FEATURE:
Queen Greta
PHOTO CREDIT: Clement Pascal for The New York Times
Box Office Records, Undue Criticism, and What Comes After Barbie…
_________
I did declare…
IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie/PHOTO CREDIT: Ethan James Green for Vogue, May 2023
that I had finished writing about Barbie and Greta Gerwig. As the film has been out nearly a month and the initial explosion of attention, love and general examination has died down, it gives me a chance to finally (I promise this time) write about the film. Even though I run a music blog, I do set aside a few articles a year for film, T.V. or theatre – that nice little space that is a bit quiet but very wonderful. I might drop a song or two from the Barbie soundtrack here to keep it musical, but there are a few things I want to write about: the continued and undue negativity or scrutiny both the film and Greta Gerwig received despite the hugely positive reviews and amount of wonder Barbie has generated; the box office record broken and why Gerwig is a groundbreaking director; finishing with a little about what comes next. Maybe in previous features I have not given enough credit to the cast and Margot Robbie. Everyone involved in the film is magnificent and perfectly cast. Special kudos to Margot Robbie and her production genius. Whether it was confidence on her part or she instinctively new that a Barbie film would be successful and pull in a billion dollars at the box office, as Variety reported last month, her prescience, intuition, raw talent and drive was right:
“As a producer of “Barbie,” it was up to Margot Robbie to convince a studio that her vision for the film would lead to financial success. No wonder the Oscar nominee flat out said during pitch meetings that she believed a “Barbie” movie could bring in $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Such success depended on landing writer-director Greta Gerwig, Robbie stressed to execs.
“I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director,” Robbie said in an interview with Collider. “And then I gave a series of examples like, ‘dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg’ – pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, ‘And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.’ And I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?”
Whether “Barbie” makes $1 billion for Warner Bros. remains to be seen, but it’s already shaping up to be a blockbuster for the studio. The film is tracking for an opening weekend in the $95 million to $110 million range, with some exhibitors believing the comedy could make as much as $140 million in its debut. Warner Bros. is launching “Barbie” in 4,200 North American theaters over the weekend.
Gerwig signed on to direct “Barbie” and to co-write it with Noah Baumbach. The hire paid off for the film’s cast, especially Ryan Gosling.
“Greta, she’s just such a brilliant person and such an inclusive person,” Gosling told Collider. “She’s brilliant but incapable of being pretentious. I think what I admire so much about her work is that she doesn’t allow herself to create a divide between drama and comedy, and she encourages everyone around her to do the same. So you end up mining places that are in the in-between and it feels very specific to her, but also something that you can relate to because it’s more like life”.
It is not completely random or side-stepping talking about film and Barbie specifically. One of my major drives as a journalist is to celebrate and spotlight women in music. I also discuss gender equality and issues affecting women in music. There is a connection in a sense between women in film and music. When something amazing is created like Barbie, Greta Gerwig received a lot of undue criticism, questioning and general flak. That happens in music. Women often put down and doubted when they should be celebrated. Never having to face the same sort of inspection and criticism as men. Think about male directors and even big films like Christopher Nolan. Oppenheimer – released the same day (21st July) as Barbie – is not criticised for writing very small and insignificant roles for women, putting an unnecessary sex scene in his film, and generally not including enough diversity in his films. Greta Gerwig created none of these problems for Barbie. Despite criticism that the Kens of the film (Ryan Gosling and the supporting Kens) are portrayed as subservient, appendages, and dumb, that is not true. All these articles that the film is man-hating or slags men off. That it is merely a commercial vehicle that wants to hock products and make money through advertising. That Barbie is propaganda, not feminist at all, and it sends out very bad messages – all wrong and inexplicably sexist and misogynist. The directors of films with Transformers and Lego didn’t get slagged and piled on because their films were glorified adverts. More concerned with commercialism and lining the pockets of those companies. As director and co-writer (with Noah Baumbach), Greta Gerwig received far too much unwarranted cynicism and attack. If the Barbie film has a few minor quibbles – The New Yorker examined the film’s racial pose; some felt Barbie’s (Margot Robbie) shock at discovering cellulite was body-shaming, insensitive or joked away rather than taken seriously (the film is body-positive and features Barbies of all shapes, sizes, genders and races); maybe it was not as all-including and deep as it could have been (as it is not a Christopher Nolan film, Greta Gerwig could only fit so much in!) -, then that is to be expected with any film. In fact, Oscar-winning and all-time best films have more drawbacks and things to query and quibble than Barbie.
There have been some considered and balanced articles about Barbie, but there have been far too many that are laden with aggression and insult. I shall wrap up with my feelings and thoughts regarding Barbie and the immediate aftermath – in addition to what might come next for Greta Gerwig. There have been quite a few bizarre, off-the-mark and misogynistic articles written about Barbie and Greta Gerwig. A lot of it does come down to misogyny – again, why aren’t male directors having to answer for themselves and getting piled on for perceived shortcomings?! They are celebrated with very little scrutiny. The Guardian has been especially vocal in their disapproval. Perhaps jealous that a film has brought people together and it is magnificent – wand it only has a few minor flaws. It is great that a film inspires conversation and further discussion! There are a lot of angles one can come from, though the abiding impression is that it is a massively important feminist film that is not only important and inspiring to women: it is a film that wants to bring men into the conversation rather than excluding or belittling them. From early articles like this, to the bizarre downright stupid. It does seem that certain publications and sites have an agenda and distinctly right-wing stance on Barbie and Greta Gerwig. Taking every chance to attack and harass. Like a jealous ex who has this creepy and obsessive need to stalk and insult to fabricate flaws and come off in a really unflattering and bad way! Even now that Barbie has set box office records, where these sites and journalists should be celebrating and saluting Greta Gerwig, instead they are putting her down and finding corruption and moral disgrace in a fabulous film that will be in the history books! I am going to end with some very positive things. To pick on The Guardian – as they have no problem in dishing it out to Gerwig and her amazing film -, here are sections of two rather misjudged and psychotic takes.
When something is successful, hugely funny, celebratory and gets people talking, there will always be a faction that feels required to provide negatives and ‘balance’ things out. David Cox, apparently an expert on feminism and women’s issues/rights, felt obliged to weigh in and explain (one imagines him typing especially furiously as he tries to unpick Barbie’s crafty attempt at tricking everyone that this is an empowering film and feminist rather than a money-making and patriarch-bowing submission) why Barbie’s feminism is muddled:
“At the film’s climax, America Ferrera’s Gloria, the LA mom whose angst has catapulted Barbie into the real world, presents her with a stirring litany of womanly woes. Its gist is that as long as the dudes are in charge, dames are doomed whatever they do. Gosh, it’s hard to be a woman. Reportedly, Ferrera’s rendition left everyone on the set in tears, even the men. Yet this speech sits uncomfortably alongside Barbie’s official slogan: “You can be anything.” Is aspiration a female fundamental, or an unfair imposition?
Unlike Ken, Barbie is permitted no flaws which might round out her character but undermine her gynocratic sanctity
Whatever. Gloria’s outpouring is all it takes to galvanise the gals into vanquishing the guys. Awkward contradictions in the gameplan are casually sidestepped. The film virtually acknowledges this with a knowing but fatal joke. Helen Mirren’s voiceover dares to point out the mismatch between celebrating the female right to eschew perfection and choosing Robbie as a leading lady. Quite.
IN THIS PHOTO: Ryan Gosling as Ken in Barbie/PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Women are counselled to discard illusions and confront real life, but what this might mean in practice remains unclear. Barbie consults a mystic oracle in the shape of the ghost of Ruth Handler, the Barbie doll’s inventor, but all she learns is that she’s allowed to be real. This turns out to mean she can visit a gynaecologist, but that’s pretty much it.
Where a real path forward is actually discernible, it turns out to be disheartening. Male domination is overcome not by open engagement but by feminine wiles, an approach that seems neither progressive nor likely to be especially productive. Rather, it fosters the fear that things won’t be changing any time soon. Men are expected to abandon masculinity once women show them its folly, yet the film has inadvertently advertised its apparently irreversible appeal.
So, what are those bevies of pink-bedecked filmgoing females supposed to make of all this? They will see seductive but dubious stereotypes embellished rather than subverted. Muddled messaging may dispel rather than stimulate any impulse to crusade. What might therefore leave the most residual impact is Sarah Greenwood’s luscious production design. A clear call to action does in the end emerge: go forth and buy the products of the film’s sponsor, Mattel, and its galaxy of commercial partners.
If Barbie constitutes a triumph, it’s a triumph not of feminism but of the patriarchy’s so far most unassailable scion – capitalism. Women have been spending millions to watch a giant advertisement more likely to bewilder than inspire them. And now they’re spending millions more on the merch. Mattel’s (male) chairman and CEO, Ynon Kreiz, has plenty of cause to be pleased. But feminists? Perhaps not so much”.
Amelia Tait who, as David Quantick pointed out on Twitter recently, has written about shopping, commercialism and the positives of retail chains booming, seemed aghast that a $100 million film that has made more than $1 billion at the box office’s biggest issue is its product placement. Rather than commend the success of the film and how its relation to Barbie is not to sell products and act as a shill for Mattel, instead it reframes Barbie and is a springboard to explore feminism, the patriarchy; fantasised and fetishised worlds and the real world – and many other topics and debates beside (none of them being advertising and flogging other brands). Still, Tait was unaware that people in films wear watches and drive cars. They are not wearing watch-brand watches or driving car-brand cars. People don’t drink generic Coca-Cola or have nameless smartphones. Again, male directors have characters with well-known brands on their body, in their hair, in their ears or beneath their feet. In spite of the fact Greta Gerwig did not talk about brands like Tag Heuer in great detail (or any I think), let her camera linger over their logos and images, or indeed advertise them in any form – and she also did not get money from them to include their brands -, she is being portrayed as the creator of a feature-length commercial:
“Did you know that Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a 114-minute advert for the toy company Mattel? Of course you did. You don’t have to be Detective Barbie to figure that one out. Yet you may have missed that the film is not just an advert: it’s an advert containing multiple other adverts. It’s a Matryoshka of adverts, each one nestled within the next, all contained within a giant, plastic doll.
Watching the film, I rolled my eyes at the starring role played by a spotless Chevrolet 4x4, and laughed aloud at the way the camera focused on Barbie’s (empowering!) heart-shaped Chanel bag. Ryan Gosling, as Ken, wears three TAG Heuer watches at once at one point, and I instantly knew Mattel would sell the “I am Kenough” hoodie he sported at the end (although my cynicism didn’t stretch to imagining its £58 price tag).
IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie as Barbie in Barbie/PHOTO CREDIT: FlixPix/Alamy
Product placement in film is by no means new (some date it back to the presence of Red Crown gasoline in the 1920 silent comedy The Garage), but it seems to have picked up in pace – and shamelessness – in recent years. In 2015, the BBC asked whether it had gone too far in the James Bond franchise. But at least that was based on a series of books. Now, you can put adverts for watches, cars and handbags inside an advert for dolls. And it doesn’t stop there.
In early August, reviewers noted the “bizarre” and “brazen” presence of brands in Disney’s comedy horror film Haunted Mansion, which – like Pirates of the Caribbean before it – is based on one of the company’s rides. Haunted Mansion includes shout-outs to Amazon, Yankee Candle, CVS, Baskin-Robbins and Burger King – never mind that, like Barbie, the film was already an ad. (Disney did not respond to an email asking it to confirm or deny product placements in the movie.)
The trouble with all of this is that it appears to work. Auto Trader reported a 120% increase in interest for Chevy Corvettes after the Barbie trailer dropped, while TAG Heuer’s CEO has claimed that customers are nicknaming one of its models the “Barbie watch”. As of June 2022, product placement is now a $23bn (£18bn) industry globally – a 14% growth in just two years. In an era of skippable ads, companies are clamouring to be featured inside movies and shows.
Yet if brands don’t boast about it, it can often be tricky to find out whether they did indeed pay (or provide free products in exchange) for promotion in a film. Other kinds of collaborations are even murkier. It didn’t occur to me, for example, to question a nod to the language-learning app Duolingo in the Barbie film. The company’s press office told me the gag wasn’t paid for, but Duolingo did collaborate with Mattel and Warner Bros, creating an ad that runs before the film in cinemas. Duo, the brand’s owl mascot, was invited to the LA film premiere.
Meanwhile, I was convinced that the suspiciously sharp logo on Barbie’s Birkenstocks proved that the company had paid for placement in the film, but Birkenstock told me it did not collaborate with Mattel, Warner Bros or any of Barbie’s actors. According to Barbie costume designer Jacqueline Durran, Birkenstocks were in the script “from the beginning” thanks to the writer-director Greta Gerwig. The sandal company has benefited regardless, as Google searches for “women’s Birkenstocks” have soared 518% in the UK since the film’s release; the company is now considering going public with an alleged $8bn (£6.3bn) valuation”.
PHOTO CREDIT: FlixPix/Alamy
Let’s end with what everyone should be doing: celebrations of a film and director who have created a singular cinematic moment. Opened up debates, inspiring women and girls around the world and, from first-hand and personal experience, engaged many men in discussions around women’s rights, feminism and the perceived superiority and importance of the patriarchy. The fact so many men of all sexualities adorned themselves in pink and participated in the call-and-response of “Hi Ken!” without feeling embarrassed, emasculated or submissive shows that any accusations of Barbie attacking men and this being an excuse to highlight and shame the patriarchy rather than being celebratory, progressive, and celebrating women (and all genders) are rank, bitter, unwarranted and oddly bullying and overly-misogynistic – not that there is a right or acceptable amount; it is just that there has been extreme piling-on and shaming from many. Harriet Fletcher, a lecturer in Media and Communication at Anglia Ruskin University (my alma mata!), writing for The Conversation counters those who say Barbie is plastic or anti-feminist - but highlighting how, like Greta Gerwig’s previous films, Barbie is a film where women are transgressive and rebel against their restrictive circumstances:
“But Barbie fits perfectly into director Greta Gerwig’s repertoire of women-focused stories, which includes two Oscar-nominated coming of age films, Ladybird (2017) and Little Women (2019). Gerwig is a feminist filmmaker whose characters are curious, transgressive and rebel against their restrictive circumstances. Barbie is no exception.
The film follows Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie), whose perfect life in Barbieland is gradually falling apart because the humans playing with her in the real world are sad. Her arched Barbie feet become flat, she gets cellulite on her thighs and becomes troubled by thoughts of death.
With the help of Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) – comically styled as if a child “played with her too hard” – Stereotypical Barbie is tasked with entering the real world to find her human family and solve their problems.
The film opens with a parody of a famous scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The world is thrown into disarray when a giant Barbie doll lands in the desert like a UFO. Through Helen Mirren’s terrific narration, we are told that the inhabitants of this barren wasteland are a hoard of little girls who only have baby dolls to play with. The girls are liberated by the arrival of their exciting new friend and, tired of playing at being mothers, they smash up their bland baby dolls for good.
This opening positions Barbieland as a feminist utopia. In Barbieland, women can do anything: become president, win literary awards and throw fabulous parties.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures
Barbie in the real world
Gerwig’s take on Barbie is timely. My research explores the recent feminist reclamation of the “bimbo” figure. On TikTok, the #Bimbo trend sees feminine-presenting content creators reclaiming the once derogatory “bimbo” label and aesthetic. Instead of abandoning femininity to succeed in a patriarchal society, bimbo feminism embraces femininity while supporting women’s advancement.
In the real world, Barbie is shocked to find that things are a little different than in Barbieland. She is harassed while roller skating and catcalled by male construction workers. A 2021 survey found that four-fifths of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed in public spaces. While Barbie says she feels “ill at ease” in these situations, Ken (Ryan Gosling) feels “admired”.
When Barbie finds her human family, she is met with hostility from teenage daughter Sasha, who claims that Barbie is nothing more than a “professional bimbo” whose perfect body and privileged lifestyle have been making women feel bad about themselves for decades.
Like real women, Barbie is faced with objectification and criticism. The film knows its audience and makes smart and accurate commentaries about women’s experiences.
Ken’s rights
In Barbieland, Barbie’s beach-dwelling boyfriend is “just Ken”. In the real world, he discovers a society where men reign supreme. It is not long before Ken’s endearing innocence is tainted by a concept that is novel where he comes from: patriarchy.
Ken becomes intoxicated by male dominance and the film takes every opportunity to lampoon it. Ryan Gosling excels in these comedy moments. At one point, Ken barges into a hospital and demands to perform surgery despite having no qualifications – other than being a man of course.
Back in Barbieland, Ken enforces his own vision of patriarchy. Every night is “boys night”. Every Barbie exists to be ogled, serve beers and nurture men’s fragile egos. Under Ken’s rule, the former female president of Barbieland serves drinks to macho guys on the beach. The all-female Supreme Court are demoted to a cheerleading squad.
In her 2020 book Men Who Hate Women, founder of the Everyday Sexism project Laura Bates examines what she terms the “manosphere”. In other words, the many faces of radical misogyny in modern society, from men’s rights activists to incels.
In its portrayal of the Kens, Gerwig’s film confronts the manosphere head on. Much like the men who are indoctrinated into these radical groups, the Kens are led to believe that their rights are being eclipsed by women’s and find themselves conforming to toxic male stereotypes to regain a sense of control.
Gerwig’s Barbie does a stellar job of exposing how damaging patriarchal ideology is to society. While the film obviously appeals to women, it is men who really need to watch it. Barbie makes a point that Leicester Square-megaphone-man really needs to hear: it’s not a Barbie doll that threatens women’s rights, opportunities and safety – it’s the patriarchy.
Barbie is one of the most surprising and daring films of the year. What could have been a frivolous flop succeeds in being a substantial, important and poignant piece of filmmaking – as well as tremendous fun to watch”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Greta Gerwig and Ryan Gosling on the set of Barbie/PHOTO CREDIT: Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros
I think anyone who has written articles, tweets or whatever concluding Barbie is anti-men, bullying, commercial, selling-out or whatever needs to educate themselves. One of the aims of the film I think is for people to discuss and explore women’s rights and feminism more widely and lovingly. To actually show the fallacy that the patriarchy is the status quo and is a good thing. That this age-old imbalance and repression of women is anything other than misogyny and outdated. It does that in a way designed to incentive debate. It is not going for the throat or shaming men without nuance or reason. In fact, it is one of the most joyous and unifying films we have ever seen. The same sites and publications that accused Greta Gerwig of being a corporate sell-out also attack her muddled feminism – so they can’t agree on their take or real reason why Barbie is a ‘failure’. Let’s finish with two things: the remarkable news about Barbie’s box office-busting accolade and Greta Gerwig being carved into the history books; I will also wrap up and conclude (I will!) as to why I have limitless respect for queen Greta Gerwig. From extreme attacks on Barbie from the likes of professional bedwetters and perpetually sexually repressed head-banging nutjobs like Ben Shapiro, to the flatulent and pathetically misogynistic and sexist pieces that have zero substance, validity, value or point to make – other than the fact that jealous people need to attack success rather than embrace it -, there has been a positive outcome. Barbie, as Margot Robbie (perhaps with hubris and nerves) predicted, has hit a billion dollars at the box office!
There is no doubt books will be written about the Barbie film: its inception, promotion, impact and legacy. It is incredible that the film hit a billion dollars at the box office and, in the process, saw Greta Gerwig make history! The Hollywood Reporter explains why Barbie has set this new record:
"Filmmaker Greta Gerwig and Warner Bros.’ Barbie has enjoyed another history-making week.
Gerwig now ranks as the highest-grossing female director of all time at the domestic box office after skating past Frozen II, which was helmed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck.
From Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2019’s Frozen II grossed $477.4 million in North America, not adjusted for inflation. Barbie finished Tuesday with a domestic tally of $478.1 million before climbing to $492.6 million through Thursday. On Friday, it becomes the 20th title in history to clear $500 million domestically.
That’s not all — Gerwig is also celebrating becoming the highest-grossing female director of a live-action movie at the worldwide box office as Barbie passes up Marvel Studios’ 2019 superhero pic Captain Marvel.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel grossed $1.13 billion worldwide. Barbie finished Thursday with a worldwide tally of $1.113 billion and is strutting past Captain Marvel on Friday.
Barbie has been shattering the glass ceiling since opening to a staggering $162 million at the North American box office over the July 21-23 weekend, the top domestic opening ever for a female director (solo or otherwise). Domestically, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman debuted to $103.3 million in 2017 on its way to earning $413 million, while Captain Marvel started off with on its way to grossing $426 million.
After just 17 days in release, Barbie became the first live-action film in history that’s directed by a woman solo to join the global billion-dollar club.
Now that it has passed up Captain Marvel, the question now is whether Barbie can strut past Frozen II‘s worldwide war chest of $1.43 billion to become the top-grossing movie of all time — whether live-action or animated — from a female director. (Lee and Buck’s Frozen earned $1.28 billion globally.)
At this pace, box office observers aren’t ruling anything out when it comes to Barbie, which will easily stay atop the box office chart over the Aug. 11-13 weekend despite being in its fourth outing”.
I am going to finish and, with this paragraph, step away from Barbie. I wonder what will come next for Greta Gerwig. I think that, despite the success, she will continue to do Indie films like Lady Bird. I can see her doing a new York-set film with a smaller budget but with a big cast. Maybe there will be another huge film, but one that steps away from comedy and is more thriller/suspense-set. I have not mentioned how funny Barbie is. I think it is one of the best and most important comedies in decades. We have always known how great a comedy writer Greta Gerwig (and Noah Baumbach) is. In Barbie, as in all her films, there is that blend of real emotion and terrific comedy. Despite a particular Ryan Gosling ad-lib stealing a lot of focus – when, as Ken, he yells “sublime!” when Barbie agrees to go out with him -, the instantly quotable lines were written by Gerwig and Baumbach. Her direction is breathtaking. Bringing Barbie Land to life. The choregraphed musical numbers and the epic fight scene! So many genres of film spliced. Some terrific references and great mix of clever and smaller jokes and huge belly laughs. So rich, nuanced and inclusive as a film – in terms of gender, sexuality, body type, race and age -, any small quibble and faults (people expect her to be superhuman and perfect!) - again, lazy and nasty misogyny - can be appreciated. Its small faults and huge pluses and accolades are what makes Barbie a film we will be discussing and quoting for generations. I hope Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie work together again. They clearly have this understanding and connection. Robbie has turned in one of her best performances yet – maybe just ahead of her playing Tonya Harding in I, Tonya -, whereas this is Greta Gerwig’s best film I feel.
IN THIS PHOTO: Director/co-writer Greta Gerwig, here in New York in 2022, spent Thursday and Friday spot-checking different theaters in the city. “It’s been amazing to walk around and see people in pink,” she said on Tuesdy/PHOTO CREDIT: Clement Pascal for The New York Times
In reaction to the huge opening weekend Barbie enjoyed, The New York Times spoke with Greta Gerwig about the film and how (a film) with a big budget seems to have a lot on its mind – a busy film where multiple threads and discussion points are more crucial than the glitz, look and epicness of its all. It is a blockbuster film that still has Indie sensibilities, humble roots and a desire for real conversation, change and thought-provoking reactions:
“After a year and a half of hype, a whirlwind press tour and stellar advance reviews, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” finally hit theaters this past weekend, smashing box-office records with a $162 million debut, the biggest of the year. That’s the highest-grossing opening weekend ever for a film directed by a woman, and though Gerwig had high hopes for “Barbie,” she can’t quite believe how well her unique spin on the Mattel doll has connected with a mass audience.
“I wanted to make something anarchic and wild and funny and cathartic,” a gob-smacked Gerwig told me over the phone on Tuesday, “and the idea that it’s actually being received that way, it’s sort of extraordinary.”
Few blockbusters these days have as much on their minds as “Barbie”; it is actually, to borrow a quote from “Clueless,” “way existential.” Underneath its candy-coated exterior, “Barbie” tackles issues like sexism and self-determination with aplomb, while never forgetting to supply its stars Margot Robbie (as Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (as Ken) with surprisingly witty jokes, some of which border on the arcane. (Who would have expected a punchline about the ’90s rock band Pavement in the “Barbie” movie?)
What specific things helped you get a grasp on how much the film was resonating?
I think part of the reason I was so fixated on volume levels was because it was a thing I could concentrate on. But mostly, it’s been running into people on the street who are excited and happy and exuberant, because so much of this movie was an attempt to create something that people would want to experience together. So it’s the little things.
My producer David Heyman sent me an email from someone who lives in a tiny Scottish town, and there’s a movie theater there that has been struggling, and they had sold-out shows all weekend for “Barbie.” He was like, “The town is showing up!” And my brother and his sons and his wife all went in Sacramento and sent a picture, then they sent a text saying their oldest son was going back the next day with his friends. These 15- or 16-year-old boys from Sacramento are sending me texts saying, “It was great! We loved the Porsche joke!” Those are the things that feel so amazing. I’ve never quite had anything like this.
One of the scenes that gets the biggest audience reaction is America Ferrera’s monologue about the tightrope that women have to walk in this society. What did you want out of that moment?
I always hoped that America would do this part, and I feel so lucky that she said yes. Over the course of a long time prepping it, we really embroidered it with her own specificity and talked about her experiences and her own life, and three takes in, I was crying. Then I looked around, and everyone was crying — even the men were tearing up. I suddenly thought that this tightrope she’s explaining is something that is present for women in the way that she’s describing it, but it’s also present for everybody.
Everybody is afraid they’re going to put a foot wrong and it’s all going to come crashing down, and in that moment of doing that monologue, she was giving people permission to step off that tightrope. I don’t think I realized until then that’s what that moment was for. She had a piece of the puzzle in her as an actor and collaborator and artist that explained it back to me”.
Before moving, there are other articles I would advise you read that discuss Barbie and its feminism. Vulture ask what is Greta Gerwig trying to tell us with this film. Rolling Stone profiled Gerwig in July. W Magazine argue how Gerwig has brought Indie spirit to Barbie. The Guardian – when they were being neutral and letting Gerwig speak and not questioning the film’s ethics and validity – interviewed her last month. I don’t think there is a pressure for Gerwig to top her box office taking now on her next film. In a way, she is a now a feminist icon. Having made this film in her own vision and setting box office records, Gerwig chatted with The Atlantic and made it clear how you’re interested in what you’re interested in. For her, that is women. There is a writer and actor strike in Hollywood, so nobody knows when Gerwig will make another film and what that will be. She cannot really do more promotion for Barbie. It will go to a streaming service at some point – probably Disney+ or Amazon Video I’d guess -, whereupon there will be a little more discussion and dissection of this year’s best film. I genuinely think Greta Gerwig will be nominated for and win the Oscar for Best Director.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ellen Fedors for Rolling Stone
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling could get nominations, and it is inevitable Barbie will get nominated for its sets and costumes. That would be a beautiful and sweet cherry on top of the cake! Critically acclaimed, hugely adored by audiences, and a record-breaking film that will be a huge inspiration for other female directors – and inspire a generation of young women in film -, we are in this post-euphoria stage now. The film is still being seen by huge amounts, though I guess what happens to Greta Gerwig is a big question. Prior to Barbie, she was a hugely acclaimed director, writer and actor. Now, having created this titanic film, her career is going to explode! It does seem that she might be set to direct two Narnia films. Her head must be a mix of happiness, tiredness, fulfilment and a sense of uncertainty and dread (what with the strike prohibiting any new projects for now; the thought of following such a huge film). She is the queen of Hollywood and, seriously, someone who they should write books about and put a documentary together pretty soon – though I imagine there are already plans -, I wanted to both react to and discredit any negative, misogynistic or Greta-Gerwig-the-capitalist-sellout features that are depressingly predictable and sexist. To me and millions of others, the peerless and wonderful Greta Gerwig is…
SIMPLY sublime!