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I absolutely love the arc for “stereotypical barbie”’s character in the Barbie movie. At the start of the movie, she’s content to exist as she does — she doesn’t have a high profile job like some of the other Barbies, and she doesn’t necessarily have a specific slot to be put in that’s remarkable in a traditional sense (ie, she’s not President, or winning nobel prizes, etc.) but that’s okay because she doesn’t feel any pressure to distinguish herself by such dramatic means from the crowd. After she’s exposed to the patriarchal land of the real world and of Kendom she starts to inherit this worldview where she is only valuable if she is remarkable beyond reasonable expectation. Unless she’s literally president, or winning nobel prizes, which is a ridiculously high bar, she feels worthless and invaluable, where no one (not even her) questions the value of the Ken’s that are only drinking beer and devaluing the women around them. She inherits the view of so many women that if she isn’t perfect, or somehow dramatically different from everyone else, she’s worthless. She has a strong need to have something define her by her accomplishments or her looks because if that’s not there she can’t just exist without a purpose or some sort of justification for her existence.

Her arc of becoming human is so powerful then because all she wanted was to exist, and for that to justify itself. She doesn’t have lofty goals of running a massive corporation, or becoming president of the real world, or anything else (not that she couldn’t, but that she doesn’t have those goals in an effort to define herself) she is content in being — just *being.* She can exist and doesn’t have to prove herself worthy of that. She can just be human, and find intrinsic value in that.

I think so many women fall victim to this trap of feeling like if they’re not somehow the main character, or like the best out of a bunch of people, or can’t define themselves to the point of burnout or doing themselves harm, then they aren’t worth anything or their lives are pointless or they’re less valuable. When in reality, women don’t need to explain why they are valuable or why they have a point to their existence or a purpose or something — they can just be. And that’s okay. It’s beautiful.

I love that arc, and maybe this is me reading into it or maybe this is me exercising basic media literacy. Who knows!