There’s an important scene roughly 30 minutes into the Barbie movie.
Barbie has just entered the real world from Barbie Land. She’s distraught to discover that in the actual world, she’s viewed as an object with little agency over her own life. The utopian feminine ideals that exist in her imaginary world have no place in this one.
While she waits at a bus stop she turns to an old woman sitting next to her. The elderly don’t exist in Barbie Land so Barbie’s surprised. Barbie takes in the woman’s weathered face and is moved. Her voice breaks as she tells the old woman, “you’re beautiful.” The woman replies, “I know it,” and smiles. Barbie laughs and the two appreciate each other.
“That’s the movie,” I thought to myself at the time. It was a deep, resonant moment loaded with subtext, theme, and human emotion. It’s exactly the kind of scene a good filmmaker wants to pull off.
And the executives at Warner Brothers wanted to cut it.
Director and co-writer Greta Gerwig revealed in Variety that the suits didn’t get it. The complaints were some variation of, “you can cut it and the story would move on just the same.”
Gerwig had to fight to keep the scene, which she described as “a transaction of grace.” She believed it was the reason she was doing the film in the first place. Screenwriters spend years trying to come up with these moments and then pray that the director can execute them. Gerwig absolutely knew, as the director, she could.
The bottom-line is the scene is one of a handful that are the heart of the story. And if you cut the heart out of anything, it dies.
Please keep in mind that the people who wanted to cut this scene are the same people who refuse to pay working writers and actors a fair wage. They don’t make movies themselves, can’t write stories, and fundamentally do not understand how to create characters with any depth. Yet they make all the decisions and most of the money. Hollywood, man.
Back to Barbie where there are other transcendent moments. America Ferrera articulates feminine rage and exhaustion in a moving monologue that will feel all too familiar to women. There’s a gorgeous montage that shows the impact of a mother’s love on a young girl’s life. The look on Margot Robbie’s face as the Barbies take back control of Barbie Land is magical.
The story is, in part, a reversal of The Wizard of Oz. Barbie (Dorothy) travels on a road from the magic world to the real one. She is accompanied back to Barbie Land by Gloria (the Cowardly Lion) and her daughter Sasha (the Tin Man). They are pursued by the CEO of Mattel (the Wizard) and his Flying Monkeys of corporate yes men.
Along for the ride is Ken (Scarecrow), played by Ryan Gosling with impeccable comic sensibility. He’s the biggest benefactor of a number of high-quality jokes in the screenplay by Gerwig and her partner, Noah Baumbach.
One of the best is a musical sequence where Ken and all the other Kens play ‘Push’ by Matchbox Twenty to the Barbies on acoustic guitars. The song is a perfect representation of what Toots calls “douche rock”.
At first glance it would appear to be about domestic violence. But research shows that singer Rob Thomas stated that the man in the song is the one being abused. Which makes it even more hilarious. Then it’s from the point of view of a whiny, insecure dude. Douche rock!
Margot Robbie is a perfect Barbie. Also a co-producer on the movie, Robbie’s performance is reactive and assured. She’s not afraid to give the film’s biggest moment to another actor, like she does with Ferrera.
Barbie’s moments are quieter and less verbal. Such as her reaction when the Mattel CEO tries to put her back in her box. As the plastic cuffs tighten around her wrists, Barbie’s face tells it all. No woman, no person at all really, should live like this.
The movie is a box office monster. It opened with $155 million in the US and $337 million total worldwide. Easily the biggest opening of the year. A smart, slick marketing campaign combined with brand awareness and a film that delivers has created a phenomenon.
Tracking shows that 70% of the audience on opening weekend was female. But don’t get fooled into thinking Barbie is just a woman’s movie. It’s for everyone. I managed to enjoy it without having my masculinity threatened. So it is possible despite what conservative crybabies say.
One would hope Hollywood would get the message and create more movies aimed at women. But this has happened before. The Hunger Games, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel all did huge business. But the primarily male decision makers at the studios have continued to put out mostly dude-centric movies. There’s an Expendables 4 coming out for Christ’s sake!
Still, the cultural sensation of Barbenheimer, which organically came together on the internet, has presented an opportunity. Cinemas were packed over the weekend. In our local theater, pink was everywhere, anticipation reigned supreme, and lines at the concessions stand were moving.
So how are the studios reacting to all this momentum and goodwill? They’re pulling movies off the release schedule because of the writers and actors on strike. Hollywood, like usual, just cannot get out of its own way.
Fortunately, Barbie is out everywhere now and I recommend you see it. It’s a legitimate Best Picture contender.
And bring your Kens.
