Barbie (2023): Pink Dreams Face Existential Crises

Welcome to Barbie Land, girls and gals! Where everything is perfect, everyone loves their job (or lack of one), we’re all pretty, and we know it, but most importantly, the dress code is pink all day, every day! Doesn’t this sound like a dream come true? Well, it does for me and every little girl who grew up with this gorgeous blondie who represented what it means to be a girl for generations.

It is the year 2023, and we are finally getting our very first live-action Barbie movie from the genius writer and director Greta Gerwig. Greta has proven herself as the voice of girlhood in cinema for the past couple of years. Movie after movie, Greta has been tapping into what it means to be a young girl in this modern world and what “growing up” means to us young ladies.

This time she is tapping into this beautifully crushing concept using the most famous doll in the universe. No one alive does not know who Barbie is. Whether you played with her or just watched others carry it around, this doll shaped the generation in good and bad ways, and it is time we give this cultural phenomenon the movie she deserves.

That being said, this is not the first movie ever made for Barbie! Barbie has had multiple —AMAZING— animated movies, and as dedicated Barbie fans, we have seen them all growing up and love them endlessly. But seeing blondie on the big screen will be an experience of a lifetime, and we cannot wait to see how Greta Gerwig breaks our little pink hearts and puts them back again.

Barbie Comes to Life (Literally)

Bringing this doll to life took a lot of work. Mattel, the company that created Barbie, has been trying to develop a live-action movie starring the iconic doll since 2009! Multiple production companies, writers, directors and actresses have been tied to the project since 2009 and up until the final choices in 2019. The movie started with Universal Pictures at the helm, moved on to Sony Pictures and finally landed with Warner Brothers, and they brought Barbie to life right in the buzzing streets of LA and their studio in England!

Barbie Finds Her Home

During this turbulent journey, Mattel sought someone to give their iconic doll a new life while maintaining her original spirit. Even though many had ideas, it was Margot Robbie who nailed it. Different from what many think, Barbie is Margot’s project, with Greta joining in later on and not the other way around. 

Margot Robbie was fascinated by the way how everyone had an association with the doll. For Robbie, the fact that Barbie was such a controversial doll was funny and intriguing. The fact that humans made a doll decided who she would be and then, later on, decided to hate her and blame her for the damage they created was interesting enough to make a movie about that doll.

Taking all these different aspects of Barbie into consideration, Margot Robbie approached Mattel with her idea and later convinced Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach to write the film. Taking it one step at a time, Greta, Noah and Margot worked with Mattel and Warner Brothers to bring this icon to life and give her the legacy she deserves while being self-aware of all the challenges she possesses as a generational icon.

Flash forward, it is 2023, and Barbie is gracing our screens with Greta Gerwig as its director, Margot Robbie as Barbie, Ryan Gosling as Ken, and so many more brilliant actors who are bringing all the different versions of Barbie and Ken to the silver screen.

Barbie Faces an Existential Crisis

Living in Barbie Land is no easy feat. Yes, everything is pink, and yes, it’s perfect. But how does someone exist in a perfect world? In a world where every new Barbie is accomplished, beautiful and driven, the very first one to ever exist feels incompetent in comparison. She was here the first one, she started all of this, but now she is not good enough and needs to learn how to fix this.

Girls worldwide start their journey in life confident, brash and with their hearts on their sleeves. Then they hit adolescence, and something shifts. Suddenly they don’t feel good enough, and something is always missing, whether it has to do with their bodies, their minds or their relationship with the world around them. A feeling of being less than what is needed takes over their lives, and they shrink into themselves. 

Greta and Noah took that universal experience and applied it to Barbie, the upcoming film. Beautiful, perfect Barbie no longer feels like she is enough, and she is not alone in this feeling; Ken is right there with her as always. Facing an existential crisis, Barbie and Ken leave their home and head to the real world to try and understand who they are and who they are supposed to become.

Barbie Explains Girlhood

In her previous projects, from Lady Bird to Little Women, Greta Gerwig always has the concept of “girlhood” at the heart of what she does. Girlhood is unique but also somehow universal. Each girl’s experiences growing up shape who she becomes as an adult. However, at the same time, there is a universal sense of how girlhood develops. 

Girls start their life full of energy and potential and always have something to say to do. Then at some point in their lives, a sense of “Am I good enough for what I want?” takes over. This feeling comes mostly from society’s expectations of what a girl should be. It becomes an internalised feeling that is hard to let go of. Girls spend their adolescence chasing a version of themselves they do not even know if it exists, and it takes great work and facing so many challenges for girls to land who they are finally.

This concept speaks truly of Barbie. A doll that was created to represent girls. But how can you represent all girls with one doll? The answer is you can’t. But when the world finally figured that out, it dropped all its burden on this doll they created. This washed-out icon will now have to go on her own journey to find out who she is and what she wants to represent, not what the world decided she represents.

The Barbies and the Kens

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On a lighter pink note, Barbie (2023) is bringing to the silver screen one of the best and most talented ensemble of actors we have ever seen. Representing as many different Barbies and Kens as they could pulse some human characters as well, the cast is diverse in more ways than you might think. We’re sure almost everyone will be able to find a version of themselves represented in this wonderful movie.

Let us give a glimpse into the sparkly cast and who they play.

Margot Robbie

Our very own original Barbie is played by none other than the beautiful and talented Margot Robbie. Walking around looking like a literal Barbie doll, Margot is the perfect choice to bring our blonde doll to life. The movie is her passionate project that she is not only starring in but also producing through her company LuckyChap Entertainment.

Margot is an Australian actress with an impressive filmography that includes movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street, I, Tonya, Mary Queen of Scots, Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey. Her incredible work garnered critical acclaim and nominated her for various major awards, such as two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and five British Academy Film Awards.

Ryan Gosling

Throughout press interviews and junkets for Barbie, Ryan Gosling has proven to everybody who ever doubted him that he is the perfect Ken. His understanding of what he calls “The Kenergey” is incredible. He knows that Ken is here to support and love Barbie no matter what, and nothing else matters. We might not have cared about Ken before, but trust us, Ryan, even before the film is out, has made a permanent place for himself in our hearts as Ken.

Ryan Gosling started his career as a Disney child actor in The Micky Mouse Club and quickly built himself quite the filmography. A Golden Globe winner, Ryan has starred in many movies, including The Notebook, Crazy, Stupid, Love, La La Land, Blade Runner 2049 and The Grey Man.

America Ferrera

Everyone needs a friend, and when Barbie lands in the real world, America Ferrera’s Gloria will be that friend for her. America Ferrera plays Gloria, a Mattel employee who finds the doll in the real world and decides to help her navigate her mission to find out who she really is.

American Ferrera is an Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award-winning actress. She is best known for her title role in Ugly Betty, one of the most successful TV shows ever, which has earned her many awards and recognition worldwide. Ferrera also starred in multiple other projects, including The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, How to Train Your Dragon, Our Family Wedding and Real Women Have Curves.

Will Ferrell

Barbie’s real-life boss and CEO of the fictional version of Mattel is played by no other than the comedy legend Will Ferrell. While this doll wants to discover who she really is and who she can be in the future, Will Ferrell’s character literally tries to put her back in a box. Every hero needs a villain to fight; surprisingly, we’re fighting Mattel in this movie (Lucky for us, they can take a joke!).

Will Ferrell is a comedy legend. He is a multiple-time Emmy Award winner who acted in and produced some of the best comedy movies in the world. His work includes Elf, Anchorman, Step Brothers, The Other Guys and Daddy’s Home.

More Barbies

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We might have one original Barbie, but the movie includes many versions of the doll that came after her, portrayed by wonderful actresses, including:

• Issa Ray
• Kate McKinnon
• Emma Mackey
• Nicola Coughlan
• Dua Lipa
• Hari Nef
• Ana Cruz Kayne
• Alexandra Shipp a
• Ritu Arya

More Kens

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With Ryan Gosling playing the original Ken doll, an ensemble of very talented actors are portraying different versions of Ken, including:

• Simu Liu
• Ncuti Gatwa
• John Cena
• Kingsley Ben-Adir
• Scott Evans

Barbie Is Coming to the Real World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmNDddKcA2s

The Barbie film is definitely getting a lot of attention and hype (as it should!). People all over the world are getting ready with pink outfits in preparation to go see the film on 21 July 2023. With all that buzz around the film and all the lengths the movie makers and fans are taking to make this movie a cultural phenomenon, Barbie is set to become one of the biggest movies of 2023.

Whether you’re planning to follow the internet trend of seeing a double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day (what an experience that would be!) or just go to see Barbie and Barbie alone and have a full-on pink day, we’re sure you will not be disappointed. The movie hits theatres worldwide on 21 July 2023, and we will all be seated.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve answered some of the burning questions that are being asked around the internet regarding the movie, in case you’re wondering the same. Have a look!