#barbie movie monologue

[now-you-sound-like-a-jedi]

Barbie (written by Greta Gerwig, delivered by America Ferrera)

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Barbie (2023) | Superstore (2015-2021)

[marveliter]

I just saw Barbie again with my mom and sister and noticed something:

A little snippet, a soft whisper of What Was I Made For? plays when Barbie is on the bus bench with the old lady telling her she’s beautiful; I could hear the piano and Billie’s soft humming melody there, and then I think it happens again when Gloria is about to speak her monologue, right before when she tells Barbie she’s so beautiful.

The song plays when women are helping other women.

I am unwell.

[onmy-tallest-tiptoes]

I am tired of seeing complaints about America's monologue in Barbie being very basic and nothing new. Yes, it feels like something I have tweeted a thousand times years ago but I still cried and cried. What people tend to overlook is that in the movie she is not saying these things to women who have lived these all their lives, she isn't watering it down for hardcore feminists who know this and a thousand times more. She is talking to a literal doll who has only experienced womanhood in the real world and in Ken's mimicking of patriarchy for a moment and it has already broken her down. She is saying these things to someone who is feeling some things, most things for the very first time and can barely articulate them, and is doing it for her because she knows it very well. It might not feel like much to someone who has lived the life we lived, read and watched the things we have and fought our whole lives, but its everything to a doll who is experiencing patriarchy for the first time or may be a little girl in the real world who is growing up now and being more exposed to it everyday.

The strength in America's monologue is not in what she says being something noone has heard before, but its in the fact that we go through these things so often that they seem like nothing to us anymore and she is seeing the same things break Barbie down and is realising how messed up it is that even a doll who was made to represent women couldn't escape it. Such is the plight of womanhood.

Its inevitable.

[mind-of-mud]

the barbie movie has slowly made me realize that maybe i never hated being a girl. maybe i just hated the way i was treated for it.

[liyazaki]

THE BARBIE MOVIE: OFFICIAL TRAILER

[eternaldisguise]

From Barbie (2023) 🩷

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

America Ferrera :: The Barbie Movie

Here is Gloria’s monologue in its entirety:

It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.

[Los Angeles Times]

[allieinarden]

The America Ferrera monologue in the Barbie movie was my personal weakest part of the Barbie movie.

[falllpoutboy]

the thing about the robbie snub isn’t that she’s the lead in the movie and is a woman and therefore snubbing the lead in the movie is misogyny but.. the BARBIE movie revolved around ken. ken has the funnier lines and he affected the plot to the point of the entire third act was about him and not barbie. everyone only talked about ken and “im kenough” and his fuckass song after the movie came out. so is it really a shock to any of us how ryan gosling ended up being the one nominated and not her lol

[lizzygrantisaliveandbreathing]

I was in the winter of my life, and the men I met along the road were my only summer.

At night I fell asleep with visions of myself, dancing and laughing and crying with them.

- lana del rey’s ride monologue

[justhugsplz]

Frau Klemm has the chaotic energy of the gang

[cruesfavgirl]

“It is literally impossible to be a woman…

… You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged.  So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.”

- America Ferrera as Gloria in 'Barbie’

[gertritude]

complicated barbie opinions

[girltalkcollectives]

The Barbie Scene That Had Us All Ugly Crying in the Theater (You Know the One)

I wasn’t prepared to have an existential crisis about womanhood while eating overpriced movie theater popcorn, but there I was, mascara running down my face, as America Ferrera started that speech in Barbie.

You know exactly which one I’m talking about.

“It is literally impossible to be a woman.”

And just like that, I felt seen in a way that hit differently than any feminist text or empowerment speech ever had. Because here was this regular mom, in a movie about a plastic doll, putting into words everything I’ve felt but couldn’t explain since I was old enough to understand what being a woman meant.

I glanced around the theater, and I swear you could feel it — this collective moment of recognition from every woman in the room. Like we were all simultaneously remembering every time we’d been too much and not enough, all at once.

The thing is, I didn’t walk into that theater expecting to confront every contradiction I’ve ever lived through. I was just there for the pink aesthetics and Margot Robbie’s outfits. But then Gloria started talking about how we’re supposed to be extraordinary but somehow always doing it wrong, and suddenly I was thinking about every time I’d dimmed my own light to make others comfortable.

“Always stand out and always be grateful.”

I felt that line in my soul. I remember a time last year when I got a 100 on a final exam for one of my college classes. I literally prefaced telling my friends with “It’s not really a big deal, but…” Why? Because I’d rather downplay my success than risk being seen as boastful.

The part about never admitting we’re doing any of it unless we want to be called difficult? I actually snorted in the theater (sorry to the people behind me). Because right before I went to see that movie, my roommate called me “high maintenance” for having basic boundaries about cleaning schedules. The bar is literally in hell.

Sitting there, watching this scene, I thought about every woman in my life who’s lived this impossible paradox. My mom, who was told she was “too aggressive” for asking for a raise after 15 years at her company. My best friend, who got called “difficult” for turning down a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer. Me, being told I’m “too sensitive” for calling out sexist jokes while also being told “too cold” for not laughing at them.

You want to know the most ironic part? Some critics called this speech “too on the nose” or “heavy-handed.” And isn’t that exactly what Gloria was talking about? Even when we perfectly articulate the impossible standards we face, we get criticized for how we articulate them.

I left that theater feeling different. Not because anything had changed, really, but because finally, someone had named this thing we’ve all been feeling. In a summer blockbuster. In hot pink. In a movie about a literal plastic doll.

Sometimes I rewatch that scene on Tiktok when I need to remember I’m not crazy for feeling overwhelmed by these contradictions. When I need to remember that every woman I know is doing this impossible dance of being everything and nothing all at once.

To the woman who sat next to me in the theater and offered me a tissue during that scene without saying a word — thank you. To America Ferrera for delivering those lines like she was reading from my diary — thank you. To Greta Gerwig for sneaking this truth bomb into a movie about Barbie — thank you.

And to every woman reading this who’s ever felt like she’s failing at being a woman because the requirements are impossible — you're not alone. We’re all just trying to navigate this pink paradox together.

[liyazaki]

womanhood: a state of being in which we are as unified by impossible societal standards as we are by the out-of-body experience starting with the dreaded “I want to play a song- just for you…” 😏