There are four things that I liked and four things that I believe were missing in the film Barbie.
Here are the four things I very much liked about Barbie:
#1. The film did a great job of representing the double binds often faced by females in these United States of America. The soliloquy by America Ferraro’s character was powerful, poignant, and pervasively experienced by girls and women in America.
#2. The film is helping women to realize that the patriarchy in America is toxic to them.
#3. The film is raising the awareness of the impact of the patriarchy on women in the minds of many men.
#4. The film is facilitating discussions about the importance of feminism in America.
I believe Barbie is an important movie and I plan to add it to the list of films I frequently encourage my clients and my students to watch.
I understand that the film had a 2-hour cap to make it’s points. So, rather than couch what follows as criticisms, I’ll express my hope that the sequel will include the following content:
#1. A representation that many heterosexual, cisgendered men are feminists. Just about every man in the movie acted like an unenlightened and chauvinistic moron, at least up until the end of the film, at which point they acted like lost little boys.
#2. An indication that Mattel is apologetic for their history of implicitly–granting the benefit of the doubt–contributing to systemic and negative biases against power down groups of women. For example, it took eight years for the first non-Whitle Barbie to be made, 38 years for the first Barbie with a disability to appear and 57 years for a plus sized barbie doll to be produced.
#3. A representation that men face double binds in America as well (e.g., regarding expressions of vulnerability and nurturance).
#4. An evolution of Barbie to a place of interdependence. It’s easy to see the destructive nature of co-dependency and to value a phase in life when a woman establishes her identity independent of the most intimate of attachments. However, it’s a mistake to think of independence as the healthiest and final resting spot for women…or anyone. Cars are made for gasoline. Humans are made for connection. Indeed, the best predictor of physical health late in life is the quality of connections in midlife. Inter-dependence looks like this: I am me. You are you. We are intertwined but not enmeshed. We love each other deeply, and often volunteer support and sacrifice for each other. However, we are not responsible for each other’s feelings, wellness, or outcomes. For a good discussion of the value of inter-dependence please see this WAPO blog post
I’ll close by commenting on the culture clashes sparked by Barbie. There’s a classic cartoon of an older fish swimming buy two younger fish. The older fish asks the younger fish, “how’s the water boys?” The younger fish do not respond. In the next panel, after the older fish has swam on, one of the younger fish asks his companion, “what’s water?” When the lanes you reside in America are the power up lanes (i.e., White, male, heterosexual, cisgendered, Christian and non-disabled), the dominant culture is your culture. It is therefore harder to understand and to empathize with the systemic and interpersonal isms that those in the power down lanes experience incessantly. I believe that those of us who wonder what water is would do well to listen and to try to put ourselves in the shoes of those who are different from us. Understanding the capital T truths represented in Barbie could make for a nice start.
Dr. David Palmiter's Blog for Hectic Parents 