Irony’s not dead — but it is for sale. And by the look of this summer’s mega film, it’s the suits, with a knowing wink, who are in the market. How else to explain Hollywood megastars and a feted director making a film about a child’s doll with blonde hair that’s most famous for being a reductive vision of womanhood?
The Barbie movie is everywhere. It’s so hot right now. You can’t move for seeing Margot Robbie dolled up in garish outfits (otherwise known as BarbieCore) or Ryan Gosling looking rather pleased with himself in the role of Ken. Greta Gerwig, the director of Lady Bird and Little Women, is the feminist auteur behind the lens. This A-list trio have given respectable cover to the film (which has had a long and sometimes unhappy production since 2009).
Surely, if these three are involved, it can’t be reductive or basic? That, I suppose, is how we fell for this. We’re all in on the game, on the irony of making a film about Barbie — it will be fun.
The old idea that Barbie was just a bleak corporate commodification of body image is just that: old. Duh. And if you’re worried or despairing about this being a cultural nadir... stop being such a bore (this is what the eye-roll emoji was invented for).
You do wonder, who is really having the last laugh here? Apart from the executives, that is. Barbie can’t laugh, she’s a plastic doll. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will probably be laughing all the way to the bank.
Did we really learn nothing from Transformers?
