Easter Eggs And References You Missed In Barbie

Contains spoilers for "Barbie"

The most anticipated movie of the summer, and arguably all of 2023, is Greta Gerwig's "Barbie." First of all, Gerwig is at the helm, and after her recent cinematic triumphs fans can be assured the film is in good hands. But it's also become a phenomenon for the way the film touches on Barbie's relationship with feminism and sense of purpose.

Gerwig manages to take all of the great aspects of Barbie — showing women that they can achieve their biggest dreams — while fully recognizing and calling attention to the negative impact the doll has, with unrealistic body standards and how it instills the idea that women have to be extraordinary to be worthy. The film is a brilliant combination of the true nature of feminism, navigating existential dread, and figuring out what makes you special, but serving as a reminder that you don't have to be the president or a Nobel Prize winner to be an incredible human.

When the film's trailer came out, fans immediately took to analyzing all the smaller details and easter eggs that Gerwig strategically placed in the film to ignite Barbie lovers' minds. Now that the film is out, fans quickly realize that most of the smaller details in "Barbie" do not go unnoticed, like Margot Robbie's unrealistic beauty, original and discontinued costumes, and meta pop culture references. However, there are some tiny easter eggs that if you blink you may miss, so check out this list of small details that subtly enhanced "Barbie."

One scene that was featured in the trailer and opens the film is the little girls' revolt against baby dolls. With Helen Mirren narrating, the scene is cinematically gripping — watching young girls solemnly play with their baby dolls and act as mothers, while Mirren tells the audience how little girls were always force-fed the baby doll. That is, until Barbie came on the scene, showing little girls that the role of mother was not the only aspiration they could have. As a result of seeing Robbie's powerful stance, the little girls smash their baby dolls and revolt against this motherly ideology to opt for a Barbie.

The scene might seem slightly off-putting to those who haven't seen the original source material, but the "Barbie" opening is entirely based on — and a near shot-for-shot remake of — the opening from "2001: A Space Odyssey." However, instead of an alien monolith appearing before a crowd of cavemen, Robbie's towering, beautiful 1950s swimsuit-clad presence dominates the scene. The young women are inspired by Robbie's Barbies, and instead of breaking skulls like the cavemen do, the little girls smash their baby dolls in the same intense, animalistic manner. A baby doll is thrown into the air before transitioning into the "Barbie" logo, a clear homage to Kubrick's famous match shot in "2001: A Space Odyssey" that turns a flying bone into a satellite. The entire scene is absurd in these circumstances, but manages to cover a lot of exposition to contextualize Barbie for the audience, and certainly sets the tone for the bizarre nature of the rest of the film.

If you are anywhere on the internet, then you have seen the video of Ryan Gosling, the beloved Ken, at 12 years old dancing in an episode of "Star Search." He stands, front and center, with a group of dancers, and absolutely tears it up for the whole audience — and now us — to see. The MC Hammer pants, the facial expressions, and everything else about the video is incredible and totally on brand. Gosling's dancing career clearly did not start with "La La Land." If you haven't seen it, you definitely need to find it immediately.

However, nothing — and we mean nothing — could prepare you for Gosling's song and dance movies in the "Barbie" movie. Gerwig truly leaned into the hype surrounding Gosling's resurfaced video and created a musical masterpiece. Ken sings about his feelings about his meaningless existence, giving the audience more insight into Barbie's male accessory. This musical number is a great callback to Gosling's younger days and gives the movie more of a quirky tone, if that's even possible. Plus, it gives Gosling more of an opportunity to steal the show, as he does throughout the whole film.

There are so many Barbie universe references throughout the film, and pretty much every single one of them is called out by Helen Mirren's narration. However, because of all of these references, it seems especially jarring when the reference being made has to do with a different piece of pop culture unrelated to Barbie. But Gerwig adds so many pop culture references to the film that it's almost a game in and of itself to find them all. Fans will notice the discussion surrounding "Pride and Prejudice" and the feminine right to watch it whenever they want, as well as the brief discussion about loving Zack Snyder's "Justice League" cut and the masculine urge to shove that in everyone's face.

However, there are some quicker and more subtle references too, like Weird Barbie offering Barbie the truth or a way to ignore everything with a high heel and a Birkenstock. This is a nod to the red pill and blue pill decision from "The Matrix." Or, in the montage sequences, there are brief clips from "The Godfather," "Grease" and other popular pieces of media. It is great to watch Gerwig give both subtle and blatant nods to popular pieces of media.

There is one particularly beautiful scene in the movie that features Barbie telling an old woman at the bus stop that she is beautiful. The woman, in response, says she "knows it," giving Barbie a nice smile. The scene perfectly encapsulates what the Barbie movie is all about, and it is one of the most heartfelt moments in the film. However, fans began speculating who the woman is, and many were led to believe it was Barbara Handler, daughter of Barbie inventor Ruth Handler.

Pump the brakes, though, because that woman actually is not Barbara Handler. Instead, the woman in question is actually Oscar-winning costume designer Ann Roth, who has worked on movies like "Animal Crackers" and "The Seagull." The scene is still particularly meaningful, but does not have the connection to the Handler family that many fans speculated. Though, there is a big mention of Barbara Handler and the way she inspired Ruth to create the Barbie doll, so she is not totally absent from the film.

Gerwig is able to explore many themes in the film, particularly about feminism, coping with existence, and trying to find your individuality in a world that demands you to be perfect or extraordinary always. However, one more subtle, interesting theme that Gerwig tackles throughout the "Barbie" movie comes from her exploration of the way Barbie and Ken are attached to one another, and who Ken is without Barbie. A lot of the film revolves around Barbie's crisis with who she is and what she was made for, while Ken's crisis is learning about how he can be his own person and not only exist as something other than an extension of Barbie. It functions as an interesting take on the creation myth in Genesis, and how their relationship is like Adam and Eve, but flipped.

Barbie was invented as a way of empowering women. As a result, Ken was created after Barbie to essentially function as a human accessory to her. Gerwig found a way to explore how Ken burnishes Barbie's self in the eyes of those who play with her, similar to the creation myth that Eve was created from Adam's rib. Gerwig emphasizes this in reverse with Barbie and Ken, showcasing how Ken was created from Barbie's fame.