Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film is just as pink and plastic as the original doll, but decidedly more diverse.
Around his time last year, talk started about a Barbie film in the works starring Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig. Considering Barbie’s association with unachievable beauty standards, it would be interesting to see how Gerwig – known for her feminist cinema – navigated this. There were whispers of multiple Barbies and Kens to make up a diverse Mattel universe. On Tuesday, we saw this for ourselves with the release of cast posters, which proudly sported Barbies, Kens of color, and plus-size Barbies.
The Barbies obviously include Margot Robbie, who has been the face of the film since it was announced and is also a producer. Other Barbies include Issa Rae, Nicola Coughlan, Alexandra Shipp, and Ritu Arya. In a satire of Hollywood’s objectification of women, the posters for the Barbie characters listed their high-achieving accolades – president, diplomat, doctor, lawyer, Nobel Prize winner – while the Ken posters sport a version of “He’s just Ken.” (Kens include Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, and Ncuti Gatwa.)
It is also British singer Dua Lipa’s acting debut, who has reportedly recorded the as-of-yet unreleased theme song for the film. (Unlike her career-minded Barbie friends, Lipa’s character is a mermaid Barbie.) With the new trailer released on Tuesday soundtracked by The Beach Boys’ Fun Fun Fun, it remains to be seen whether the film will include Aqua’s sugary Barbie Girl track.
Limited details of the film have been strategically drip-fed to the public over the past months. Tuesday brought us the biggest peek at Barbieland yet, with its pink sands and candy-colored houses. It’s generated a lot of buzz and earned fans with its light-hearted and self-aware tone. Social media has, of course, responded to the film by riffing on its posters. Users could make themselves part of the cast via an official selfie generator, and meme accounts used the format to poke fun at Donald Trump’s indictment and Gwyneth Paltrow’s skiing lawsuit.
Although the film has thus far been sold as a funny, silly romp, actress and model, Hari Nef took to social media to acknowledge its profound significance. To ensure conflicting schedules didn’t impede her inclusion in the film, she sent a letter to Gerwig and Robbie explaining why she wanted to take part, an excerpt of which she shared online. “Identity politics and cinema aren’t my favorite combination, but the name BARBIE looms large over every American woman. Barbie’s the standard; she’s The Girl; she’s certainly THE doll. “Doll” is fraught, glamorous; she is, and she isn’t. We call ourselves “the dolls” in the face of everything we know we are, never will be, hope to be. We yell the word because the word matters. And no doll matters more than Barbie.”
Images courtesy of Warner Brothers.
