Barbie goes through an almost hero’s journey as she is thrust out of her world- Barbie Land- into the ‘real world’ and learns that maybe Barbie didn’t have the all-encompassing fix-it effect that the Barbies thought. She learns of patriarchy, misogyny, and the anxiety and insecurity that womanhood inherently possesses in society today. It’s overwhelming; she feels, for the first time, something other than ‘awesome’ and ‘amazing’.
The recent success of Greta Gerwig’s summer blockbuster Barbie came as a surprise to no one following the incredible marketing campaign from the main cast, as well as the positive publicity already surrounding Gerwig and the cultural phenomenon that was “Barbenheimer.” In just seventeen days, the film surpassed the $1 billion milestone in the global box office on a budget of $145 million, making Gerwig the first woman to have a primary directing credit on a $1 billion dollar film. Likewise, the success of the previously mentioned “Barbenheimer” campaign resulted in Oppenheimer garnering an overall total gross of over $900 million worldwide. Does this mean that creative cinema has finally made its triumphant return, and the studio mindset of franchise filmmaking will finally become a thing of the past? Not quite.
