If you have been following the latest trend on the internet, you would have noticed the excitement around the upcoming release of filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s film Barbie, starring Margot Robbie as the lead. The movie is set to hit theatres in the summer of 2023, and the makers have already teased fans with character posters introducing an impressive lineup of actors playing different versions of Barbie or her boyfriend Ken.
The film features actors like Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Dua Lipa, Simu Liu, America Ferrera, Helen Mirren, Scott Evans, and Ncuti Gatwa. Interestingly, while the actors playing different versions of Barbie have been given distinct character traits, the actors playing Ken are just…Ken.
The posters provide a glimpse of various Barbies, such as Dua Lipa making her acting debut as a mermaid Barbie, and Kate McKinnon playing a Barbie who is ‘always in the splits.’ However, the history of the Barbie doll is not without controversy. For years, the maker of the Barbie doll, Mattel, has faced criticism for creating a doll that sexualizes and promotes an unrealistic body type among young girls. A typical Barbie doll has a narrow waist, full chest, and long slender arms and legs, and is always perched on her toes, ready to slip into heels.
In recent years, Mattel has made conscious efforts to make Barbie dolls more relatable for young girls by adopting various professions and ethnicities. While Barbie has gone through changes, her male counterpart Ken has remained more or less the same.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film seems to address the debate on how Barbie’s image impacts young girls, using the doll as a metaphor to represent the modern woman who is known for more than her looks. In the character posters, Gerwig’s Barbies have various attributes and are not just sexual objects of desire for men. In contrast, the men are depicted as brawny and plastic, with no defined attributes.
The internet caught on to the Barbie trend, creating its own versions of it, equating real-life and on-screen couples to Barbie and Ken. While the feminist take on Barbie made people laugh, it also led to a huge marketing campaign as the brand picked up the trend and redesigned it to promote its own products. Barbie enthusiasts can even create their own plastic personas through the Barbie Selfie Generator, which requires only one step: uploading a picture of yourself, then the AI adds customized colors and text.
Directed by Greta Gerwig, who also serves as a co-writer of the film along with Noah Baumbach, Barbie has been produced by David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Robbie Brenner. The film is set to release in theatres on July 21, 2023.
Post Your Comments