Barbie: The Summer Sensation

In an unprecedented age where Hollywood is on strike and films seem to degrade in quality with every new release, there is one movie from the summer that came out on top. Of course, I mean the Barbie movie. But where this movie shines is in the details. The set design of Barbie Land, the costume design of the dolls, and their character features are really what makes this movie the fun, poppy experience the viewers knew it to be.

Foremost, the set of Barbie Land resembles that of a child’s fantasy with every Barbie house and playset known to Mattel (including multiple discontinued dolls from throughout the years). From Barbie’s beach house to the more obscure pop-up ambulance/hospital, the sheer amount of life-sized doll toys used for the set solidifies the idea that the world being displayed is none other than a doll’s fantasy world. Furthermore, the conventions the set operates under not only is hilarious but also follows along with the rules most children establish when playing with dolls. The Barbies don’t use the stairs, they don’t actually eat the toy food, they don’t operate vehicles, and they can’t even get into a car accident. The humor provided by such concepts like the car always landing upright, serves to remind the audience of the innocence associated with dolls.

Additionally, the costumes of the dolls function as a method of distinguishing the Barbies from the Kens in terms of power. Initially when Barbies rule Barbie Land, the Barbies have more individuality with their outfits in that each one wears something different whereas the Kens basically wear the same style of outfit, just in different colors. The differentiation of the dolls’ costumes reinforces the idea that Ken is more of an accessory to Barbie rather than his own character, which is addressed briefly in the film. Once Ken brings patriarchy to Barbie Land, the roles reverse in this sense because then the Barbies all wear similar outfits, objectively degrading outfits but similar outfits nonetheless. Although, in the final scenes of the movie, the Barbies, for the most part, are all wearing pink jumpsuits, which hints at a theme of unity under patriarchy that the Barbies use to take back Barbie Land.

Finally, the personalities of the Barbies and Kens act as a call back to what Stereotypical Barbie refers to when she says, “Maybe it’s Barbie . . . and it’s Ken.” From the very beginning of the film, the audience gets the sense that the Barbies have their own personalities while the Kens are carbon copies of the same person (with the exception of Allan who has his own). Stereotypical Barbie is exactly what you’d expect—popular, fun, and pretty—but Weird Barbie is completely different because she’s eccentric, colorful, and a tad bit raunchy. Every Ken is the same: attractive, dumb, and in love with Barbie- whichever Barbie they were made for. 

With one of the major themes of the movie being self-discovery, the two sides make sense; Barbie spends the duration of the film finding what it means to be Stereotypical Barbie only to realize that Ken has to make the same journey, hence why she separates herself from Ken in the end. Ultimately, what makes Barbie stand out from every other film this year is the attention to detail with its overall message, which advocates for autonomy via the presentational codes in the set, costumes, and characters. Everyone needs to be themselves and needs to have the power to be themselves. So whether or not you feel like Ken, you can still love and appreciate Barbie.