#its also crazy to me cos like. gretas whole thing is holding complex ideas about womanhood next 2 each other

[dandeyrain]

stereotypical barbie spends the film defining herself by what she is not; she's not intelligent like the barbies that win nobel prizes or a leader like the barbie that's president. she's exceptional, like all the barbies, but only to the extent that she is really, really traditionally attractive. her job isn't to make plans or to make changes, it's just to Be A Pretty Object. because it's all she's known and because being a pretty object and nothing else has secured her place in society, she thinks she wants that!

the whole movie is barbie learning that actually, she wants to be more than a pretty object! she doesn't want to just be a Platonic Ideal Of Acceptable Kinds Of Beauty. she wants to age! she wants to have ideas, not be one! she wants to be a person, not just a beautiful woman.

i get why barbie collectors or hyperfem people wanted her to stay a pretty, hyperfem, traditionally attractive barbie and nothing else. i love a lot about that kind of aesthetic! i love my dressed up dolls! but the idea that there's any satisfying end to the movie where greta gerwig pats stereotypical barbie (and therefor the audience) on the back and says, "just stay a pretty object. that's great!" is kind of nuts to me. greta gerwig was never going to make that kind of movie