I was looking through Netflix looking for some light entertainment, aiming at an action comedy or something. Then “Barbie” was suggested. Of course I had heard of the film, but I never really thought about what it would be like. Probably just some teeny popcorn film. Action comedy, really?
Well no! Then again, neither it was what I initially expected it to be. Sure, you get a view in the pink fantasy world of little girls with annoyingly happy stages, songs and scenes. Every girl is called “Barbie”, every man is “Ken”.
One Barbie (played by Margot “Harlequin Jones” Robbie) has thoughts of death and what is worse: her heels touched the ground. To find out why things are no longer perfect in Barbieland, she sets out to the real world to find out what is wrong with the girl who is playing with her.
Barbie and a Ken (Ryan Gosling) step out of their fantasy world and encounter our own society in which it are not the girls who rule, but men do. Even the executive board of the Barbie franchise are all men. Real life is nothing like the world that they know and Gerwig used this thought to make a constant flow of criticism to modern living and society. That sure was an element that I did not expect.
In basis, the film is quite annoying with its happy, pink world. It appears that it is crammed with ‘inside information’ that eludes me. Limited edition clothing sets, deleted characters, etc. so it is probably a lot of fun for Barbie fans. As we saw there is an undertone that is at times to clearly portrayed that the viewer cannot ignore it. This makes the film ‘serious’ at the same time.
Not my kind of film, but neither what I thought this would be. (An no, not an action comedy.)
