Greta Gerwig Refused To Part Ways With This Small But Significant Barbie Scene
Whatever order you plan for your #Barbenheimer viewing (That's "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," by the way), it's difficult to walk out of "Barbie" without a smile on your face. That was certainly true for the theater when I watched the film. Director/writer Greta Gerwig explores our childhoods, feminism, the contradictions and expectations for women in the world, disappointment and joy, growing up, and a reminder to love what we love, no matter what. It's also hysterical. This is all a lot to get into a film with a reasonable run time.
Funny as it is (I mean, Ryan Gosling performs a musical number as Ken), it gutted me in a number of moments. I did not expect to tear up as much as I did in a "Barbie" movie, but here we are. According to an interview in Rolling Stone, one of those moments was incredibly important to Gerwig. It's not a spoiler or a big set piece. It's just a perfect moment that is the essence of the movie's message.
'If I cut the scene, I don't know what this movie is about'
In the film, Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives in the perfect world of Barbieland where everything is joyful and women run everything. The Barbies (and friends) believe they've been empowering real little girls and teaching them that they can be anything they dream of. However, things start to go wrong for Robbie's Barbie, and she's sent to the real world to discover what's happening. What she finds is the complete opposite of what she expected.
The scene itself takes place on a bench in the real world, where Barbie sees an older woman. Barbieland is full of dolls who are all around the same age, so this is completely new for her. She looks at this woman, smiles, and tells her she's beautiful. I will be completely honest and tell you I'm actually getting choked up just writing about it. Gerwig wasn't going to allow this moment to be passed over. She told the publication:
"I love that scene so much. And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She's a legend. It's a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn't lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, 'Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.' And I said, 'If I cut the scene, I don't know what this movie is about.'"
By the way, Ann Roth has won Academy Awards for 1996's "The English Patient" and 2020's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and has been nominated for three more. She's also done costumes for "Mamma Mia!," "Closer," "Midnight Cowboy," and "The Birdcage."
We are Barbie
Barbie has a complicated history in the world, where she's been beloved, but also blamed for giving girls unrealistic body expectations. It's so much more complex than that, as /Film's own BJ Colangelo explains in her guide to Barbie lore. This scene reminded me that some of the first images of women in powerful roles that I ever saw were in Barbie boxes at the toy store. It's easy to forget that part. I'm not saying that I didn't want to look like her because I clearly remember the moment I realized that wasn't possible, but a lot of my thoughts on Barbie didn't come from me. They came from what I was told about her and what she was doing to us. I've certainly talked about it a lot over the years on podcasts and shows. I had to do some real reexamination of my thoughts after the screening, and this scene encapsulated something I hadn't thought about in a long time.
When we look at someone, we're filtering our impression of them through our societal values, what we think, and what we're supposed to think about looks, gender, abilities, and every other piece of criteria our brains throw at us. The film's Barbie has none of this. She looks at this older woman and sees beauty in something new and different. That's a pretty damn good message.
"Barbie" is in theaters now.