The Barbie Movie Was Made By Women, For Men by Open Window

The Barbie movie was made by women, for men

ACADEMIC ESSAY

Lenay Rossouw 231134

5 JUNE 2024

List of Figures

HI BARBIE!

“Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female — whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male” (de Beauvoir, 1949). These are the words of French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir, my key theorist that I will use, not only to explain my knowledge of the theory regarding feminism but also to support my thesis. In a world often perceived as exclusive to a female audience, the movie Barbie (Gerwig, 2023) emerges as a cultural artefact, not just for women, but for men as well.

Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, this cinematic venture transcends conventional gender boundaries, inviting all viewers to engage critically with its themes and representations. This essay endeavours to dismantle preconceived notions to demonstrate why men should actively participate in the discourse surrounding the Barbie movie and dissect my statement that this film was made by women, but is for men to see.

WHO IS BARBIE GERWIG?

Barbie, an iconic American doll introduced by Mattel in 1959, has long been a subject of fascination and controversy (Barbie | History, Dolls, & Facts | Britannica, 2024). From her inception, Barbie has represented a particular image of femininity characterised by beauty, fashion, and aspiration. However, as societal attitudes towards gender roles have evolved,

so too has the discourse surrounding Barbie and her relevance in contemporary culture. So then why the big fuss over a plastic doll?

Greta Gerwig is an American writer, actress and director, adding big titles to her name with movies such as Lady Bird, made in 2017, as well as Little Women (2019) (Greta Gerwig | Actress, Writer, Director, n.d.). A key theme throughout Gerwig’s films is the thread of coming of age and very strong hints of feminism (FILMD, 2022), but what drew Gerwig to the film was the capacity of contradictions that came along with the doll (“Barbie” Director Greta Gerwig Explains How the Movie Deconstructs a Toy Icon, 2023).

In the film, Barbie (Gerwig, 2023) undergoes an existential crisis, alongside Ken, played by Ryan Gosling who also lives in Barbie land but is unnoticed except when he is standing next to Barbie. Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) begins to have feelings that she’s never experienced which leads to her world seemingly falling apart, something is happening in the real world. While Barbie still has to find out what’s going on that made her come to the real world, Ken is finding a newfound control he wants to bring back to Barbie Land, famously known as Patriarchy.

THEORETICAL OVERVIEW

“The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir is a seminal work in feminist philosophy and existentialist thought (de Beauvoir, 1949, p.xii ). Published in 1949, this groundbreaking text offers a comprehensive analysis of the status of women in society, exploring themes such as gender inequality, patriarchy, and the construction of femininity (de Beauvoir, 1949, p.xii-xiii). It offers a powerful critique of patriarchy and a call to action for women to challenge societal

norms and assert their autonomy (de Beauvoir, 1949, p.xv). It continues to be a foundational text in feminist theory that I will use to dissect the Barbie (2023) film and support my thesis.

An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture (Dominic Strinati,2004), is a second edition that provides a comprehensive overview of key theoretical approaches to the study of popular culture (Strinati, 2004, p. X-xi ). This book serves as a foundational text for people interested in understanding the complexities of modern ways. It encourages readers to critically engage with popular texts, media forms, and cultural practices while recognising the social, political, and economic contexts in which they are produced and consumed. (Strinati, 2004, p.xi). This reading helps me integrate theoretical perspectives, such as feminist critique and postmodernism analysis of the film.

Stuart Hall’s essay “Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation” is a seminal work that explores how cultural identities are constructed and represented in cinema (Hall, 1989, p.68). It provides a theoretical framework for understanding (Hall, 1989, p. 68) by examining the role of representation, power dynamics, stereotyping, and hybridity, Hall’s work offers valuable insights into cultural identities’ complex and fluid nature in a globalised world (Hall, 1989,

p.70). This theoretical perspective is crucial for analysing films like “Barbie” (2023), which engage with and challenge traditional representations of gender and identity.

O’Donnell’s chapter on “Cultural Studies Theory” in the “Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media” (O’Donnell, 2005) provides a comprehensive framework for analysing media and cultural texts, such as films, through the lens of cultural studies. By applying concepts such as representation, ideology, hegemony, identity, and audience reception (O’Donnell, 2005, p. 522), we can better understand how the film constructs and challenges gender norms.

Daniel Chandler’s “Semiotics: The Basics” provides a foundational understanding of how meaning is constructed and communicated through signs and symbols, emphasising the arbitrary nature of the signifier-signified relationship and the role of the cultural context in shaping connotations (Chandler, 2017, p.xvi). Applying semiotic analysis to the film, we can decode the film’s layers of meaning and uncover underlying cultural narratives (Chandler, 2017, p.xvi).. This book helps to understand these semiotic principles, we can see how the film navigates and negotiates gendered meanings.

HE’S JUST KEN

Gerwig is trying to teach us about patriarchy, (Penn State Berks Professor Discusses the Significance of the ‘Barbie’ Movie | Penn State University, n.d.) and many might consider the film to be anti-men, because of how masculinity is being portrayed, however, when taking a closer look at not only the film but at the historical context, semiotics, culture and ideology, the portrayal becomes more accurate. It discusses how patriarchy is also very harmful to men and encourages men to listen before jumping to the conclusion that it is not made for them (Mason, n.d.). Yes, we saw the women unite to take back Barbie Land, which can come across as anti-men, but it metaphorically places men in a position that women have been seated in

for centuries (Penn State Berks Professor Discusses the Significance of the ‘Barbie’ Movie | Penn State University, n.d.)

Before diving into examples, let us acknowledge some key academic definitions and context. In the 1970s efforts went into exposing the ways patriarchy is working, the cultural mindset we find ourselves in, about how men and women are not equal in this system (Barry, 2002 p.117). Feminism’s focus switched from criticising the male outlook of the world and rather wanted to dive into the female experiences which were lost, underlooked and reconstructed by other ideologies (Barry, 2002 p.117). The Socialist feminism movement emphasises the weight of the patriarchy and stresses that we should reach for a more radical transformation between the two genders (Strinati, 2004 p.167).

Culture studies asks the viewer to make sense of what is being shown to dissect and to understand (O’Donnell, 2005, p.521). Many meanings can be made from one single frame or sequence given so that the viewer can break down the dialogue, patterns and imagery from their own lens of experiences and ideologies (O’Donnell, 2005, p.522). Ideology can be described as a framework of philosophical ideas to interpret and transform the world the subject finds himself in (Freeden, 1998). An example can be used from the film where Barbie Land is based on a matriarchal society, the emphasis is placed on the power of the mother rather than the father (Badinter, 1986 p.18), because of this, we can see how the roles are reversed between gender oppression, but when Ken is exposed to the real world where patriarchy is more profound, there is a shift in their outlooks. Patriarchy is a system where men hold power in social settings. It defines unequal relationships between the two genders and

emphasises how women are disadvantaged by it, as well as some men if they do not fit into the ideology of what a man looks or behaves like (Strinati, 2004 p.186).

Culture defines the actual customs, practices and behaviours of its subjects, telling them how to behave or how not to (O’Donnell, 2005, p.523). When Ken brings the patriarchy back to Barbieland, the unjustness is more clearly shown of what happens when one group has more dominance over another. This is described as hegemony, the dominated gender produces and persuades the powerless with their own ideas and ideologies (O’Donnell, 2005, p.525). This affects how the genders will be presented, for many years women in pop culture were represented by how they looked entirely, all based on their sexual attractiveness-(Strinati, 2004 p.177) this can be brought back to Ryan Gosling, he is made for women, but it is also a comment on how women were presented as sex objects.

The masculine imagery that we encounter today is formed by historical and prevalent production (Taylor & Voorhees, 2018 p.24). This is what male audiences see in the media, how they are taught to react and behave. The fight is not to add gender as a topic that needs to be discussed in pop culture but to understand both parties’ challenges (Strinati, 2004 p.178). Men’s and women’s roles have always been reversed, women do not behave as men do (Badinter, 1986 p.7). No roles were openly established in the film, but we can see that Barbie might hold more power over Ken. In the patriarchy, men owned women, they were seen as possessions,(Badinter, 1986 p.90), in the film, Barbie owned Ken in some way, whether she wanted to or not and this was upsetting to men because why is Ken only there

for her? Why is he now property? These are the very few questions that feminists have asked when talking about patriarchal power.

Women are never seen as partners for men, she is other than men, this is achieved because of representational systems created for female sexuality (Badinter, 1986 p.95). Ken is the other, he is no more than a decorative addition to Barbie Land. This leaves Ken feeling unimportant and when he encounters a society where men are dominant, he embraces it and brings it back to Barbie Land. This leads to Barbies taking submissive roles while Kens adopt “macho” leadership roles and this shift also brings out toxic behaviour, such as Kens resorting to violence to express themselves, mirroring real-life scenarios. Ken tries to play hard to get with Barbie, whereas, at the beginning of the film, he would have done anything to sweep her off her feet. A term most men of today would use is “a simp”- a slang used to describe men who are too attentive and submissive to women in the hope of gaining sexual attention and recognition (“How Simp Became The Latest Teenage Insult,” 2020).

The new changes brought by Ken led to not only changes in how Barbie Land is run but fittingly costume changes, exaggerated accessories, which gave him a sense of power and identity (Shadowhawk, 2023). These outfits not only fit in with the doll-like lifestyle but can add semiotic value to decode the meaning behind all the sparkles. These changes act like signs in order to portray a deeper meaning, a system that upholds aspects such as the signifier and the signified (Chandler, 2017, p.13). The signifier is described as the image/vehicle, it is

Costumes of Ken before he discovered the patriarchy

Note: Gerwig, 2023.

Costumes of Ken after he discovered the patriarchy

Note: Gerwig, 2023.

FIGURE

physically shown, while the signified is the concept or idea that is being portrayed (Chandler, 2017, p.14-15).

The clothes are the signifier, what it is signifying is the effects a oppression system has on an individual. Ken went from bright and colourful, to dull and layered. An example from the film can be seen when Ken changes the look of Barbie Land, he now has a fascination with horses. The signifier will be the horses that Ken elaborately adds to the decor but what is signified is his attempt to embody and project traditional masculine ideals. An effort to compensate for his insecurities and the lack of a clear identity in a world dominated by Barbie. A sign needs to have historical experiences, because it will only relate to the social setting it is used in (Chandler, 2017, p.27). It reflects how men might cling to certain symbols to assert their gender identity, highlighting the absurdity of these stereotypes.

Another example is the use of the referencing to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 film A Space Odyssey, which first appears in the opening sequence of the film. The signifier is the actual reference to the 1968 film. By referencing the film, which is traditionally associated with male audiences, Barbie is signifying its appeal to challenge gender-specific marketing, suggesting that the themes are universal. The soundtrack is just as prominent, because 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) soundtrack makes two appearances. The signifier is the soundtrack itself, it signifies specifically to when the music comes back to life within the film Barbie (Gerwig, 2023), when Ken discovers the patriarchy (Morrow, 2023). Richard Strauss’s composition “Also sprach Zarathustra” signifies a moment of enlightenment, Ken has new knowledge about the

patriarchy, but also signifies irony, because with its profound, cosmetic music, it contrasts with Ken’s misguided understanding of the patriarchy, it foreshadows the downfall.

Men dislike how freely women can talk about female functions, like sleepovers, because of how they might be perceived (Badinter, 1986 p.106). Ken was very open about his desire for Barbie but kissed and sang with the “boys” without the fear that he might get called gay or soft, this was uncomfortable for men to see because it crushed the ideology that had been set up for them. This is also visually displayed in the iconic dance sequence where the kens go to war with one another, they have the idea that they need to fight to show power. It is Ken versus Ken- ironic is it not- but in a deeper dive, the lyrics Ryan Gosling sings are about how he only wants to open up and break free of the cage that masculinity has set up for him.

The relationship of oppression differs from women (de Beauvoir, 1949 p.74). Women have never pitied female values against males. It is men who want to maintain masculine attributes that create this division (de Beauvoir, 1949 p.74). Males have never stopped dominating females and took their supremacy in fighting to political importance over them because they are weaker (Badinter, 1986 p.24). In the real world, Barbie discovers that her maker, Mattel, which focuses on little girls, is run and owned by men. Choices of their body shape and appearance are made by men (de Beauvoir, 1949 p.721). Contrastingly when Ken discovers the patriarchy, it leaves a mark on him, rather than questioning it along with Barbie, as if he is a child being taught again by historical ideologies.

Barbie Land decor changes when Ken brings the patriarchy to their world

Note: Gerwig, 2023.

FIGURE

WHAT WAS I MADE FOR?

In conclusion, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023) serves as a nuanced critique of the patriarchy, highlighting the effects on both men and women. By depicting the film through the lens of a matriarchal society in Barbie Land that Ken disrupts with patriarchal ideas, the film underscores systematic inequality of these structures, where one has more control (O’Donnell, 2005, p.525). This narrative shift replaces traditional roles, (Penn State Berks Professor Discusses the Significance of the ‘Barbie’ Movie | Penn State University, n.d.) forcing viewers to reflect on the nature of stereotypes and unjust power distribution due to their own culture (O’Donnell, 2005, p.522). Ken’s transformation was drien by his exposure to real-world patriarchy, illustrating how societal expectations shape masculine identity and behaviour (Taylor & Voorhees, 2018 p.24). Ultimately Barbie (2023), calls for more equal levels of power in society by challenging the viewers to reconsider the notions of masculinity and femininity.

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