“it’s so ridiculous, it’s magical.”

~greta gerwig

dear greta,

can we be friends? like, collaborative, creative besties?

from singin’ in the rain to infinite horizon soundstages and allll the pink glitter that ever paraded as high art, i think like we overthink details enough to get along perfectly.

yours in artistic sisterhood,

*hallie

that said, i fiiiinallllyyyyy watched BARBIE. (i was waiting for it to be on disc because you know i live for bonus features and a re-watch.)

and while i know countless blogs and commentaries and critiques and articles have already been dedicated to this blockbuster joy-giver and tear-inducer of a movie, here are some of my happy thoughts…

on first watch:

i smiled like a doof and then—just like barbie’s disco party screeches to a halt at “do you guys ever think about dying—the mood dropped and things got serious.
ken had more emotions than i think any of us ever realized.
i cannot imagine, and therefore want to see and hold the dossier greta & noah baumbach (her partner & co-screenwriter) must have gotten from mattel on BARBIE as toy and history and her “brand guide.”
i always find it hard to enjoy a movie the first time around because i don’t know what to expect. my analytical brain kicks in, looking for things like: what was the subversive message? is rhea perlman God? philosophically…. barbieland is… switzerland? sweden? real? imaginary? uh, yes. at least thanks for addressing it, you clever screenwriters, you.
this entire movie was glorious. i want to linger on the sets. and of course walk through them and be a part of it.
man, all the barbies have good hair.
i have NEVER seen a neon as neon as ken’s yellow rollerblades. (which made sunny LA look positively grey in contrast.)
i love america ferrera forever. long live ugly betty and beyond.
helen mirren is amazing. (duh.)
this is now my favorite actress in hollywood:

the stiff arms were FUNNY. accentuating their DOLL-ness without being awkward. it wasn’t overplayed, but used at the exact moments you needed them. (two perfect examples: ryan ken’s knee bend when he lands on the beach after his “surfing” accident. and when margot barbie gives up and falls over in the yard— just like barbies do when you bend them at the waist and try to set them on the floor.)
so many props brought back FLOODS of memories i didn’t know i was suppressing. (ex: ken’s golden goblet he hands to ken before -angrily- taking to the dance floor. those goblets were a part of my cousins’ enviable barbie accessories collection.)

exceptionally wondrous:

the practical sets & effects. meaning, the travels to the real world & back to barbieland were a theatre set with people handcranking the waves and backgrounds as the actors on the spaceship, bicycle, boat, etc. were stationary. no green screen here!! barbie was lowered into her car via cables from above. it was life-sized art and imagination at play.
the 2-d animated dustclouds (akin to mary poppins’ surreal adventures.) none of this cgi superhero overproduced nonsense.

the details and decisions that went into the production: barbie’s car moved at 7 mph. her jewelry was over-sized to appear more doll-like. the hand-painted murals for the hollywood backdrops. the barbie cars and barbie dreamhouses were 23% smaller than real life-scale. there were no elements in barbieland (no water. no fire. no wind.)

and of course, the dream ballet sequence when your emotions get big. (even if you did ride onto the sand-less beach on war sea-horse floaty boat vessels.

how co-author and director greta assembled the ultimate team to do their jobs to their heightened creative abilities. (how would a kid play? uh, weird barbie always in the splits; the haircut that never gets better; the marker face scribbles; also how they designed her house of misfits based on hitchcock’s psycho house x where you imagine boo radley would live— and how the designers created it free of any 90-degree angles!)

the forever-horizon of the ken dream ballet sequence. (yes, greta looked to the golden age of hollywood musicals for heightened inspo—including, of course, singin’ in the rain. the best ever.)

the movie opens like a sitcom. the star actor names in that indicative barbie font as barbie starts her day… and then, if you listen to the lyrics of barbie waking up before and after the disco dance party… well, it’s like a musical. the story and emotions actually forwarded through the song lyrics. and it’s brilliant. and hilarious for a reprise.

that barbie lives on the cul-de-sac top of the “i” in barbieland.

“play to the top of your joy level.”
~greta to her creative collaborators

the ethos i resonate with:

the power of the musical to transport you into the ridiculous: where it’s perfectly acceptable for you to break into song and dance (and dreamscapes, as needed) when your feelings get too big.

it’s luxe x fun. the perfect formula. it was both elevated and accessible. as greta said: “i hope it’s a happiness generator for people.”
working with color. because color matters! the wardrobes. the varying blonde shades of margot barbie’s wigs as her character evolves. that barbieland is free of black and white (until ken brings back the patriarchy.) and just how many shades of pink their are.

greta’s movie-making philosophy of things being “true to their own universe,” how movie musicals are “authentically artificial” in their heightened emotions.
in her recent vanity fair article, greta commented on the need for the dream ballet: “um, why not? it’s a DELIGHT.”

lingering question:

do ken & barbie have equal screen time? (one could figure it out with a stopwatch, i guess, but i get too distracted with all the pretty things on screen.)

favorite moment:

ken’s expression as he takes to the dance floor & his angry dance at barbie’s bespoke song/disco choreography party.

favorite “typo”:

the swinging doors on ken’s salon with added carrot (^o) to correct it to “ken’s saloon” when he’s taken over barbie’s dreamhome

hot take:

will ferrell & the mattel execs didn’t need to go to barbieland, but i feel like greta & noah knew that & let it be anyway (if only for the 12-person tandem bicycle ride)

something that could have gone wrong but didn’t:

the script skillfully avoided any polarizing opinions so everybody could enjoy it. it was human, not pedantic. unlike the over-the-top meme “commentary” i’d seen online from various factions, it didn’t have a political agenda. it was pure, well-made art, beauty, humor, and entertainment. with some heartfelt emotions and thoughtful ponderings on life and love and friendship and aging and masculinity and femininity and fate and commerce and childhood and beauty… and of course horses and the patriarchy.

i need:

warner brothers to make a BARBIE set experience like the warner brothers studio tour in london celebrating harry potter & co. I WANT TO SEE THE SETS AND COSTUMES and get my own elevated-pretty barbie makeover, please!!

day pass should also include a dance class to learn the choreography.

most likely to wear:

kate mckinnon’s weird barbie hot pink paint splash baby doll dress. (although with margot robbie’s office barbie high heels; my childhood envy of my cousins’ barbie collection.)

also, i think weird barbie convinced me to buy a pair of birkenstocks. (although i’ll require pink &/or fuzzy ones so as not to be too granola. i’m convinced the secrets of the universe shall come to me even if i am my authentic, shiny self.)

fave quotes:

“and the president’s here!”
“i am. you’re welcome.”

“i’ve never seen this kind of malfunction before. it’s usually just hair-related.”

“and when you think of sparkle, what do you think of? female agency.”

take-aways:

can we give everyon on this movie all the oscars just for existing and believing?

so. many. shades. of pink.

such snappy dialogue!
i love all the things greta didn’t give into. such as: the merchandising of a movie/toy franchise. letting it be weird. fighting for anti-cgi and pro-practical effects (in turn, resurrecting the theatre arts still recovering from going dark during the pandemic.) her unique vision and joy in storytelling and movie-making and calling it back to musicals and hollywood’s golden age of glam and sparkle and razzle-dazzle excellence in the arts.

the joy of theatrical playtime: the 2-d decals in the fridge; all the stage business in the background; the practical effects; the backlit actors; the unfolding ambulance on the beach.

opening the film in earth tones and baby dolls before contrasting it with the plastic glam of barbie in EVERY SHAde of BriGHT PInK! whee!! colour matters in telling the story! (i’d seen that helen-mirren narrator sequence as a preview; i didn’t realize we’d get to keep it in the movie. huzzah!)

“it’s so ridiculous, it’s magical.” (or, my thoughts on greta’s barbie movie & pink birkenstocks.)