Let's Stop Pretending

I started writing a post about portraits and then I got distracted by what is rapidly becoming the biggest hype of this summer… because last week we went and saw Barbie.

As a child I never owned Barbie dolls. There was always a subtext that they were ‘American’ and not entirely wholesome. (Apologies to any American readers, these were not my views as a six year old but merely vibes that I was picking up). I could say my mother was an early feminist and that is why I wasn’t allowed to have a Barbie but that is not the case. I had the British version Sindy, along with her boyfriend Paul and little sister Patch. Mine was a brunette, with slightly less pointy breasts but a Barbie by another name nevertheless. I suspect she was cheaper than her American cousin which is why I had her. I never had lots of outfits to dress her up except the ‘weekender’ she came in consisting of a stripy sweater and jeans plus a pair of flat white sneakers. My Sindy doll never had the permanent high heeled feet of a Barbie. I did, however, have a plethora of hand knits made by my grandmother. That Sindy doll had a lot of bulky knitted dresses let me tell you! She also had a lovely wardrobe and a bed that my dad made from off cuts of wood. They really were my pride and joy and so much better than the commercially available plastic versions. I often wonder what happened to them. But I loved playing with my Sindy doll and don’t for one minute think she had any negative impact on my views of what a real woman should look like. She was a doll for goodness sake!

The original Sindy doll in her stripy weekender sweater

And then I grew up and had sons and never felt the need to buy them Barbie dolls. They had a range of Action men instead, dolls for boys dressed up as parachuting, scuba diving, motor racing, adventure seeking soldiers. I know, awful stereotyping but in my defence, they also had My Little Pony, Sylvanian family creatures, a kitchen with pots and pans, baby dolls and a dressing up box full of beads and dresses. They also built their own guns from Lego bricks. You can draw your own conclusions there.  But biased though I am, I have four sons who have grown up to be good men who respect other people whatever their gender or race so I’m not sure any harm was done by their choice of toys either. I digress.

On the recommendation of two of my sons we went to see the Barbie movie last week. I even dragged Stewart along, although to be fair after some initial reluctance he went willingly and thoroughly enjoyed the film. I didn’t really know what to expect but as a rule I enjoy films as much as I like reading books. I enjoy the experience of going out the cinema, the big screen, the surround sound, the previews… I love it all. I don’t like the pervading smell of buckets of popcorn and the sound of people munching all around me but that’s a whole other subject. I just wish people would eat at home before they go out to the cinema. Anyway, off we went, with zero expectations other than to have a good night out, got ourselves a red wine (much more civilised than popcorn) and settled down to watch.

It is a seriously entertaining film. There were many genuine laugh out loud funny moments, it was visually beautiful, the music and dancing were slick, the acting was spot on with brilliant casting, (Ryan Gosling as Ken was hilarious and Margot Robbie was perfect as Barbie), the dialogue didn’t miss a trick, it was full of fabulous outfits that I would have loved for my Sindy doll, it was ironic, it satirised Mattel but… and it’s a big but, I just wasn’t convinced by the apparent feminist message.

So can we please stop pretending that it’s a serious film! Because for me personally, I have problems with the idea of a Barbie as a feminist icon. I have a problem with the notion that women in charge of everything equals good, whilst men in charge of everything equals bad. And given that on the evening we saw it 95% of the audience appeared to be women who do we think it is sending a message to? If it is claiming to be putting out a serious feminist message surely men and women need to hear it? There is the one much spoken about ‘speech’ by America Ferrara’s character, Gloria (a real woman in the film not a doll), which probably had every woman in the audience nodding along, but whilst she makes a valid point, she is not saying anything new

You can read it here: Gloria’s Speech

It is a message we have heard before and if you need convincing, I recommend you watch the following funny and eloquent TED talk We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which was made over ten years ago. Actually, you should watch it anyway whether you need convincing or not. It’s worth half an hour of anyone’s time

Or you can read her book of the same title We Should All be Feminists

Maybe I am missing something, maybe my own internalised gender stereotypes are coming into play, but I don’t think so. At the end of the day Barbie is a brilliantly fun entertaining film about a bit of merchandise that will no doubt boost global sales of Barbie dolls and make millions of dollars for Mattel. If anything at times I felt it was satirising feminism. It’s clever, full of smart film references and in the words of Mark Kermode reviewing in the Observer,

‘it allows those with more snooty cinephile tastes to excuse their enjoyment of the film by comparing it to canonical works’.

It is not however, as I read in another review ‘a substantial, important and poignant piece of filmmaking.’ We do not need to pretend it’s a serious or important film to justify our enjoyment. I loved it!

Now Oppenheimer… that was a whole other ball game! And in my opinion that is what a substantial, important and poignant piece of filmmaking looks like, although there has been some criticism on the writing of the female characters. I guess things are never black and white.

I’ll be back next week with the post that I meant to write today. And if you go to see Barbie… grab a glass of wine (or popcorn if you really must) and enjoy your evening! I’d love to know what you thought of the film.