Hi Barbie!

When I was a child I was obsessed with Barbie. I remember when my mum used to bring home the Argos catalogue (those of you from the UK will know about this catalogue), I used to open it and go straight to the pages near the back where the Barbie products were and show my mum all the barbie toys I wanted. My mum only ever got me one Barbie doll as we didn't have much financially (I recently saw an interview with Nicki Minaj who pretty much said the same thing about only having one Barbie growing up). 

Despite being in my thirties, when I heard about the Barbie film I was so excited! The inner child in me was screaming with joy! Though I didn't know what the storyline of the film would be about I knew I had to see it regardless. I saw so much marketing and promotion of the film everywhere. I read online that $150m was spent on marketing the film, which cost more than actually making the film. There were numerous companies that had collaborations with Barbie including Zara, Forever 21, Primark, Nyx Cosmetics, Air BnB, Burger King plus many more. I kept seeing the colour Pink everywhere, plus the numerous Barbie related Reels and TikToks all over social media.

My friend bought us tickets to see the film on the opening day. We all wore something pink to go with the theme. As we got to the cinema many people of all ages and genders were wearing pink. I loved it! All the Barbie fans knew the assignment. The film surprised me as it had deep messages that I did not expect. I'm going to discuss the themes in more detail.

Diversity

One of the key points I took from the film was about diversity. In Barbieland all the women are called Barbie and all the men are called Ken. The Barbies and Kens come in all different skin tones and sizes. What this showed to me is that any girl can be a Barbie, you don't need to have Blonde hair and blue eyes to be a Barbie. I think this sends a powerful message to little girls that they can also identify themselves with Barbie regardless of how they look. There have been past criticisms about Barbie pushing unrealistic beauty standards on little girls which can be damaging, this topic is discussed in the movie. In the film the main Barbie played by Margot Robbie is known as the "stereotypical Barbie", she is white, slim and has blonde hair and blue eyes. This is the image of Barbie that we all know. This film did a good job of pushing away from this narrative and making Barbie inclusive.

Feminism

Barbieland is a feminist's heaven. The Barbies run everything, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and all the professions. There is the President Barbie, Doctor Barbie, Lawyer Barbie, writer Barbie etc. The Kens are more so background characters that play a supportive role. I believe the message of this is to show little girls that they can be anything they want to be and can aspire to have high-level careers which are normally dominated by men.  I see Barbieland as the inverse of reality where men dominate in positions of power.

Patriarchy

Another theme that is discussed is patriarchy. When Ken goes to the real world he discovers patriarchy and for once he feels that he is important as a man, whereas in Barbieland he didn't. He takes his new knowledge into Barbieland and brainwashes all of the Barbies and Kens. Now the Kens run Barbieland and all the Barbies are subservient to the Kens. What was Barbieland becomes Kendom. What was once a matriarchal society has now become Patriarchal. In the film Mattel, the company that created Barbie is run by men even though their products are for girls. The board of directors are all men and there is only one female member of staff (Gloria) in the whole company. For Mattel, making money is their priority, they don't care about the impact their products have on girls.

Womanhood

There was an emotional monologue by Gloria about womanhood and how difficult it is to be a woman in modern society. As women we are expected to adhere to a lot of unrealistic expectations such as beauty standards, always having to be selfless and putting others before ourselves. If we are bosses then we can't be assertive otherwise we are seen as being mean. Dealing with the difficulties of motherhood without complaining because we'll be seen negatively. We have to be humble about our accomplishments so that we don't make others uncomfortable. We are sometimes blamed for the bad behaviours of men. We have to be likeable. We are not allowed to fail. Being unable to keep up with these standards can make us feel like we are not good enough. The monologue hit deep for me because the experience of being a woman is very complex and nuanced. These are real challenges women go through and this monologue will resonate with many women.

I don't think the Barbie film would be for everyone, especially if you are not a Barbie fan already or a little girl. Overall, I do believe this film will leave a positive message to the viewers especially little girls.

African American History Museum

I recently travelled to the USA to visit family and I was staying in the DMV area. As a lover of black history I've always wanted to visit the African American History Museum since I first heard about it some years back. I finally got the chance to attend the museum in Washington DC and it was a great experience. I went with my cousins and we were literally there for 5 hours. The museum is huge and has 7 floors, so to have the full experience it will take most of the day to explore each floor. I know some people split this into multiple days. As I was only around for a short time I wanted to explore the whole museum in one day.

As you enter the museum  there are three floors below. So how it is designed is that you start at the very bottom which starts with the history of how slavery started and Africans being captured. As you move along the museum it is like you are travelling through time. It then continues  to the slave ships and then slaves reaching America. Everything is in chronological order and there is a LOT of information to read. As much as I wanted to read every single thing, I couldn't due to time, we had spent an hour on the first floor alone. We then progressed to the floor above as the journey continued. As you get to the third floor you see a lot more about black power and the whole journey ends with the election of former President, Barack Obama.

I thought this was a great concept as you journey through the history of African Americans. Though it was emotionally difficult to see the horrors that enslaved Africans went through, as you continue the journey it becomes more positive as you see the progress made by African Americans, the black power movement and how they overcame. Despite knowing a lot of black history already, I learned a lot of new information at this museum. The remaining floors of the museum showcases modern African American culture such as sports, music, film and entertainment. 

After this visit I honestly believe that African Americans are the most resilient group on earth. Going through chattel slavery, separation of families, Jim crow segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, being lynched, red lining plus much more, African Americans have been able to still thrive and achieve great things. They never gave up and many were willing to risk their lives so that they and their future generations could have rights and freedoms. If you are ever in the Washington DC area I would highly recommend that you visit the museum. It is free and you can book the tickets online. Here is my tiktok video of my visit below: