I Loved it!

I saw Barbie last night and I loved it!

Barbie has a complicated history, especially with respect to body image for girls, but the doll that does it all as a woman has also been quite important for showing women and girls that they can be anything they want to be. That's important. So, I am not going to do a full review or anything, I am not a professional at it and, well, I don't want to spoil it, but just some thoughts for you on my experience watching it on opening night.

It was goofy and fun in just the way you'd want it to be! The behaviour of the dolls, the narration, the set, and how scenes were done were just perfect. How we played was so well captured in this film, it just made you immediately smile with happiness and memories. The music is great, I truly recommend giving the album a listen, and it fits into the movie seamlessly. I also just loved the narration of the movie, it was very well done and just really helped connect you in to the world of Barbie Land so well.

The movie was also empowering in several ways. It is definitely a feminist movie, Barbie Land is a woman's paradise and the power of women's independance is a core tenet of the movie. I won't push here too much, because it would be hard to avoid spoilers, but the treatment of feminism and patriarchy in the context of a doll is both overt and oddly subtle. It manages to take itself seriously while using the sublime fun of playing Barbies as the vehicle for the message.

This movie is also very queer coded and that has very little to do with Hari Nef being in it. If you didn't already know her story as a trans woman, there's no chance you'd notice it in the movie. Let me just put this way, the final line from Barbie is going to resonate with a lot of trans women. It was the perfect final line.

Not surprisingly, given all of this, the right-wing conservative hate machine is in full snowflake meltdown about the movie. They are "big mad" about empowered women and trans inclusion. Not gonna lie, knowing this made me enjoy it even more.

So all and all, I expect to see it at least once more in theatre, it is just so much fun. For the record, this is how I dressed for the movie last night! Yes, those are Barbie sneakers! 🩷