my 2¢ on the barbie movie (dw i didn't spoil)

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on a new topic daily, and send it to your inbox. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! you reading this is keeping me accountable, so thank you for that. as a treat, i drop cool resources/opportunities at the end. 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: my 2¢ on the barbie movie! 👠

i (finally) watched the barbie movie yesterday! i won’t spoil it for anyone that hasn’t watched it yet, but i will be brain dumping on the themes.

the message i appreciated most throughout the barbie movie was that women shouldn’t have to force themselves into a box or 1-word identity. 

in the movie, each barbie has one defining trait that serves as her entire identity: president barbie, stereotypical barbie, pregnant barbie, doctor barbie, and the list goes on.

each barbie is extraordinary at fulfilling her role. in the real world, these expectations are similarly placed on women.

be a selfless mother.

be perfectly beautiful.

be the smartest in the room.

but it’s okay to just be. we’re forced to be overly individualistic and fall into a competitive culture. in reality, it’s okay to be just like other girls and it’s okay to not be extraordinary. it’s okay to explore, and to fail all together. 🫂

barbie communicates the message of loosening the expectations of identity and embracing change wonderfully. i often hold myself to strict expectations, thinking i need to be perfect so i can get even a fraction of the same recognition as other people in the room. unfortunately, that’s how society is set up. but i know, for me personally, i’m going to allow myself more grace and kindness.

on the other hand, during some points of the movie it kind of feels like an essay on gender inequality rather than showcasing it through a narrative. based on the reactions from tiktok, i expected the movie’s feminism to be much more symbolic and deep, but this theme specifically is pretty surface level. some characters simply describe the inequalities women face as a result of patriarchal society through a monologue. i think the reverse society in “barbieland” should have been played out more. we hear ken speak about how he doesn’t like being dismissed and always attached to barbie, but ken’s experience as a man in barbieland isn’t developed much aside from a few comedic scenes in the beginning.

regardless, it was definitely a fun movie that kept me laughing and my friend crying by the end of it. the lighthearted nature of the movie allowed for these important themes to be showcased at a global scale, and that is 100% the way to go when educating people about problems they’ve never had to experience. 💋

what did you think of barbie? lmk! (:

cool finds of the day 🔍️