Things Only Adults Notice In Barbie

When the "Barbie" movie was announced back in 2019, moviegoing audiences probably assumed that the story of America's most famous doll would be aimed squarely at the demographic that plays with them: little kids. But with indie darling Greta Gerwig signed on as co-writer and director, "Barbie" was always going to be more than a candy-colored cash grab. The release of a high-concept teaser followed by a cheeky official trailer were strong indications that "Barbie" had more on its mind than product placement and placating the 12 and under crowd. And judging by the extremely effective viral marketing campaign, Gerwig's film was, first and foremost, targeting the demographic of women who grew up with Barbies and who, perhaps, now had children of their own.  

Indeed, the plot of "Barbie" largely revolves around an X-lenniel mom who's struggling to connect with her Gen Z daughter. Though contemporaries of teenage Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) will surely enjoy "Barbie," and while even younger kids can see it, the movie will be most appreciated by cohorts of America Ferrara's Gloria. That's because Gerwig's take on "Barbie" is thematically and tonally ambitious, and full of Easter eggs and references that only viewers of a certain age will catch. Unlike the savviest kids movies that pack in enough jokes to amuse the grown-ups, "Barbie" is a subversive and campy yet earnest parable that's unapologetically for adult women, with fun elements that will hold their daughters' attention. These are the things about "Barbie" that make the movie work on an entirely different level for the Glorias of the world.

The teaser trailer for "Barbie" that hit YouTube in December 2022 generated buzz for being a parody of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Fans may have assumed the clip was just clever advertising, and that only the final frames of the teaser contained footage from the movie itself. But the "2001" riff actually appears in "Barbie" as a prologue of sorts. From there, Greta Gerwig's film contains myriad references to famous films that came before it, and many of them are from before Gen Z's time.

When Ken crosses into the real world, he discovers "Rocky" and adopts Sylvester Stallone's personal style as his own. Later, when the Barbies conspire to overthrow the Kens, one pretends to have never seen "The Godfather," triggering a mansplaining watch session. The most overt nod is to another Warner Bros. film. When Alexandra Shipp's Writer Barbie is deprogrammed, she can't believe she was so invested in the Snyder cut while under the Kens' influence.

More subtle allusions to other classics can be found throughout Gerwig's film, which she readily admits was inspired by movies such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Truman Show." Barbie's disco party resembles the dancing and set from "Saturday Night Fever"; The choice of a Manolo Blahnik or a Birkenstock is a spoof of the red and blue pills in "The Matrix"; The Kens travel on horseback à la the knights in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"; and the musical battle of the Kens features iconography and choreography that's similar to "West Side Story" and "Grease."

To the surprise of parents everywhere, "Barbie" was released with a PG-13 rating. It's not unusual for family films to earn that designation — every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and most "Star Wars" films carry the same rating, and so do blockbusters like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Jurassic Park." Most of those contain significantly more cursing and violence than "Barbie" does, so why wasn't a movie about a children's toy able to pass for PG? One reason could be the number of double entendres in the script. In fact, in one of the more adult scenes, Barbie herself points out that the construction workers' catcalls are entendres that are double. In other words, "Barbie" is full of jokes that are specifically designed to go over kids' heads.

The first one audiences encounter is a gag that was featured in the trailer. The Kens, trying to out-Ken each other, repeatedly threaten to beach each other off ... as "beach" is Ken's career. Later, Gosling's Ken suggests he wants to stay over at Robbie's Barbie's Dreamhouse, though he doesn't fully understand the idiom. And in France, even the poster for "Barbie" was a double entendre. The tagline, "Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c'est juste Ken," takes on an entirely different meaning in that language. 

Gloria's epiphany inspires her to pitch the idea of an Ordinary Barbie. Will Ferrell's CEO character assumes it would never sell, but when an underling does some quick calculations and informs him that Ordinary Barbie would be a hit and make money, the boss changes his opinion on a dime. The underlying message throughout anything having to do with the Mattel plot is that, no matter how much the company claims it exists to altruistically show girls and women that they can be anything they want to be, they'd box up and put a price tag on any hunk of plastic that would sell. That becomes apparent when Barbieland-turned-Kendom's effect on the real world transforms Barbie Dreamhouses into Ken Mojo Dojo Casa Houses and they start flying off of store shelves.

Though "Barbie" is, unavoidably, a corporate tie-in and a product in and of itself, Greta Gerwig's and Noah Baumbach's script takes pains to interrogate the many ways in which capitalism and Barbie are inextricably linked. At one point, Margot Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie describes her self-worth by proudly claiming that she's accumulated a lot of great stuff. That's certainly a tongue-in-cheek indictment of consumerism as identity; so is the fact that execs try to get and keep Barbie in her box by handcuffing her with twist ties.

Ironically, the movie that pokes fun at its own capitalist benefactor is also making a ton of dough, not only from better-than-expected ticket sales but from corporate collaborations with companies from Crocs to Cold Stone Creamery. This irony as well as "Barbie's" meta-commentary on commerce are beyond the interests of grade school-aged moviegoers. 

"Barbie" is possibly the most fun movie about anxiety and depression ever made. Kids may have heard of those terms before, and some may have even experienced them. After all, the film's inciting incident has to do with Stereotypical Barbie's fear of death, which leads her to seek out the girl who owns her so that she can figure out why she's so sad. But "Barbie" isn't about generalized anxiety. It's about female anxiety — the kind that grips girls as they go through puberty and become women (as symbolized by Sasha) and the kind that hinders adult women trying to (as Gloria puts it) just get through the day. There's also the kind that Depression Barbie from that faux commercial experiences while she's eating a family-sized bag of Starbursts and watching "Pride and Prejudice" again. 

Barbie's own anxiety begins when she realizes she has bad breath ... the first sign of a previously unthinkable imperfection. From there, she begins to fret about cellulite and not being beautiful anymore. Sasha and Gloria are clearly struggling, too. It's strongly implied that societal expectations play a role in these deep-seated worries. "Barbie" puts forth that cultural norms mean women have little choice but to stress about their looks, their demeanor, their intelligence, their professionalism, and their parenting in ways that men, perhaps, are not. That doesn't mean men don't have their own anxieties or that people don't, regardless of gender, harbor similar fears. It's just that "Barbie" is relating specifically to an audience of women who've tried to have it all and found it mentally and physically exhausting. 

We're living through a cultural pendulum swing in which identity politics have become increasingly hot-button, especially in the spheres of the entertainment industry and advertising. Disney remakes starring non-white actors generate anger online, and brands like Bud Light, Target, and even Chick-fil-A have come under fire by organized opposition for supporting the LGBTQ community and diversity initiatives. There's been a backlash to "Barbie," at least on social media if not at the box office, but it's primarily centered on the perception that the film is anti-man. The fact that a trans actress — Hari Nef — plays Doctor Barbie has gone relatively unchallenged in the mainstream, as has the fact that the film showcases multiple Barbies and Kens of color. 

That's probably because, despite the fact that the doll the movie is based on is blonde, buxom, and often sexualized, there's no real sexuality in "Barbie" at all. Not to mention, the film is having fun with gender norms while both embracing and rejecting them. Barbie reminds people that she and Ken don't have genitals, and they don't so much as kiss. Most kids likely left the theater never having realized Nef is a trans actress. Similarly, most likely never gave a second thought to the diverse Barbies and Kens because the toy line itself has been multiracial since 1968. Plus, "Barbie" also features a Barbie who uses a wheelchair in the disco party scene, like the one that hit store shelves in 1997. 

One of the best things about "Barbie" is how it keeps you on your toes with its occasional adult humor. We already touched on some of the film's more risqué jokes and double entendres, but it goes deeper than that. The film's inciting incident is Barbie — who is used to her serene plastic world — being suddenly troubled with human issues such as cellulite and even thoughts of death. These new feelings result in Barbie's cheerful daily rhythms being disrupted and even cause her feet to touch the ground.

Of course, the vast majority of kids will be unaware of what cellulite (defined by WebMD as "fat beneath your skin that causes a lumpy, cottage cheese look on your thighs, rear end, hips, and belly) even is. Children don't tend to dwell on concepts like their own mortality like grown-ups do. When Barbie says "Do you guys ever think about dying?" during her big party, it's just a wacky record-scratch moment for the kids in the audience, but this dark joke hits differently for adults, most of whom have considered their own mortality at some stage.

Generally speaking, a film's final note is its most important one. In the case of "Barbie," Greta Gerwig opts to cut to the end credits after an absolutely pitch-perfect joke. The film concludes on Barbie herself, having followed through on moving to the real world and becoming an everyday person. We see ​​Gloria, Sasha, and Sasha's dad drop her off somewhere before wishing her luck — with what, we aren't told just yet.

She introduces herself as "Handler, Barbara" (a nod to Ruth Handler's real-life daughter, who doesn't have a cameo in the film despite rumors to the contrary) to a secretary who then asks how she can help. Barbara then says, with childlike wonder in her eyes, that she's there to see her gynecologist, fully confirming her human status in the bluntest way possible. This line more than likely led to several children asking their parents just what a gynecologist is.

According to Gerwig, ending on "a mic drop kind of joke" was always the plan, but she went for this because it works on two levels — it's funny for adults, but it also normalizes medical check-ups for women. "When I was a teenage girl, I remember growing up and being embarrassed about my body, and just feeling ashamed in a way that I couldn't even describe," the filmmaker told USA Today. "To see Margot as Barbie, with this big old smile on her face, saying what she says at the end with such happiness and joy — I was like, if I can give girls that feeling of, 'Barbie does it, too,' that's both funny and emotional."