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The ‘Barbie’ Movie Embodies Inclusive Representation For My Brown Girls

Today’s Barbie Symbolizes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

I’m old enough to have witnessed Barbie’s transition from largely static to admirably variable. As a girl, I didn’t own any Barbie dolls, just baby dolls, a problematic cultural standard once heavily forced onto girls, as addressed in the movie’s introduction. My mother didn’t have a problem with Barbies. Representation mattered to her. She insisted that all of my dolls look like me. To this day, I’m grateful to her for caring about my identity formation.

Where I was growing up in Brookhaven, Miss., a Black Barbie doll on a toy store shelf did not come a dime a dozen. By the time I became a mother, a more relatable Barbie had emerged, one that I, unlike my mother, could comfortably introduce to Jasmine and Natalie.

Fortunately, my daughters experienced a Barbie culture inclusive of not only skin tones in their likeness, but also varying hair textures, facial features and body types. More importantly, Barbie became a symbol of diversity, equity and inclusion, encompassing the lives and stories of women from an increased intersectional perspective.

Jasmine Dickens sits on a ledge with a cityscape behind her

“Barbie” the movie portrayed a group of women with lifestyles identical to Jasmine and Natalie’s Barbie dolls. Watching the film, I thought about my little girls sitting on the floor with Barbie clothing, shoes, accessories, sports cars and other luxuries scattered about.

At certain points during the movie, I laughed and cried, rejoicing in knowing that my daughters were doing more than just playing with dolls. They were creating a world that young women owned—their Barbies with no glass ceilings, no threats to their personhood. Sitting at the brunch tables, swimming at the pool parties and driving the colorful sports cars were professional Black women, happy and thriving. Through their engagement with Barbie dolls, my girls were creating a world that they were raised to believe is attainable for them.

Jasmine and Natalie are college-educated adults now. Neither is clueless to the obstacles set against them. Both are empowered to self-advocate and expect no less than what they have worked hard to attain. As their mom, I can say that every second of the “Barbie” movie resonated with me because our lives and stories were well-represented.

This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to [email protected]. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.

LaWanda Dickens

LaWanda Dickens is a faculty member in the Jackson State University (JSU) Department of English and Modern Languages, where she teaches composition and rhetoric courses. An advocate for student engagement in campus and community leadership, she oversees programming that showcases students’ research and writing. Dickens also wrote the curriculum for the Jackson Middle College (JMC) Summer Program’s English Composition Preparatory course for dual enrolled Jackson Public Schools (JPS) students. JMC is a partnership between JPS and JSU’s College of Education and Human Development. During the fall of 2023, she served on the steering committee that made the 50th Anniversary Reconvening of the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival possible. Outside of JSU, Dickens partners with the Mississippi Humanities Council to implement youth programs for the Magnolia Literacy Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes multimodal literacy. One of the organization’s most popular initiatives is the intergenerational Blossoms Mother-Daughter Reading Club, which brings female Gen-Z students together with their mothers for reading and dialogue that fosters voice, agency, self-confidence, and leadership.

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Teaching Barbie: Scholarly Readings to Inspire Classroom Discussion

Barbie is having a(nother) moment. Researchers have been studying the famous doll for years.

Since she was created in 1959, Mattel’s Barbie doll and her descendants have been fodder for feminist researchers, sociologists, gender theorists, and other academics. As we all probably know by now, the doll was invented by Ruth Handler, who noticed her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls and giving them adult narratives and roles. At the time, most dolls looked like infants, but Handler saw a gap in the market for adult dolls for girls, and the rest is Barbie history. Initially a teen fashion doll, Barbie has gone through six decades of transformations and rebranding , becoming a cultural icon over the years and appearing as an astronaut, doctor, physicist, and just about any other professional you can think of.

Girlhood, Gender, and Sexuality

Linda Wason-Ellam. “ ‘If Only I Was Like Barbie.’ ” Language Arts , vol. 74, no. 6, 1997, pp. 430–37.

It’s impossible to understand Barbie without acknowledging the toy plays a big part in young girls’ construction of their sense of self. This ethnographic study investigates how young girls construct gendered identities and meanings through exchanges between visual and written texts, including Mattel’s book version of Cinderella, where Barbie takes on the titular role.

Catherine Driscoll. “ CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Girl-Doll: Barbie as Puberty Manual. ” Counterpoints , vol. 245, 2005, pp. 224–41.

Bringing together two relevant cultural texts for pre-adolescent girls, Catherine Driscoll considers dominant gender discourses through analyses of Barbie dolls and puberty manuals in the early 2000s as influential manifestations of the “tween” space in public and popular representations of girlhood.

Claudia Mitchell. “ Charting Girlhood Studies .” Girlhood and the Politics of Place , edited by Claudia Mitchell and Carrie Rentschler, Berghahn Books, 2016, pp. 87–103.

A good summary of what has been accomplished or found so far in girlhood studies, which has often drawn on how girls understand gender and power dynamics through playing with Barbie.

Louise Collins, et al. “ We’re Not Barbie Girls: Tweens Transform a Feminine Icon. ” Feminist Formations , vol. 24, no. 1, 2012, pp. 102–26.

Based on the insights collected from a research workshop for middle-school girls, this article asks what girls feel, think, and hope when playing with Barbie. Drawing on the insights middle-school girls delivered when discussing and reflecting on the constructions of female bodies and feminine identities in popular culture, Collins et al suggest that consumers are not simply vessels for consumption—they can be critical engagers of the products they consume.

Michael A. Messner “ Barbie Girls versus Sea Monsters: Children Constructing Gender .” Gender and Society, vol. 14, no. 6, 2000, pp. 765–84.

How do toys help children make meaning of gender? In this article, Michael A. Messner examines this question through an analysis of children’s interactions with pop culture.

Anna Wagner-Ott. “ Analysis of Gender Identity Through Doll and Action Figure Politics in Art Education .” Studies in Art Education, vol. 43, no. 3, 2002, pp. 246–63.

Using action figures and dolls as pedagogical tools, this article explores how art educators can engage young people in a critical dialogue to uncover preconceived ideas, attitudes, and values inherent in gendered objects.

Becky Francis. “ Gender, Toys and Learning .” Oxford Review of Education, vol. 36, no. 3, 2010, pp. 325–44.

Drawing on the claim that children learn gender through playing, Becky Francis conducts evaluated selected toys—including some Barbie accessories—to identify the gender discourses reflected in the children’s choice of toys.

Barbie dolls sit on a shelf at the KB Toys store November 25, 2002 in Westbury, New York

Whiteness and Race

Maureen Trudelle Schwarz. “ Native American Barbie: The Marketing of Euro-American Desires. ” American Studies , vol. 46, no. 3/4, 2005, pp. 295–326.

A particular concern of Barbie critics is the brand’s focus on and centering of whiteness, which the brand has addressed through the creation of ethnically diverse versions of the doll. In this in-depth analysis of Native American Barbie dolls and what they teach girls—and society more broadly—about Native American cultures in the United States, author Maureen Trudelle Schwarz argues that Barbie sanitizes the horrors of colonialism and Indigenous oppression.

Elizabeth Chin. “ Ethnically Correct Dolls: Toying with the Race Industry .” American Anthropologist, vol. 101, no. 2, 1999, pp. 305–21.

Examining the claim that providing more diverse toys is a progressive solution to white hegemony, this anthropological study with a group of working class, Black ten-year-old children complicates the politics of representation and inclusion.

Nina Cartier. “ Black Women On-Screen as Future Texts: A New Look at Black Pop Culture Representations. ” Cinema Journal, vol. 53, no. 4, 2014, pp. 150–57.

In this article, Nina Cartier offers a short but important critique of Nicki Minaj’s Black Barbie, along with other representations of Black womanhood onscreen.

Margaret Hunter and Alhelí Cuenca. “ Nicki Minaj and the Changing Politics of Hip-Hop: Real Blackness, Real Bodies, Real Feminism? ” Feminist Formations, vol. 29, no. 2, 2017, pp. 26–46.

Examining Nicki Minaj’s body of work, particularly her embodiment of her Black Barbie persona, the authors argue that Minaj’s offers a brand of feminism that is highly marketable because it merges a language of critique and oppression.

Okafor, Chinyere G. “ Global Encounters: ‘Barbie’ in Nigerian Agbogho-Mmuo Mask Context. ” Journal of African Cultural Studies , vol. 19, no. 1, 2007, pp. 37–54.

Beyond being an American doll, the product of Barbie was exported across the world, thus spreading its message across borders. In this article, Chinyere G. Okafor writes about the doll’s impact on Nigerian beauty standards through the image of the Agbogho-mmuo mask of the Igbo ethnic group. The encounter between these two beauty standards is the site of a global image-making network, the author suggests, and its discussion allows for an analysis of the globally empowered Barbie doll and her impact on Nigerian culture.

Mattel's Star Skater Barbie. The doll is advertised as an ice skater who can really twirl and skate as she performs in the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Marketing Barbie

Marlys Pearson and Paul R. Mullins. “ Domesticating Barbie: An Archaeology of Barbie Material Culture and Domestic Ideology. ” International Journal of Historical Archaeology , vol. 3, no. 4, 1999, pp. 225–59.

Drawing on the history of Barbie since the 1950s and the distinct “single career girl” marketing strategy employed by Mattel, the authors of this article offer a systematic examination of Barbie fashions, accessories, and playsets, which they argue reveals several distinct phases in the domestic symbolism associated with the doll. By tracing the history of Barbie accessories, the authors are able to pinpoint changes in Barbie’s domestic image over the last 40 years.

Erica Rand. “ Making Barbie. ” Barbie’s Queer Accessories , Duke University Press, 1995, pp. 23–92.

Delving deep into the history of Barbie and Mattel’s uneven and deflecting history around the character, Erica Rand writes about the erasure of Ruth Handler from the history of the doll’s creation by Mattel (something that has been curiously rectified in Gerwig’s film) and the gender meanings made by the company that invented Barbie.

A detail view of 'Barbie Puppy Swim School' which is on display at the Toy Retailers Association's annual 'Dream Toys' fair on October 27, 2010 in London, England.

Postfeminism, Pop-feminism, and Other Critical Lenses for Classroom Discussions of Barbie

Rosalind Gill. 2007. “ Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of a Sensibility .” European Journal of Cultural Studies 10 (2): 147–166.

To understand the complexity of Barbie, it’s important to understand the existence of postfeminism and how it manifests through media culture. In this article, Rosalind Gill suggests a few approaches to engaging with postfeminist pop culture in critical and feminist ways.

Jess Butler. “ For White Girls Only? Postfeminism and the Politics of Inclusion. ” Feminist Formations , vol. 25, no. 1, 2013, pp. 35–58.

In this article, Jess Butler delves into the lack of intersectional perspectives in the literature on postfeminism, which she argues privileges a white, middle-class heterosexual subject. By drawing on the image of pop star Nicki Minaj, Butler suggests an intersectional approach to producing knowledge about postfeminism.

Angela McRobbie. “ Postfeminism and Popular Culture: BRIDGET JONES AND THE NEW GENDER REGIME. ” Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture , edited by Yvonne Tasker and Diane Negra, Duke University Press, 2007, pp. 27–39.

In this article, Angela McRobbie analyzes the postfeminist messages of the Bridget Jones franchise to emphasize the “double entanglement” of being a woman, where a productive home and work life are desirable to complete a modern woman’s life.

Alice Leppert. “‘ Can I Please Give You Some Advice?’ ‘Clueless’ and the Teen Makeover .” Cinema Journal , vol. 53, no. 3, 2014, pp. 131–37.

While we probably won’t have to wait that long for academic critical engagements with Gerwig’s Barbie, reading critiques of similar films might help us think about it critically. In this article, Alice Leppert analyzes a common trope in teen films through the film Clueless: the teen makeover that makes the unpopular nerd into a popular girl.

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Shauna Pomerantz et al. “ GIRLS RUN THE WORLD? Caught between Sexism and Postfeminism in School. ” Gender and Society , vol. 27, no. 2, 2013, pp. 185–207.

A study on how teenage girls understand sexism in a society that teaches them that gender is no longer a question of concern. By exploring Canadian girls’ experience with the postfeminist belief that sexism doesn’t exist, the authors suggest that postfeminist narratives make it difficult for teenage girls to identify and name gender discrimination.

Carrie Smith Smith and Maria Stehle. “ Popfeminism. ” The German Quarterly , vol. 91, no. 2, 2018, pp. 216–27.

In this short article, the authors define the concept of “pop feminism” in a capitalist society, a critical perspective to understand Barbie as part of a postfeminist, neoliberal system of power and hierarchies.

Michelle S. Bae. “ Interrogating Girl Power: Girlhood, Popular Media, and Postfeminism. ” Visual Arts Research , vol. 37, no. 2, 2011, pp. 28–40.

Challenging the usual critiques of girl power, Michelle S. Bae offers an alternative approach for interpreting the concept — which directly implicates Barbie and the toy’s history with women’s empowerment. Understanding that the dominant discourse on girl power is still located in an essentialist frame of white Western hegemony, Bae uses the original criticisms of girl power as a starting point for arguing that girl power might be interpreted as subversive to patriarchy and are marked by contradictions.

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Success of ‘Barbie’ film adds to doll’s cultural legacy

Jeffrey Brown Jeffrey Brown

Anne Azzi Davenport Anne Azzi Davenport

Alison Thoet Alison Thoet

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Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/success-of-barbie-film-adds-to-dolls-cultural-legacy

Barbie. The one name conjures up feelings for many generations of women and men across the world. The plastic wonder is now featured in a new film raking in about $155 million this past weekend, making it the highest opening of 2023. Jeffrey Brown looks at the global phenomenon and what it all may mean for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Geoff Bennett:

Barbie, the name conjures up feelings for many generations of women and men across the world.

And as you have likely heard, the plastic wonder is featured in a new movie. "Barbie," the film, raked in a whopping $155 million this past weekend, making it the biggest opening for a film this year.

Jeffrey Brown looks at the global phenomenon as part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Margot Robbie, Actress:

What are you doing here?

Ryan Gosling, Actor:

I'm coming with you.

Margot Robbie:

Did you bring your rollerblades?

Ryan Gosling:

I literally go nowhere without them.

Jeffrey Brown:

Barbie is getting a big screen makeover in director Greta Gerwig's new film, but its just the latest update in a long history.

Woman (singing):

Barbie, you're beautiful.

Barbie — her original full name was Barbara Millicent Roberts — was created in 1959 by Ruth Handler or the Mattel toy company.

She stood 11.5′ inches tall. That mostly hasn't changed, but her look certainly has, as the blonde, slim-waisted, full-chested doll became a cultural phenomenon of the postwar era. Her male counterpart, Ken, was brought on board in 1961. Worth noting, he first came with straight arms that didn't bend and a head that could turn only left and right.

It was 1980 before Mattel released the first Black and Latina dolls actually named Barbie. And, in 2016, three new body types were introduced curvy, petite, and tall. Also changed, who she is, including her work. She's saved lives as a surgeon, traveled to space as an astronaut, and even run for president, a few times, in fact.

She has had over 250 careers, from CEO to Canadian Mountie. She still sells plenty across the globe, found in more than 150 countries. Mattel estimates that more than 100 dolls are sold every minute. And, of course, she's on social media with some 19 million followers across platforms.

An icon of the LGBTQ+ community, Barbie drag shows have cropped up this summer in anticipation of the film. Now Gerwig's film, starring Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie, clearly has some high heels to fill.

Joining me now is Andrea Nevins. She's director and writer of the documentary "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie."

Thanks for joining us.

So, we are deep into the world of cultural touchstones here, right? How can one small doll mean so many different things?

Andrea Nevins, Director and Writer, "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie": Well, this was a doll that was not like any doll that had preceded her.

Most dolls were baby dolls. And baby dolls were a way for little girls to enact potentially the only job that they could have in society, which was to be a mother. And that was the sole aspiration. This doll came about, and it was an adult doll, and it had breasts, and thus it almost instantly absorbed all of the contested space of femininity at the time and continues to today.

And that has come to mean different things to different generations of Barbie buyers, Barbie lovers, and Barbie haters.

Andrea Nevins:

So, she rides the waves of feminism again and again and again, from being adored early on, because she was one of the only toys that girls could play with that that allowed them to think about their adult selves, and not only allowed them to think about their adult selves, but allowed them into a space that they weren't allowed, meaning to be doctors, to be astronauts.

And then, when the second wave of feminism came around in the early 1970s, she was reviled. She was everything that feminists didn't want to be, which was an object. She was — she came to symbolize an object, as opposed to an aspirational toy.

And then she comes back again in the '80s, and then she gets the full backlash of the U.S. third wave of feminism backlash in the 1990s, and so on and so on.

Tell me a little bit about your own documentary, what you were able to see clearly at a key moment for Mattel and in the history of Barbie.

Yes, it was a pivot point for them.

They had had great success with Barbie for a long time, but this was a moment where they felt the doll might cease to exist.

Barbie wasn't widely revolutionary toy. Barbie became things that real women hadn't become. She had broken barriers.

These dolls enable girls to tell stories about dreams.

She's been around 55 years, but the last few years have been trying for Barbie.

This was 2014, and a friend of mine was working on the doll. She said that she was so excited to go to work every morning, because they would sit as a group of women and try and think about what it means to be a Woman in our society today and thus imbue the doll with that, with the positive aspects of that.

And so, it was very fun for her to go into work. And as she said that, I thought, this doll is such an excellent lens to look at the last 60 years of feminism. Would it be possible for me to go and film this re-ideation of this toy?

And it took seven months, because they were really frightened of letting anybody in. But I think they ultimately decided that illuminating the inside would keep them authentic and accountable. And so they let me in on all of the meetings as they thought through who this doll could be and all of the ramifications of that.

Who is Barbie now pre-Greta Gerwig's film?

That's a very good question.

She is still a toy and was a toy that managed to really take hold again during the pandemic, because the kind of toy that she is allows little girls and boys to get to play using their imagination. And because of the changes that they made in making her curvy and many different colors and handicapped Barbie, that made her ore appealing to parents who were afraid of that old stigma, where Woman would be put into a box, so to speak, as opposed to allowed every opportunity.

That was the doll that Greta got to take out into the world. So, now I think she's going to be seen in a very different way.

Hi, Barbie.

What has Greta Gerwig done with this complicated history?

She's allowed us to get inside the head of a little girl in the most magical way, meaning, when a little girl plays with Barbie, the world is hers. Everything that she decides comes from inside of her.

And her imagination can be limitless, because there aren't doors closing in her face. She's not subject to the male gaze. So, it's a very particular kind of world. And Greta has allowed us to see what that world would look like without men and the choices that women can make and the freedom that they have in a non-patriarchal world.

So, it's really quite an amazing thing to watch. And she does it with irreverence and humor and joy and a wee bit of rage, and so it's just a really fun way to reexamine this doll.

Given what you know about the history, do you expect even more twists and turns for Barbie in the future?

Absolutely, because she is subject to the same backlashes that we as women are.

So, I, sadly, feel certain that that backlash will occur. But maybe we have taken a giant step and it will be smaller this time.

We're also seeing this phenomenon of Barbiecore. Pink is everywhere, right? Pink is being embraced. What's going on?

I will take it right now, because it's very rare in our culture that we celebrate femininity, and celebrate femininity positively.

And so I will take this Barbiecore pink moment as a way of saying women are fabulous, and they can be feminine, as well as be powerful.

Andrea Nevins is director of "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie."

Thank you very much.

Great to talk to you.

As always, there is a lot more online, including a look at fun facts behind Barbie's lasting appeal.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

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In his more than 30-year career with the News Hour, Brown has served as co-anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues, with work taking him around the country and to many parts of the globe. As arts correspondent he has profiled many of the world's leading writers, musicians, actors and other artists. Among his signature works at the News Hour: a multi-year series, “Culture at Risk,” about threatened cultural heritage in the United States and abroad; the creation of the NewsHour’s online “Art Beat”; and hosting the monthly book club, “Now Read This,” a collaboration with The New York Times.

Anne Azzi Davenport is the Senior Producer of CANVAS at PBS News Hour.

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What Students Are Saying About Barbie

We invited teenagers to weigh in on all things Barbie — the doll, the movie, the cultural phenomenon. Here’s what they had to say.

A close-up photo of a Barbie doll, zoomed in to show only from her glossy lips to her metallic silver top. What little one can see of her face is framed by long strands of rose-colored hair, falling well past her chest. She wears a silver chain with a chrome charm showing her name, Barbie, written in script.

By The Learning Network

“Barbie,” the movie, was the blockbuster hit of the summer, earning over $1.4 billion worldwide, and demonstrating that the 64-year-old plastic doll still holds an important place in our collective psyche.

“After all these years, does Barbie still matter? And if she does, then … why?” Andi Zeisler asks in “ Barbie Has Never Been a Great Symbol, but She’s an Excellent Mirror .” We invited teenagers to read the essay and then weigh in .

They shared their thoughts on all things Barbie. Many of the responses came from girls, who shared the role the doll played in their childhoods, what Greta Gerwig’s film meant to them, and the ways in which Barbie has shaped them, for good and for ill.

Thank you to everyone who participated this week, including students from Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia ; Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park, Md. ; and Hanover-Horton High School in Horton, Mich.

And we’d like to give a special shout out to students from Claremont High School in Claremont, Calif., who have been replying to students from all over. Thanks for keeping the conversation going!

Please note: Student comments have been lightly edited for length, but otherwise appear as they were originally submitted.

Growing Up With Barbie

‘Barbie played a huge role in my childhood’

I played with a lot of Barbie dolls when I was younger. Barbie played a huge role in my childhood because I had over 70 dolls, including furniture, food, clothes, and vehicles for them. I used to play with my sister, younger cousins, and friends. I just had a lot of fun memories with Barbie dolls. I have memories of playing with them at my old childhood home and even bringing my swimming Barbies up to my grandparents’ house by the pool. I don’t have them anymore because we donated them but every once in while I wish we still had them so I could reminisce on the memories associated. Even as a 17 year old girl, if all my Barbie dolls and old stuff suddenly landed in our front porch, me and my 21 year old sister would be just as excited to play with them as we once were.

— Anne, Claremont CA

‘The toy let me use my imagination.’

When I was younger, I used to play with my Barbies and make up a storyline of who I was and what my job in life was. I think that the toy let me use my imagination to not only have fun through my creative thoughts, but to envision a future that I possibly wanted to pursue. The possibilities to Barbie are endless; a Barbie doll can be whoever the owner wants it to be.

— Mary B., Glenbard West

‘Barbie taught us to do what we want.’

Barbie still holds an important place in our psyche even after years since its release. Barbie is one of the strongest women of our generation and she’s not even real. She is teaching women that we can be anything we want despite what we look like. But also that was her flaw, we didn’t look like her. So many people thought you had to be perfect like Barbie to get the jobs you want, but that’s not what it was. It showed that women could be in positions of power no matter being a woman. Barbie taught us that women are much more than moms, which baby dolls taught us, Barbie taught us to do what we want.

— Addison, Bentonville West High School

‘If Barbie could, I could.’

Growing up I always LOVED Barbie. I feel like it always gave me a new dream or hobby whenever I got a new themed doll. I remember summer or 2013 my dad bought me a pool themed Barbie and then I told my mom and dad I wanted to learn how to swim, so my mom and I would go to my cousin’s pool whenever the weather was nice enough and we’d practice swimming. Of course my Barbie was there. Also the beginning of my kindergarten year my mom took me to the store to get something to help with my worries, I ended up getting a teacher themed Barbie and brought it to school everyday and it just really helped me gain more confidence because I thought if Barbie could I could.

— Sadie, Baldwinsville, NY

What the Movie Meant to Us

‘Never, in my 17 years of living, have I ever felt this heard and seen from watching a movie.’

I didn’t have high expectations of the movie, but I was still excited. It was already entertaining from the moment I started watching it, and it already started to speak to me about how women are seen in the real world. Then, the speech about how women are never seen as enough came along. Never, in my 17 years of living, have I ever felt this heard and seen from watching a movie. Then seeing Barbies band together to finally realize their self worth all over again, and stereotypical Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, realize that she wanted her own life and not one that was made for her, truly opened my eyes to Barbie’s meaning that I used to always think was, in simple words, “stupid.” But I finally understood it. I finally believed it. “Barbie can be anything. Girls can be anything.”

— Sofia, Claremont High School

‘Being in a theater full of only women from all ages made me feel something I hope I can feel again.’

I saw Barbie in theater when it came out. Being in a theater full of only women from all ages made me feel something I hope I can feel again. It was beautiful seeing all of these people come together for this movie. It’s empowering. This movie has received a lot of hate for being anti man or men being the bunt of the joke. The movie derives its comedy from the men being on the extreme side of things. This is what makes the movie funny. If they weren’t extreme every joke would fall flat. I think even men can laugh at these over the top stereotypical men. At the end of the movie it makes a point to have Ken be more appreciated, making the point that men and women should be equal and not women should be more equal then men. This is the true meaning of feminism and it’s beautiful.

— Avah, Claremont CA

‘Barbie made me both incredibly proud to be a woman and extremely sad.’

Barbie made me both incredibly proud to be a woman and extremely sad. The movie was a way to show women that they not only don’t have to look a certain way, all of womanhood is beautiful. It embraced femininity as well as evoking those emotions of being a girl in a world where men mean everything. Some people thought it was a man-hating movie, when in reality it showed what’s possible if women would embrace themselves. It was a world where women were proud, and wanted to be something. Greta Gerwig did a fantastic job at displaying both the extreme beauty of women, while also demonstrating what women have to go through in this world. Barbie made me proud.

— Ella P., Glenbard West High School

‘The film was motivational to many, including myself.’

Barbie is about a friendly community that inspires and helps each other. The film was motivational to many, including myself. It taught valuable lessons, such as ups and downs in everyone’s life, yet it is up to you to make the most of it. Not to mention, it helped others shape their perspective on women’s empowerment because, in a world filled with men in power, women need to stick together and help each other in order to effect change. In order for change to happen, men must not be at the center of everything; women need to be too. Women are just as important in this life, and women just need to realize their full potential in order to succeed in a male-dominated world society.

— Angelica, GBW

‘I really loved the tribute to mothers at the end.’

I personally love the Barbie movie. It wasn’t because of feminism, that was a small part of it but I really loved the tribute to mothers at the end that made me cry. As a girl who has a deep connection with her mom, it made me cry all the way home from the theatre. It was a beautiful movie even though it was a little bit dumb sometimes.

— Dani, Hanover-Horton High School

‘The Barbie movie reminded many that being feminine does not detract from your power.’

Gender norms are established at a very early age from the clothes you wear, to the activities you do, to the toys you play with, and one thing is very clear, girly stuff is not “cool.” My parents happily bought me Legos, action figures, and Nerf guns while none of my male friends owned a baking set, dress up costumes, and certainly had no Barbies. I heard this message loud and clear. I received praise for enjoying masculine activities, forgoing dolls, and enjoying getting dirty, but then I found out that this did not exempt me from sexism. On the playground, boys told me girls couldn’t play kickball, mothers commented on how I dressed, and classmates called me bossy for leading group projects. So it turns out, denying your femininity doesn’t eliminate the pressure to both conform to gender expectations and yet not be like other girls. This is all utterly ridiculous. My IQ doesn’t drop when I put on makeup, my ambition is not diminished because I wear high heels, and my feelings aren’t invalid when I’m on my period. The Barbie movie reminded many that being feminine does not detract from your power. In short, it can be incredibly empowering to ignore all the nonsense and reclaim pink.

— Katherine S., Glenbard West HS

‘Barbie’ made me realize that ‘movies in general, are made with men specifically in mind.’

I’ve seen the movie three times. The first time with my best friend, I remember the both of us getting choked up near the end. The second time I went with my mother, my eyes were on her at every joke and I can’t recall a movie in which she laughed quite as much. But on the third time I saw it, I went with my father. Whenever I looked over to him, he looked almost upset. I recall a time, just earlier that week, where he showed me a scene from a comedy movie that I did not find amusing. When I told him my opinion, he told me that I needed to imagine I was a man. I realized then that most comedy movies, or movies in general, are made with men specifically in mind.

— Sarah, Glenbard West High School

THE CRITICISM

She’s Not Without Her Problems

‘I still have some issues with her.’

Even though Barbie herself brings back wonderful memories I still have some issues with her. For instance I believe Barbie is the definition of a “gender role”: roles in life meant for certain genders. Barbie is only seen in the house, gardening, cleaning and even cooking. You never see a blue collar Barbie … Don’t get me wrong though. Barbie is amazing and enjoyable for many kids but the people who are creating her have a lot to work on.

— Akilah, Don Bosco Cristo Rey

‘Barbie’s image of the “perfect woman” has made people feel bad …’

When I was younger, I used to play with Barbie dolls all the time. In fact, I still have many of the dolls I acquired as a kid. Originally, Barbie was exactly what I wanted to be. In fact, she was what a lot of young girls wanted to be. The ideal female body, perfect in all the right places. But now that I’m older, I realize how bad of an effect it had on me and many other young women. Rather than giving proof of Barbie’s slogan, “You can be anything,” it just showed us what the world wanted us to be … But when people have stereotypes pushed on them, it makes them feel so much worse about themselves. Barbie’s image of the “perfect woman” has made people feel bad about their weight, their smile, and even unchangeable things like their skin color. So while Barbie seems like an innocent childhood toy, it has caused so many people to have uncontrollable insecurities about things that they can’t necessarily change.

— Mal, Baldwinsville, NY

The dolls ‘used to lack diversity quite a bit.’

My overall view of Barbie dolls is that it used to lack diversity quite a bit, which is something that’s very important to me, however in recent years they have gotten much better in terms of diversifying their toys. I can understand why many people might have a negative view of Barbie, and why they believe that she isn’t the best role model for young girls. The doll has mainly had one image for the past few decades and that has been a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Things like this can help push that white is the norm in the USA, especially to girls of color that enjoy playing with Barbies. There was a time when you could walk into a store and only see dolls that looked the exact same, which was white, blonde, and skinny. However I feel like more progress is being made as time goes on. Despite all of this I feel that the movie handled a lot of these issues in a pretty good way.

— Ru, New York

‘I would have loved to see Barbies who … weren’t all that into pink.’

Personally, when the Barbie movie came out, I had never been interested in the sort of products the brand offered nor was the movie something I was excited about watching. However, when a friend of mine insisted we should go see the film, I begrudgingly said yes and fished to grab my one pink button-up out of my closet. Wow! I was really pleasantly surprised by this movie! Though Barbie has a very light tone, it managed to discuss important issues in a way that definitely made me think. Part of the movie is the fact that it should make you uncomfortable, which forces you to take a good look at the real world. Additionally, the character Alan was very dear to me because he symbolized the experience of not fitting into the “Barbie” or “Ken” category. However, I do feel that the film oversimplified the varied experiences of women. Stereotypical Barbie was just that: stereotypical. I would have loved to see Barbies who didn’t necessarily have high heels and dresses, weren’t all that into pink, and didn’t necessarily partner up with a Ken. Overall, while the movie certainly isn’t perfect, it was definitely something I will keep watching again and again.

— Blake, Glen Ellyn

‘Without Barbie, I wouldn’t value my culture as much as I do today.’

As a child, my bedroom floor was almost always haphazardly covered by a plethora of Barbies. I even remember begging my parents to go to Toys "R" Us only to browse the Barbie aisle. I was obsessed with the idea of having a “perfect” toy. Something about her ubiquitous, embellished features captivated me. Eventually, however, this admiration became envy. Having a reminder of what was “perfect” — only to look back at the mirror and find no similarities — was incredibly dispiriting. Living as an Asian immigrant, I always strived to look like what was most represented — being a white, skinny girl — which I was neither. How could I begin loving myself if the media didn’t? Thus, I started to hate Barbie. The designated Barbie pile I once had was trashed. I assimilated into American culture, disregarding my mother tongue. Rejected my food, my words, and my culture. Gradually though, I began appreciating my identity and ethnic features. It wasn’t a magical change. I had to learn my culture again as if it was an old hobby. I like to think of Barbie as a hallmark. It is representative of the pain I felt, so displaced in a world where I felt like I didn’t belong. But it also represents the progress and change I have gone through. Without Barbie, I wouldn’t value my culture as much as I do today. I wouldn’t cherish my features as much as I do today either. And I love Barbie for that reason.

— Olivia K, Masterman School, Philadelphia, PA

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