Greta Gerwig’s third film Barbie was recently released throughout the United States July 21, 2023, to mass critical acclaim.
Barbie has been in the news ever since its announcement, both for the premise of the film and its joint release with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The movie, starring Margot Robbie as the titular “basic Barbie,” serves as both a fun and whimsical adventure through both Barbieland and the Real World, with a deeper, more complex look at patriarchy, womanhood, and mother-daughter relationships.
Many students at St. Louis High School loved the Barbie movie, including senior Lexie Thayer.
“My general opinion of the movie was positive,” shared Thayer. “I thought it was funny, and the visuals were super cool. My personal favorite part was the fashion.”
A lot of viewers, particularly young women, really enjoyed seeing their experiences reflected in the film. At one titular point in the film, Gloria (America Ferrera) monologues about what it’s like to be a woman. She details the dichotomy between men and women, the energy that women put in every day to keep men happy, and the complex relationships between mothers and daughters.
“I definitely felt and agreed with the monologue in the third act,” elaborated Thayer. “I thought it touched on a lot of deeper feminist ideas, but I don’t think it was preachy. I thought it remained goofy and lighthearted.”
However, Barbie didn’t strike the same chord in all of its viewers. Fellow senior Benjamin March disagreed with a lot of the viewpoints represented in Barbie.
“I was not rocking with the Barbie movie,” stated March. “It preached too much feminism.”
While Barbie might not have been everyone’s forte, the cultural impact it had was wild. Barbie was incredibly successful at the box office, smashing it at over 1.38 billion dollars. Aside from the cash flow regarding the film, it became a cultural fad. Plenty of people were dressing in bright Barbie pink for the film, eager to show out and look goo
