How that BARBIE movie logo adds meaning to Greta Gerwig’s film | HEAR ME OUT

I’ve been thinking about the greater themes of the BARBIE movie and I have a lot of things to say – I mostly just didn’t know how, until yesterday. I’ve now seen the film a half-dozen (that’s a six pack of brewski beers) times, including a viewing yesterday on National Cinema Day. I had to do my patriotic best and go see the #1 movie of the year (domestic and soon to be worldwide) on this fledgling theater chain holiday because 1.) I really want movie theaters to stay open and 2.) I love the movie and each trip back to Barbieland is an ecstatic treat. Frankly I’d use any excuse to go back to Barbieland – the sixth time being no different. But as I lef the film on a sixth viewing, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “is that really what the movie wants?”, I mean is that what director Great Gerwig REALLY wants – for people to want to go back to Barbieland? I thought the whole point of the movie BARBIE was that Barbie chooses the real world at the end. It is all a bit confounding, though definitely profitable.

You see, even after my first viewing of BARBIE I was slightly confused as to why I liked it so much. Look, I’m a huge Barbie fan (card carrying member of the fan club until they stopped distributing cards a half decade or so ago) so I kind of chalked it up to that ingrained fandom initially. But lingering questions remained. Were there deeper, more intense themes at work? Maybe – and maybe it was just taking me a moment to identify them because Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach do such a deft job of masking the bigger themes of the film in the wonderful wrapping of its low-key genius hybrid plot featuring a 90s culture clash parody (like ENCINO MAN or THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE) in its first-half combined with a “clean up the town” pot-boiler (WALKING TALL/ROLLING THUNDER) in its second-half. And then there’s that first layer of subtext underneath those plots (not a no-brainer but maybe a brain-stemmer as my old teacher used to say) about (1.) gender roles and expectations in a post-2017 world (seen in Gloria’s journey and the entire Kenland/Kendom/horses/Patriarchy arcs) mixed with a deconstructionist critique of the Barbie toy that is largely advanced in the Mattel subplot and an almost gestalt-like monologue from Sasha at the lunch table – both of which are mostly brushed aside by the time the third act rolls around. It’s a lot to take in but credit to Gerwig and Baumbach – the movie really works, feels effortless, and whenever the film feels like it might sink under the weight of too many masters, it breaks into a song, a wonderful new set, a colorful costume change, and sometimes all three.

But that wasn’t what was bothering me. I couldn’t help but think there was still something more, something greater underneath this plot and initial subtext? I think so. And it occurred to me when I heard a couple of different friends and critics remark that they loved that Barbie chose our world over Barbieland at the end of the film – but that they did not understand WHY Barbie chose our world over Barbieland at the end of the film. If you analyze on a surface level, it kind of makes sense. Barbie is in a process of growth throughout the film, she’s asserting herself, distancing herself from the roots of Barbieland. But when you think about it superficially, it initially all appears a bit nebulous. When Barbie asks Ken in their final conversation, “what if the things that made you you, were not really you?” it is a question that she is applying to herself just as much as she is Ken. But still, we know what that means for Ken but what does that MEAN for Barbie?

Like I said, the movie works almost too well though, because there’s more there – it’s just difficult to see it because it all goes down so easy. But one of the things that’s sitting right there in front of our eyes in the logo that Greta Gerwig picked for the movie. You see, that Barbie logo has not been used since the early 1980s. And being a big Barbie fan, to me at least, the choice of the Barbie logo was a critical part of the way the film would present itself to the public and a key to how the film and the artists behind the film, thought thematically about film. So when the logo first surfaced on those instagrammable memeable posters early in the year, it definitely made me think. And it was a moment that was just as exciting as when a new BATMAN franchise is announced with its new logo. You see, for me, the BATMAN 89 logo signals a very different tone from BATMAN 66 – or even THE DARK KNIGHT or last year’s THE BATMAN. So what did this Barbie logo mean for this movie?

In my humble opinion, Greta Gerwig chose a VERY specific “Barbie” logo – one used only from 1975 – 1991. While that logo was only used for 16 years of a doll that is now 64 years old, it was the logo familiar to a large swath of Gen X and Millennials and seen in commercials drilled into their heads during hours of Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s and early 90s, seen with their eyes on the shelves of Toys R Us, this logo conjures a sense of warmth and nostalgia for a very specific generation’s childhood. This is the Barbie era of SUPERSTAR KEN of the STAR VETTE. When Ken throws out Barbie’s clothes from the Mojo Dojo Casa House, they are all era-appropriate outfits, including shout outs to the Ice Capades (from a doll and outfit circa 1990) – I mean has any person under 30 even hear the words “Ice Capades” before seeing this film?

This is definitely not a Barbie logo for today’s generation of regular Barbie consumers (ie 4-12 year olds), nor do most of the Barbies in the film represent Barbies on the shelves today (FWIW many Barbies have had flat feet for almost 10 years). Also this is not the Barbie logo of those boomer kids in the 50s and 60s (they’re problems are done, they got their retirememnts, etc…). This is a Barbie for adults in prime earning age with adult issues and adult problems that need adult solutions. Sure kids can watch this version of Barbie and have a lot of fun – as they should, it is an entertaining movie and I’m not saying they shouldn’t go see it and enjoy it.

But this is not a straightforward Barbie adventure for girls and tweens. it is a Barbie movie and logo aimed squarely at the adults in the room (at least in age). The logo also allows for a deconstruction of the Barbie mythos because it is safely associated with those that are now adults. That’s why the main human character in the film is not Sasha, but her mom Gloria. The adults that this film is aimed at are the same age as Gloria (played by America Ferrara, 39 and born in 1984) and even Ken (played by Ryan Gosling, 42 and born in 1980) – both of which are arguably the characters in the biggest states of crises throughout the film. And while their own gender and societal role issues are addressed and resolved, it is Barbie’s own existential quest that is maybe the theme and arc that should speak to these adults the most – even though it largely works on a subconscious level. So getting back to the question from earlier, Barbie goes to the real world at the end of the film – but why? Barbieland is arguably far better than our own world in terms of lifestyle.

But it is the lifestyle of a child.

Remember, Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon – another actor in that prime millennial age range) seconds Barbie who comes to the conclusion that in Barbieland you are “either brainwashed or weird and ugly”. And in a way, she is also illustrating the difference between a child’s view of the world and an adult’s. Realizing that the world is not perfect, is not a Barbieland, and is filled with weirdness, ugliness, change and fear is a scary thought. Even Barbie doesn’t want it at first. She wants the heels the heels, not the Birkenstock. She wants to live in denial – as many adults, including me sometimes (yeah I said it), also want to live (I mean I have seen Barbie six times and run this blog!)….

But accepting that true beauty is not homogeny, that true beauty can only be achieved by accepting decay is the lesson Barbie learns, after prodding from Weird Barbie and Ruth Handler. And this theme is evidenced most prominently at the moment where Barbie tells the woman at the bus stop that she’s beautiful and she answers “I know I am.” Barbie can never go back to Barbieland after that (although luckily I can!). Moreover, Barbie’s arc and ultimate choice signals that maturity is essential for growth and fulfillment even if the tradeoff is death. To accept it means you are not living in denial, but living truthfully. It’s a big idea and it is kind of shocking to think that a salve on existential dread is at the core of Barbie. But these are fears of mothers – and fathers – and not their children. Hence that logo.

And – side tangent here – there’s also something exciting about Greta Gerwig using the 70s/80s Barbie logo because it means someone can use the classic 50s Barbie logo, or the 2004 logo, or even the current retro logo to herald THE DARK KNIGHT or THE BATMAN version of Barbie – don’t worry not grittier just using those examples as something more straightforward and more faithful in tone and story to the rich history of Barbie – down the line (yeah I said it). I can already hear the next director for the BARBIE reboot getting interviewed by DEADLINE and saying, “You know we could never do what Greta did with the property, so we went our own route and got back to the roots of the Barbie tradition and history.” Ah maybe I should just grown up and become and adult like Barbie and stop worrying about stuff like this. But I digress…

HEAR ME OUT is an ongoing column in NO SCOOPS CLUB capturing mildly crazy but hopefully well-reasoned theories. Click on the HEAR ME OUT tag for more in this series.