A hot-pink hot-take

QUEER MIDDLE-GRADE READING RECS

Readers of all ages will love these three examples of the recent surge in queer middlegrade representation

Here’s what the upcoming Barbie movie needs to get right to rectify Mattel’s controversial history

PHOTO Warner Bros.

Growing up, Barbie dolls were banned in my household. As such, there was nothing I wanted more. I scavenged for their disproportionate head-to-body ratios and cold plastic limbs in birthday exchanges, and snuck in “Barbies are the coolest Christmas present” in conversations with my grandparents.

I understand why my mom felt a need to keep me away from those dolls now: the harm Mattel’s bestselling toy has done to young girls’ body image is undeniable. According to a 2016 study published in the journal Body Image, girls ages 6 to 8 who played with Barbies had more complaints about their own bodies than those who played with dolls that had more realistic body proportions. So when I saw a tweet for the new Barbie movie, in theaters July 21, my first reaction was disappointment. Then I saw who was directing the movie, and the pit in my stomach turned to anticipation.

For girls between the ages of 13 and 35, filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig is nothing short of God. Best known for Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), Gerwig’s films perfectly capture the absolute mayhem that is the mind of a young woman.

In Little Women, she reinvented Amy March, the youngest of the novel’s four protagonist sisters, from a one-dimensional whiney little sister to a compelling portrait of womanhood in the 1860s. And in Lady Bird, Gerwig delves into the nuances of teenage mother-daughter relationships, orienting the unique turmoil of female adolescence as central to the movie’s plot.

If Gerwig can bring the same level of nuance to Barbie’s hyperfemininity, the movie could be a hilarious and vibrant commentary on American beauty standards—and from the two teasers that have been released as of May 18, I believe that the film can deliver.

The first trailer teased at Barbie’s commentary on the harms that playing with a doll shaped like an adult woman can have on young girls. Its opening monologue is delivered as a warning; narrator Dame Helen Mirren’s tremulous voice is punctuated by the daunting notes of Richard Strauss’s "Also sprach Zarathustra," a tune popularized as 2001: A Space Odyssey’s theme song.

“Since the beginning of time,” Mirren reads, “—since the first little girl ever existed—there have been dolls. But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls. Until…” the theme comes to a crescendo as the camera pans to a titan-size set of poreless, plastic calves. This is Barbie, portrayed by actress Margot Robbie, in all her terrifying beauty. The opening moments of the trailer are dark, even disturbing. Young girls immediately begin smashing their baby dolls against each other after catching sight of Barbie, sending porcelain facial fragments flying across the screen. Gerwig sent a powerful message with this trailer: Barbie dolls caused young girls to turn against realistic representations of themselves.

The second trailer promises to touch on another key piece of social commentary: the implications of young girls idolizing sex-symbols (as Robbie and the Barbie dolls have been lauded as) without fundamentally understanding what the adult world’s perception of such an appearance entails. In the trailer, Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend played by Ryan Gosling, asks Barbie if he can spend the night at her’s. When Barbie asks why, Ken finds himself without an answer. For the majority of audiences, Ken’s reason for staying over is clear, but Gerwig wields two adult-presenting characters with child-like naivete as commentary on the harms of engaging with overtly sexualized dolls as an easily-influenced child.

In addition to points of larger social commentary, what also has me so excited for the movie is Gerwig’s incorporation of meta elements familiar to anyone who grew up with Barbie dolls. When Barbie steps out of her heels, her feet stay molded in the shape of stilettos; Barbie dolls famously had permanently arched feet, awaiting the addition of high heels. The second trailer also introduced “Weird Barbie,” played by Kate McKinnon, whose hair sticks out in haphazard

2022-23 Pop Culture Roundup

What vicious supreme forces could have brutalized Weird Barbie like this? A child, of course, who found themselves giving their Barbie a craft-scissors makeover.

It’s these small details that give Barbie the authenticity that promises to push it beyond just another performative Hollywood feminist film to something truly subversive of an integral childhood experience so near to my heart. What lies beneath a Barbie doll’s factory-paint blue eyes and hot pink wardrobe? I, for one, will be packing into a local movie theater this summer to find out.

Our staff’s summary of the year’s juiciest pop culture moments

STORY Gabe H. & Samara B.

PHOTO Beyoncé, Getty Images

The pop-cultural news-cycle of the last year was so out of control that we found it difficult to focus in class. From showstopping tours to viral televised moments, the 2022-23 academic year came with a whirlwind of highs and lows in pop culture.

The past three months saw a renaissance of mega-star world tours.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour fulfilled her fans’ “wildest dreams.” Complete a 40-song setlist spanning a broad range of musical genres, the Eras Tour galvanized popcultural headlines since its announcement in November. The start of Beyoncé’s international Renaissance tour, announced at the kickoff of Black History Month, once again re-defined what it means to put on a show. Her diverse group of backup dancers pays homage to the Black queer community, whom she credits as the inspiration behind her latest album, Renaissance

In addition to tours, a variety of iconic award show moments colored the past nine months. Academy-Award winner Ariana Debose went viral on TikTok for her opening musical monologue at the 2023 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), in which she rapped, “Angela Basset did the thing” while honoring iconic female nominees, gifting the public with a new catchphrase. This year was also a year of wins for actors like Michelle Yeoh.

After decades of iconic roles, actress Yeoh was immortalized as an Academy Award winner, preaching “Ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime,” during her acceptance speech for Best Actress in the Best Picture winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

While award shows saw a host of memorable moments, some incidents in broadcast television will live on in infamy.

On April 24, Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News, potentially for airing election denialist-rhetoric about the 2020 presidential election. On the same day, CNN news anchor Don Lemon was fired by the network after calling Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley “out of her prime” on a live broadcast.

In the world of cinema, M3gan delighted and disturbed audiences with its lifelike AI doll that embarked on murderous rampages, labeled by the Daily Beast as a “queer icon.” In the Marvel Universe, films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 raked in hundreds of millions of dollars, but nothing topped the long-awaited sequel Black Panther, Wakanda Forever. Released in November following Chadwick Boseman’s death two years prior, the film honored both Boseman and his character T’Challa, continuing Black Panther’s legacy of afro-futuristic storytelling. Commercially, Disney’s live action The Little Mermaid remake starring Halle Bailey was a major online marketing parade, inspiring fullthrottle excitement, uncomfortably sandwiched between reductive and anti-Black discourse over whether or not Bailey was entitled to take on the role of Ariel as a Black woman. An industry crisis became national when the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) went on strike on May 2. Due to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ refusal to reach a contractual agreement for higher wages, writers and other employees working in television halted production on televised content.

On the social media front, a fire raged its way through the forests of Twitter and Instagram. After a post circulated of Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner allegedly poking fun at Selena Gomez, their so-called feud spun into a social media whirlwind. What was initially a rebuke of Jenner and Bieber became an avenue for social media users to pit successful women against one another.

As students gear up for another highschool main-character Hollywood arc next year, it remains to be seen whether or not 2023-24 will measure up.