All About Barbie

I’ll just wing it here; there is probably no way that I would not offend someone out there, though that certainly is not my goal; it is just a dicey subject, if one doesn’t do it right.

I’m talkin’ ’bout Barbie, the reinvented cultural icon, now about to earn a billion dollars or so from the newest movie about her. That’s okay with me; the movie, what little I know about it, seems good-natured, and maybe with charm. People need to have movies or shows or books (if they still read) which they look forward to enjoying. And “Barbie” has touched such a cultural note, that I would not be surprised if it ends up winning the Academy Award. Seriously. There has been past talk about whether a popular mainstream movie, perhaps one with a superhero, could win the Oscar, but it has not happened. But maybe the groundswell will be so strong, that “Barbie” will sweep into popular consensus.

I doubt that I will see the movie. I have never had any interest in Barbie, why would I? I never played with dolls, and my childhood friends were boys, who did not have dolls; we played catch, or basketball, or touch football, or played board games. I was vaguely aware of the popular dolls; there was Chatty Cathy, and others. I think that playing with dolls is a nice thing for young girls–unless that is now considered demeaning, or supercilious on the part of boys to think that girls can play with their dolls. These are subjects one feels compelled to stay away from. I know that some young boys now play with dolls, which is fine, unless someone is urging them to do it.

Elizabeth liked her dolls, and still has fond memories of them. She likes figurines, particularly of beautiful girls or women, the Royal Doulton line. She loves horses, and has many Breyer horse figures. She even has dinosaurs, well, plastic ones. She used to imagine adventures with them, and they never fought, they always had nice outings.

Now, I do remember when Barbie became a doll, maybe in the early ’60’s? My father was an Art Director in Package Design at Mattel, then; and sometimes he brought home some toys, which he would give to the young neighbor children. There were G.I. Joe toys, and Hot Wheels, neither of which I had any interest in, not being a boy who was interested in the military or in cars. I certainly didn’t want the Barbie dolls which Mattel was making millions of. But I am sure that many millions of girls, young, or teenage, had fun with them; dressing them up, getting all the various outfits.

Barbie was very big, then may have faded out some, then came back perhaps even bigger, culminating in the new movie, which so many millions of people, mostly women, I think, are seeing, maybe multiple times. Apparently, dressing in pink to attend the movie is a thing. I don’t know what the movie is about, except of course Barbie, and a bland Ken, but I am pretty sure that it reflects a more feminized view of things.

And of course there are the fans and reviewers who are very much interested in the cultural aspects; what the movie may be saying about the place of females and males in the world. I have the feeling that some of this is overstated by the fans and reviewers; that the movie is intended to be a light-hearted story; but we know that people are often trying to find significant gender comment in various films, even one about a doll who wears chic clothes.

I read that someone is making, or intending to make, a new version of “Snow White.” The writer or producer says something about her “not dreaming of a prince, or of true love, but of the leader she is meant to be.” And I think, leader of…a force of women who fight on battlefields. like in the warrior princess movies? Leader of a country?, perhaps; there is a movie about Golda Meir that I want to see. But I think that being a “leader” is an overrated aspiration, as history has shown us. Yes, “be all that you can be,” but do make time for family and friends, and yes, true love. As Thomas Grey wrote, “All paths of glory lead but to the grave.”

Well, one nice thing about the Barbie phenomenon is this “thing” called “Barbenheimer,” which refers to the fact that the movies “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” came out at the same time, and both are doing very well, maybe saving the movie industry. I will see Oppenheimer, although I know that it will be a depressing and frustrating story, but it needs to be seen. My father told me much of it years ago, and both my parents would be gratified that it is being told now, to a different generation.

So if people are making an event of it, seeing both movies in the same day, great!, though I would not do it that way. But it was not that many decades ago that people went to see double features, sometimes a drama and comedy, and maybe featurettes, and a cartoon! So why not bring that back, even just one time?

Back to Barbie; it seems, inevitably, that the Far Right is trying to make a culture war issue of it. Joyce Vance wrote a piece about how Ted Cruz is doing this, incredibly claiming that the movie is propaganda against the United States, and for China. She says that this is another attempt by the Right to distract from all the bad things that they have done, regarding abortion rights, voting rights, the Supreme Court corruption; trying to get the populace to focus on this made-up issue. That rings true to me, and it happens all the time now

So to summarize, if one can, I have no objections to the Barbie movie, and who would care if I did? Beyond that, I don’t see it as some kind of angry anti-male movie, just a light-hearted female-centric story which is going to appeal to more women and girls than men and boys.

I had never wanted to live in “Barbie World,” I never wanted to be Ken; and Barbie was not my type, anyway. But I’m sure that there are several icons of masculine image in movies that I would never want any part of, either. So hooray for Barbie, the doll with an amazingly diverse wardrobe and different personae.

Now, if they make a movie where Barbie and Snow White lead warriors into battle, then I might object. I am rather old-fashioned; last week I saw a welcome return of the musical-to-screen version of “Oklahoma!” with Hugh Jackman. I had a crush on Shirley Jones in the original movie version as Laurie (Shirley Jones in anything). She is strong-willed. yet romantic, and the songs are as wonderful as ever, something no movie musical of today can come close to equaling. “LaurieMarian!” (Paroo) “There were bells on the hill, but I never heard them ringing….”