With So Much Appreciation And Award Nominations, Barbie Aced 2023 - But Is It Really That Good?
This year has been quite an interesting one, especially for the world of cinema. While we have discussed how this year upped the theater footfalls for our country, even globally things have changed for the better. After the pandemic lull of almost 3 years, people across the globe reprised their love for movies and they were spoiled for choices by filmmakers.?
Just recently, we witnessed one of the biggest clashes of Raju Hirani¡¯s Dunki and Prashant Neel¡¯s Salaar.?
Internationally, Barbenheimer became one of the biggest trends of 2023 as Barbie and Oppenheimer released on the same day and both the films went on to make several records of their own.?
Greta Gerwig¡¯s Barbie, in particular, stirred the market for being an unconventional film that made several points in terms of women empowerment and feminism.?
A lot has already been written and discussed about its theme and treatment. I finally happened to watch it from the POV of a cinelover and to say that I was left disappointed would be an understatement.
With the film finally been made available on OTT after months of anticipation, the frugal side of me felt a lot of joy for having saved money that would have left a whole not only in my pocket but also my heart as watching this film in theatre would have been nothing short of torture (imagine not being able to fast forward the dull bits *shivers*)?
The following observations might rub the intellectual critics/cinelovers the wrong way, so reader¡¯s discretion is advised.
With such a sky-high production budget spent on the film, the visuals for sure are larger than life but what is the film really about???
The way Barbie Land is created is highly commendable. From color-coordinated sets to innovative aesthetics, the film scores high in the design section. Even the costumes and the way all the Barbies are presented points to the fact that a lot of research and effort went behind it.? It is entertaining to watch all the Kens and Barbies' interaction with each other in their artificial plastic environment. However, this excitement fades away after the first 20 minutes.?
It¡¯s hard to understand the unfolding of the storyline which led to its unconvincing climax.?To understand it better, here¡¯s a little explanation for what the movie¡¯s plot is:
Meet Stereotypical Barbie Played By Margot Robbie
The film revolves around Margot Robbie¡¯s character, Stereotypical Barbie.?All is going well in her perfectly pink world until one day when she is shown to be plagued by ill thoughts of death. Her flawless world comes crashing when she discovers that her feet have gone flat and her body is showing cellulite. In her desperate attempt to fix her problem, she approaches weird Barbie, who suggests she go to the real world to meet the sad little girl who is playing with her doll counterpart and cheer her up so that they all can go back to being happy and perfect.?
Margot Robbie aka Stereotypical Barbie then embarks on an adventure, accompanied by Ryan Gosling aka her Ken to find the girl. Soon they discover that it isn¡¯t a little girl but her mother who has been sad for a while because of her tumultuous relationship with her daughter which is why she has been drawing disturbing costumes for her Barbie.?
This negativity occurs in tandem with the stereotypical Barbie as she undergoes an existential crisis herself.?
Parallely, away from Barbie and Gloria, the sad woman, Ken discovers that in the real world men are given more importance and patriarchy is prevalent unlike Barbie Land where women outshine the Kens. He decides to head back to Barbie Land and bring about a change which will put men in charge of everything and thus, Barbie Land will gave way to Kendom.?
Barbie takes Gloria and her daughter to her homeland to teach all the Kens a much needed lesson. There¡¯s also a bit where the company that created the popular doll, Mattel is chasing Barbie as it¡¯s against the rules for Barbies to roam around the real world.?
In the end, Barbies take back their reign from the Kens and Stereotypical Barbie meets the creator of the Barbie doll who granted her the right to become human and leave Barbie Land for good.
Even on paper, this story sounds far-fetched with nothing concrete to offer.?
The central theme lacks conviction with no sub-plots to explore. The story neither has highs and lows nor any twists and turns. It¡¯s just a linear graph with no excitement
It has an intriguing tipping point where Barbie must go to the real world to get to the bottom of her problem. When she finds out that Gloria was sad, she for sure did her bit to help her out but it did not elaborate on this as much as one would have liked.?
Instead of exploring this wholesome angle, where Barbie could have helped Gloria reconnect with her daughter or finding out the tragic reason why they drifted apart, it went on to another tangent involving the Kens. The writers conveniently forgot about the angle that was being perceived as a life and death situation for Stereotypical Barbie earlier.?
They opted for the mother-daughter duo accompanying Barbie to teach Kens a lesson for choosing their own rights over serving the Barbies.
What point was the film trying to make when they showed how cruelly Barbies treated the Kens?
In a quest to highlight women power and feminism, was the way Barbies treated Kens justified? The poor guys did not even have homes, while Barbies had individual apartments to themselves. Stereotypical Barbie¡¯s behaviour towards Beach Ken was wrong on so many levels but I didn't see a lot of fingers raised at her for doing so. Imagine how different the story could have been, if it was told from Kens¡¯ perspective and not the Barbies¡¯.?
The whole bit where Kens are shown at war with each other and abruptly it ends also seemed absurd. One moment they were at each other's throats and the very next moment they start singing and having a dance battle in the middle of which they just decided that they are not fighting anymore. If this isn¡¯t shoddy writing, then what is?
Why wasn¡¯t the Mattel sub-plot given any resolution? What was the sense of Barbie creator Ruth Handler, if no backstory is shown?
Mattel, the company that made Barbie, has a string of suited-men along with their CEO, chasing after Barbie who is out and about in the real world. Once they get ahold of her, she is suggested to get inside the box. There¡¯s an eeriness to the box, which can be felt during the scene when Barbie almost gets inside but then decides against it at the last minute and escapes. Why was the box so scary??
When she enters one of the similar and mysterious looking doorways, she bumps into Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie who then helps her find her way out of the Mattel office. What was behind the other doors? Dead Barbies or Kens? There¡¯s absolutely no resolution to this sub-plot. Not even when the Mattel men reach Barbie Land and witness Kens vs Barbies. They just watch Barbies overthrow Kens and then decide all's well that ends well.
The stark contrast is very evident. On one hand, it is a wholesome story about Barbie who discovers her human side and how she can¡¯t be a doll anymore even if it means getting hurt as a human. On the other hand, all the male characters are shown as caricaturish morons who have not even an iota of intelligence.?
It won¡¯t be wrong to say that the makers only concentrated on the ¡°idea¡± of making a film about Barbie.?
While they focused all their energies on aesthetics and building the Barbie Land, they completely forgot about the story.?
I¡¯m probably the only one scratching my head and wondering what have I missed that the others found so interesting. However, in the end, it¡¯s the public¡¯s word against mine, so go Barbie!
Barbie is available for streaming on JioCinema.??
(To?read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading?Indiatimes BINGE)
