Seeing Barbie at The Theater

The Barbie film has become an undeniable phenomenon. For PoliEd, there are two things worth looking into here.

1. The mood of the masses
2. Contested spaces

The Mood of The Masses

On Saturday, August 5th, my partner and I went to see Barbie with her sister and our brother-in-law. Before heading to the theater, they mentioned that Barbie was on track to become the first female-directed film to earn one billion dollars. That was remarkable news and added to the excitement. Once we got to the theater, we ran into my brother and sister-in-law. While they weren't there to see Barbie, they told us they'd already seen it twice! Again, this was remarkable since the movie had only been out for two weeks.

While I don't have hard data, I read the majority of the audience as young and femme. The experience of seeing it in the theater was almost like going to a concert. People didn't just laugh out loud at the jokes, which hit fast and furious, but throughout the movie people were reacting loudly at the political moments and at the deeper moments regarding Barbie's emotional journey, and that of the mother-daughter storyline. The entire screening was the audience in open and ecstatic dialogue with the film.

We have to keep in mind that this movie is a product of the #MeToo movement, which exploded into the mainstream in 2017. While the movement itself has largely faded away, its impact is still very much embedded in the popular consciousness. It also can't be lost on the average movie-goer that it was only a little over one year ago that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, effectively declaring open season on reproductive rights.

It is in this context that people are streaming into theaters to see Barbie and treating it like a concert. While the movie is very ham-fisted with its politics, as pointed out in the RogerEbert.com review, it is precisely the contradiction of having lived through such a massive movement like #MeToo, yet still being under attack by society at large (and the Supreme Court in particular), that makes the heavy-handed politics resonate with so many!

The people in the theater see this movie as a high-budget, high-profile, international bully-pulpit confirming everything they experience and feel. People can nit-pick about the strengths and weaknesses of the film's politics, but the mood of the masses is clearly one of feeling validated through Barbie. The fact that it quickly suprassed the $1 billion milestone is just one indicator. While doing some research for this article, I came across a piece from NPR which noted that many have seen the movie more than once. The same article noted that on opening weekend, women made up 69% of ticket-buyers and that it rose to 71% by the second weekend. In other words, after experiencing this movie that speaks to so many people's experience, they are not only coming back but also spreading the word.

It will be interesting to see how many feminist organizations recognize the opening that Barbie has created and use screenings as opportunities for discussions, fundraisers, and recruitment. The movie is explicitly political and, once it is available for streaming, people will likely flock to opportunities to discuss it in explicitly political spaces.

As a side note, the success of Barbie is an excellent introduction for many to the work of Greta Gerwig. Her first film, Frances Ha, is one of my favorite movies of all time. Buy/stream Frances Ha. But more urgently, get to a theater, wear a mask, and see Barbie. Take as many friends and/or family members with you as possible, then make plans to go again!

Contested Spaces

All art, politics, and even physical spaces are contested. Meaning: the political bend, the mood, and the interpretation of a given thing is always up for debate and can be influenced one way or another. A political organization can be a contested space, with different people with differing backgrounds and/or ideologies trying to influence an organizatio in one way or another. Even political ideologies, like Marxism, which might seem "clean cut" can actually be interpreted in a multitude of ways. As if that wasn't enough, all individuals are themselves "contested spaces" since all people are constantly being pulled by life experience, discussions with friends/family/comrades, the media, etc in different directions.

The same is true for art and commodities. Gerwig's Barbie movie is a left-wing approach to the doll. But as noted by Slate, Barbie has a history of being viewed as regressive and representing an anti-feminist status quo.

That Greta Gerwig has been able to quickly and decisively take Barbie away from this traditional interpretation and re-invent her as left-wing icon is just one example of how everything in life is contested. Nothing is ever guaranteed to align with one or another politics. Instead, everyting is up for grabs depending on who is willing to fight for it.

For more about art and politics, and the concept of "contested spaces", please see the amazing talk, Guilty Pleasures: Art and Politics from author and Marxist, China Mieville. While the talk is about art and politics, it is also essentially an introduction to the concept of dialectics.

Update: 08/10/2023!

After publishing this, a dear comrade brought two posts from Substack to my attention: Thinking Barbie and Bonus Barbie convo + a fun update. Both are from Raechel Anne Jolie of Radical Love Letters. However, I particularly want to highlight the bonus convo between Raechel and Margeaux Feldman of CARESCAPES.

I'll quote my favorite part of the bonus convo directly:

...I'm thinking about the importance of the feminist killjoy, like figure, you know, in and the importance of critique, like critique is absolutely important. I'm not saying like, we need to do away with critique. But I think in the same way that people on the left critiquing the film wanted more from the film. I am also just kind of am wanting more from critique than just, here are the reasons why this wasn't good. Or is like messed up. And I'm just like, I feel like when we enter from that space, we actually also miss out on like, for me, I'm just like, again, like, I just cannot think of a movie, like a mainstream movie. You know, the only other movie that comes to mind is maybe like, But I'm a Cheerleader. And even But I’m a Cheerleader, it wasn't explicit. It was like, you know, the critique of like gender and like, you know, sexuality and like homophobia. But to have a movie in which you have like Ryan Gosling playing Ken saying, you know, I basically lost interest in the patriarchy when I realized like, it wasn't actually really about horses. I'm just like, oh, my god like that is, you know – and we can be sad about that being the place that we're at that, you know, mainstream media, I totally get that. And also, when I think about, like, what it means to like, meet people where they're at, in their own coming into critical consciousness around oppression, like that movie is actually like, changing and blowing people's minds in ways that yes, might feel so basic to those of us who have had this language and this like lens for so much longer. But like, wow, I'm fucking pumped for those people.

[Emphasis added]

I would encourage folks to follow them on Substack.