Watching the Barbie movie is like opening a box of pink nostalgia, where you’re reminded of all the positive qualities of Barbie and her world. Women rule, pink is powerful, and you can be whoever you want to be. And that’s the way it should be, isn’t it? That is what the movie was trying to say? I can’t speak for the world but here’s my version of what The Barbie Movie has done for me.

After watching 2 hours of pink, returning to work the next day, there was a new spring in my step and the sparkles still linger. It’s exciting, it’s a new world almost, where your path seems easier because you shared 2 hours with a group of other people in that movie theater sharing a sense of community. And that’s where the fun ends. The world continues on, along with debates on ‘how Barbie performed better than Oppenheimer’ which is also in the past now. We’re already on to the next thing. And life goes on. But not if we can acknowledge a few things.

Greta Gerwig is known for creating movies that allow multi-faceted women to take the main character spotlight. Anyone who has read the classic Little Women and then seen Greta’s version of it knows this. And with Barbie she is the first ‘female director’ to have the biggest opening in 2023. But she’s still working towards a future where she’s just ‘the director’ who had the biggest opening. What she did do in creating a commercial success such as Barbie is humanize a doll and make her live through a day in the life much like ours, existential crisis included. This makes you relate to her and think, if Barbie can get through all of this and still ‘fix’ it all then so can I.

However, like the movie acknowledges right at the very beginning, Barbie isn’t the doll that changed everything. Mattel isn’t trying to do anything but create a marketing campaign that firmly rebrands them in the consumer’s mind as a doll for the young women of today. Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, and even America Ferrera with her monologue haven’t changed anything. What they have done is create a movie that lets the women who grew up with Barbie, and are now paving their own way in today’s world, feel heard and seen. It makes men feel uncomfortable enough to make women laugh, without really offending anyone, especially those who know enough to be considered ‘woke’. And it’s a brilliantly fun addition to the efforts towards equality around the globe, most of which don’t get the visibility this movie did but have a more in-depth impact.

Barbie shows up 2 extreme sides of how the world can look, within Barbie World, and like with the movie buzz dying down, our real world is still very much the same. But what I hope the movie does do is make you ask questions. Some questions that come to my mind are:
– Do we want a world where one gender is constantly placed in a position of less?
– Are there scenes that I find relevant which the men in my life do too?
– Which scenarios from the movie made me uncomfortable? Which touched a chord?
– Which scenes do I wish I could show the men in my life?
– What makes someone an ally in my journey? Are the people I surround myself with true allies?
– Have I been enabling behaviors that add to the issues I face?
– Am I going to to call out the issues I see?
– Can an honest conversation about problematic behavior help solve for a better way Forward?

And let’s be real, once you start asking these questions, the conversation is endless. That’s the thing about living in a community – everyone has a unique perspective with a different answer to your question. But if every woman watching the movie can agree that one movie made them feel heard, it’s time to start talking to your communities, in safe spaces that truly listen, and actually solve for answers.

Contributed by Anoushka Khokher, Programming Head, North & South India, Ladies Who Lead

She did not grow up playing with Barbie (surprise!) but loved the stories. Now, as a storyteller, she reads between the lines to bring out the words we need to hear.