Is Barbie a feminist film? Depends

The highly anticipated film of Barbie it would never have made it to the big screen without some showdowns. The star and producer Margot Robbie she realized this already at the first meeting with the CEO of Mattel Ynon Kreiz in 2018, as told in the new issue of Time. “In that very first meeting, we made it clear to Ynon that we would be honoring the legacy of the brand, but acknowledging a few things, because anyway, if we didn’t, someone else would,” Robbie said. “So, we might as well have participated in that confrontation.”

Since then, the toy company has taken a leading role in that dialogue, organizing a “Barbie boot camp” with the director Greta Gerwig And Noah Baumbach, with which Gerwig wrote the film, and expressing his own creative differences, as he always reports Time. Richard Dickson, COO and president of Mattel, said he took a flight in the middle of production to reach the London set of the film and “discuss with Gerwig and Robbie about a particular scene, which in his opinion was not in line with the philosophy of the brand”. However, after seeing the scene in person, Dickson would have changed course: “When you look at a page, you don’t see the nuances, you don’t catch the expression,” explained Robbie.

The movie up Barbie he’s had some hitches before, various projects, including those involving Anne Hathaway And Amy Schumer have been started and stopped. In a recent interview with Watch What Happens Live Schumer confirmed a Andy Cohen that she abandoned her version of the film because she didn’t think it was “neither feminist nor cool”. Dickson declined to comment on Schumer’s remark, but stated a Times: “We needed to find the right talent capable of appreciating the authenticity of the brand and bringing this controversial character to life, with irony, but also valuing goals and feelings.”

In the same article, it is said that Robbie Brenner, executive producer of Mattel Films, warned executives at Mattel (whose CEO is portrayed on screen by Will Ferrell): «There will be no end of problems». Brenner stated a Time That Barbie “it’s not a feminist film”, a conviction that would also be shared by other executives of the company. “Who said that?” Robbie asked when his voice began to get around. Then, sighing, he commented: «I don’t know whether it is or not. What I know is that it’s a film, and it’s a film that contains so many things». Above all, added the actress, «we are involved in the game. This is not a hagiographic documentary about Barbie.”

Making a film about Barbie, existential and capable of speaking to an adult audience, having moreover as a reference 2001: A Space Odyssey, could not be an easy feat. As Gerwig put it: “Sometimes these films can suffer from the hegemony of capitalism.” Adding, to be perhaps less cryptic: “It’s like sneaking humanity into something that everyone considers a simple piece of plastic.”

The perfectly arched feet of Barbie will hit theaters July 20.