Barbie: Who Is Ruth Handler? Rhea Pearlman's Vital And Poignant Cameo Explained
Contains spoilers for "Barbie"
At one point in "Barbie," our titular Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, finds herself on the run from various Mattel executives in the real world — and she finds a mysterious, unmarked door deep in their headquarters. When she ducks in, she's in a cozy kitchen, where she sees an older woman sitting at a table, who invites her to join her and have a cup of tea. (Barbie doesn't know how to ingest liquids, so this is, naturally, confusing for her.) All the while, the woman, whose name is Ruth, is warm, inviting, and comforting during a tumultuous time in Barbie's existence.
As it turns out, this woman — played by veteran actress Rhea Perlman — is vital to Barbie's story, because she created Barbie in the first place. Perlman plays Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, who named the doll after her daughter Barbara. The lore of Barbie itself is deep and rich, and it all goes back to Handler... and her inclusion in Greta Gerwig's candy-coated ode to female empowerment is extraordinarily important.
Here's the real story of Ruth Handler
Ruth Handler and her husband Elliot founded Mattel together in 1945 alongside their friend and partner Harold "Matt" Mattson, and in 1959, the company released the very first Barbie. Based on her daughter Barbara, the namesake for the toy, Barbie was, obviously, a huge success. The Ken doll, named for Ruth and Elliot's son, followed her soon after.
Handler passed away in 2002, so she never got to see her creation brought to life in a live-action project thanks to Gerwig. Before the film was released, TMZ spoke to her daughter Barbara, who specifically praised Robbie's performance as the doll and said that her mother likely never thought Barbie would get the big-screen treatment. Handler's creation is one of the most important toys in American history, though — and as Gerwig discovers in the movie, she represents a whole lot of contradictions to women across the world.
Rhea Perlman's Ruth Handler is pivotal to Barbie's awakening
After Barbie experiences the real world, squashes a Ken-centric rebellion back in Barbie Land, and gets everything back in order, she still has a nagging feeling that something just isn't quite right. For help, she turns to Ruth once again, who tells her that she can either remain in Barbie Land and live her perfect life every single day, or she can enter the real world and become human. Barbie chooses the latter, and as she holds Ruth's hands and feels the full spectrum of human emotion, her transformation takes place.
Ruth is pivotal to Barbie's journey from, as Barbie puts it, someone who imagines rather than just a simple idea — so it's fitting that, as a real person, Barbie pays homage to her sort-of mother. As the movie comes to a close, Barbie, now a human, heads into a tall, corporate building; it feels like she's about to apply for a job, perhaps at Mattel. Then, just before proudly announcing that she's there to visit her gynecologist, she gives a secretary her name: Barbara Handler.