![]() ![]() ![]() Rhea Perlman plays ultimate Dea ex Machina in the shape of the spirit of Ruth Handler, Barbie’s original creator. Oh was that a decisive spoiler? Not really. Greta Gerwig’s big reveal is that the troubled girl is not the sulky goth-lite tween but her fraught mother Gloria (America Ferrera). If only the Mattel corporation were based in Lubbock, Texas? I’m not sure Southern California offers a version of “the real world” decisive enough to form an adequate contrast with Barbieland. Southern California has a high tolerance for brightly coloured versions of “weird”. Now I’ve been to Venice Beach, and I’m not sure how anyone could manage to look bizarre enough to be the undisputed cynosure of sartorial scorn. As Ken and Barbie roller-blade through Venice Beach, everyone stops, stares, and points in derision. Having visited Weird Barbie, Barbie is told she needs to visit the real world to discover whatever little girl is unhappy enough to abuse the concept of Barbie play. ![]() Ryan Gosling’s version of Ken (who lists his occupation as “Beach”) is chafing at living in a gynocracy at around the same pace as Robbie’s stereotypical Barbie is starting to contemplate unBarbie concepts such as cellulitis and death. While other Barbies are fixing roads and passing legislation, Margot Robbie’s Barbie is the Barbie everyone who doesn’t know much about Barbie thinks of when they think of Barbie.īarbies run Barbieland (incidentally, this film uses the word “Barbie” about as hypnotically often as a Smurf movie uses the word “smurf”). Margot Robbie, initially introduced as a leggier version of the black slab from 2001 a Space Odyssey is, however, “Stereotypical Barbie”. The modern Barbie is far more like the doll Lisa Simpson designed (Lisa Lionheart), and Barbieland is populated by Barbies who are brain surgeons and supreme court judges. Back in the early 90s, Stacy dolls giggled and restated sexist cliches. I thought I’d rewatch the classic 1994 Simpson’s “Malibu Stacy” episode in order to get some satirical context. I’d suggest that never before has a movie about a toy franchise had to do so much conceptual heavy lifting. ![]()
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