI