AutoMatters & More: ‘Barbie — A Surprisingly Relevant Movie You Should See
When the PG-13 Barbie movie came out, I expected it to be nothing more than a silly promotion to increase sales of Mattel's Barbie dolls. That's why I shrugged it off at first, but Barbie continues to cause a stir. So when Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment offered to send me a Blu-ray disc of Barbie for review, and I accepted their offer.
I quickly realized that this would not be the film I had hoped for, but an important film that should appeal and be seen by both teen and adult audiences.
The first scene that caught my attention was Barbie's opening scene, inspired by a scene from another great film: Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Barbie" features a small group of young girls playing with dolls, tea leaves and other antiques in a remote, barren area in the late 1800s. The color palette was warm and earthy tones. Girls are drawn to the striking Barbie doll with a long silhouette, wearing a black and white striped one-piece swimsuit, just like the original Barbie doll in the 1950s. Indeed, the bright sun was shining directly on Barbie. The sun was shining on the mysterious black plate of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the same time, the theme of the movie "2001" begins to play.
Barbie doll transforms into human Barbie (beautifully illustrated by Margot Robbie). After a nod to Barbie, we see a particularly cute little girl dramatically lifting the doll with both hands into the sky above her head. Then, in motels, she puts the doll's head in a porcelain teapot and then repeatedly knocks it on the other girls' porcelain doll heads. It was from the iconic 2001 scene where the monkey stands at the base of the black monolith and breaks bones in slow motion. This is also the silhouette of the rising sun.
One of the main themes of Barbie is female empowerment - its absolute importance not only for women, but also for men, was beautifully expressed by Gloria (actress America Ferrer) in this touching monologue:
“Being a woman is literally impossible. You're so beautiful and so smart and it kills me to think that you're not good enough, like we're always supposed to be amazing but we're always wrong. be thin, but not too thin, and you will never be that way. you can't say you want to be skinny you have to say you want to be healthy but you have to be skinny you need money but you can't ask for money because it's rude you should be the boss but you can't be Maybe you should lead, but you can't suppress other people's opinions. You should love being a mother, but don't speak up for yourself. Time. You must be a career woman, but you must care about others. You have to react to bad behavior from men, which is crazy. , but if you show this, you will be accused of accusations. Be nice to men but not so nice when you flatter them too much or threaten other women because you should be part of the sisterhood but always stand up and always be grateful but never. Don't forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to accept it too, but always be grateful. . You shouldn't be too old, you shouldn't be rude; Never be proud, never be selfish, never fall, never fail, never be afraid and never give up. It’s very difficult, it’s very contradictory, no one gives you medals or thanks you, and it’s unfair that not only do you do everything wrong, but it’s all your fault. I'm tired of seeing all the other women tie themselves in knots to make people like us.
Official Warner Bros. Videos about Barbie and much more can be found at https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/barbie#videos.
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