With the permission of Oppenheimer and his father Christopher Nolan, the Barbie of Greta Gerwig is the most anticipated film of 2023. It arrives in the middle of summer as a refreshing note, but the frivolity that sometimes comes with naïve entertainment, that which bets all its cards on pleasant aesthetics, is not one of the hallmarks of Barbie. Her trailer already made some things clear. The first one: that the film is directed both those who love the Mattel doll and those who hate it. Also to those who, like Sasha, the youngest character, have developed a kind of love-hate towards her figure and what she represents over the years.
Contrary to what it seemed when the project was announced and the different advances were published, Barbie does not resort to nostalgia as macguffin. Not excessively, at least. It does pull, on the other hand, from ideology and metanarrative winks to works like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Forrest Gump y Zack Snyder’s Justice League in different scenes. The almost two hours of feature film are a parade of feminist postulates that start the occasional laugh because the taunts hit the mark and scratch different sensibilities in their career.
The satire attacks everything and everyone: from patriarchy to capitalism, from vase men to Mattel executives among whom (oh, surprise) there is no woman, because of the glass ceiling that its own argument insists on breaking. Such a slap on the wrist is developed with a dexterity, wit and a degree of affability that Gerwig had previously displayed in his acclaimed Lady Bird y little women.
Between choreographies and great songs that give the vibes of Oh mama!,Saturday night Fever or the most recent PROM by Ryan Murphy, the director brings to the screen a story that more than a veiled criticism of stereotypes is a resounding manifesto for gender equality. Treat both with respect and empathy -not equidistance- flockspersonified (the dolled upif we want to be strict with dramatic duality) for impeccable Margot Robbie y Ryan Gosling.
In Barbielandia, women dominate everything and men are relegated to a secondary level. For Ken’s army, patriarchy is not an option, but their journey into the real world reveals to them that there is a place where they have absolute control of society, where they drink beer to their hearts’ content, drive high-end cars, brag about having studied an MBA and pretend to be more capable than their peers to undermine their desire for advancement. In Barbielandia no leering or awkward compliments, women hold relevant professions and are not considered solely an object of male desire; rather the other way around. For all these reasons, Barbies are firmly convinced that they have empowered the women of the world with their mere existence. They have no doubts about that.