A review on Barbie (as a woman who grew up in a Barbie World)

**SPOILERS**

Like most young kids, especially girls, I grew up in a house with Barbie dolls. I spent time picking out the perfect outfits and setting up the perfect house while I orchestrated their perfect, Barbie lives.

The newly released Barbie movie, directed by the talented Greta Gerwig, captured the nostalgia and magic of growing up with Barbie dolls. Of the way we let our imaginations run wild, the way play was always centered around pretend and the world was so full of colors. Her and her team's attention to detail to encapsulate a true, Barbie experience with underlying, inspirational and thought-provoking messages made for a wonderful viewing experience.

Something that immediately drew my attention prior to watching was the fact that Margot Robbie, who depicted stereotypical Barbie, refused to work on this project unless there was proper representation in the casting. We see Barbies of all different ethnicities, body types, and professions showcased in this film, and I think it's a beautiful message to anyone watching that the slogan of Barbie, that you can be anything, holds true.

This movie, in my opinion, gently but firmly showcased the distinct difference between the meaning of being a Barbie doll and the meaning of being human. Anyone who grew up trying to recreate the perfection established by Barbie gets to watch as Margot Robbie's Barbie has to learn how to be human and struggles with it. And then, on the other hand, we watch as humans try to understand the ways of dolls. But in the end, everyone is able to learn something from each other. To me, this was the perfect way to separate and reaffirm that we are, in fact, not perfect and, as important as it is for us to find representation in things, we define who we are.

As I sit here typing this up, listening the Billie Eilish's Barbie-inspired song "What Was I Made For?", I'm focused on the lyrics that delve into a feeling of losing the feeling of purpose but longing to find it again. I'm reminded of the way that Barbie decides for herself to leave Barbieland behind in the end, leaving everything she knows, in order to take the next steps in her journey. This is incredibly symbolic of the way that life works. Despite this perfect, idealized version of a woman that we all grew up with, Barbie realized being "perfect" wasn't what made her feel like a woman, like a person. I always bring up my favorite YouTube channel, Yes Theory, because they're so impactful and I have the utmost respect for their work, but their message of "Life begins outside of your comfort zone", pertains to this movie so well. You truly can't grow inside your comfort zone and Barbie had to leave her comfort zone behind, after realizing she outgrew it, in order to go somewhere she could feel like herself. And I think that is something in life that we all have, or will at some point, experience for ourselves. The ending of the movie told anyone watching and listening, that it's okay to change your path, because life is all about embracing change and you don't need to be perfect to be meaningful.

There was so much love for this movie that I saw after the release weekend, but I also saw a lot of people who didn't understand the powerful messages and some who left snarky comments about feminism surrounding this film. As a woman who has a grown up in a world where the male-gaze dominates the functioning's of our society, this movie hit close to home. Dreaming of a world where women are viewed with respect and value rather than simply objects for pleasure, is a long-fought war. I was reminded of this as I spoke with some beautiful, older women who sat near me in the theater. They told me all about how they had some of the first Barbie dolls to be released and we discussed our mutual love for Barbie. But then I got sad looking at them, remembering how we had all just cried together over the hardships of being women, and was reminded that this is a decades-old, even centuries-old, war of women fighting to be seen.

With the film's overarching theme of identifying and working to correct social issues but giving everyone the recognition that they deserve while simultaneously highlighting the very real and frustrating reality of being a woman and all of the expectations that are placed on us by society, this movie left me in tears. It was a film of the century and, with being a writer and artist myself, Greta did an incredible job making something authentic and impactful. All of the cast portrayed their characters flawlessly and I was left utterly speechless by the artwork I had just witnessed.

I laughed at the jokes, cried from laughter, and shed tears for the girl I once was who had to grow up with too much pressure for my little shoulders to be a man-made ideation of what a woman should be, rather than being myself.

To all of the women who grew up in a Barbie World, you can be anything you set your mind to but the most important thing you can ever be, is you.