Barbie, American comedy and fantasy film, directed by Greta Gerwig and released in 2023, that became that year’s top blockbuster and the highest-grossing film by a female director. Based on the Barbie series of fashion dolls produced by Mattel, Inc., the film follows the adventures of a living Barbie doll who leaves fantastical “Barbieland” to visit the real world. Barbie’s stunning visuals, star-studded cast, and witty and socially conscious script by cowriters Gerwig and Noah Baumbach made it a critical and box-office hit.

Barbie’s journey to the big screen

Plans for a big-screen adaptation of Barbie had been floating in Hollywood for more than a decade before the release of Gerwig’s Barbie. Though the iconic doll has been popular since its introduction in 1959, Mattel’s caution in protecting its brand sometimes conflicted with filmmakers’ ideas for a major live-action adaptation. One of the company’s central concerns was how to address longstanding criticism of the doll’s unrealistic body proportions and the impact that Barbie’s appearance may have on children’s body image and self-esteem. In 2016 comedian Amy Schumer signed on to star in a Barbie film produced by Sony Pictures, but she left the film less than a year later, saying in 2023 that it was because of creative differences. When asked in an interview with television host Andy Cohen if the 2016 script “didn’t feel feminist and cool,” she agreed with that assessment.

After Sony dropped out of the project, in 2019 Mattel partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures to produce a film starring actress Margot Robbie as Barbie. Robbie also came aboard as a coproducer. Later that year Gerwig and partner Noah Baumbach (who is also a filmmaker) were hired to write the script, and Gerwig was announced as director in 2021. Gerwig’s film attempts a delicate balancing act between respect for the iconic Barbie character, particularly the nostalgia and affection many people have for it, and the various criticisms that have been lobbed at the Barbie brand for presenting unrealistic beauty standards and promoting materialism and consumer capitalism.

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Plot and characters

The film begins in Barbieland, a world populated by living dolls from the Barbie line of toys, including a variety of Barbies with different jobs and body types and many Kens. Barbieland is made for Barbies, a place where each Barbie doll has her own dream house and “every night is girls’ night.” The Kens play a distinctly secondary role, spending most of their time competing for the attention of the Barbies. One of the Barbies, known as Stereotypical Barbie (played by Robbie) because she represents the standard thin, blonde-haired, fair-skinned Barbie doll design, begins to experience emotional and physical changes unusual to Barbies, including cellulite, heels that touch the ground (Barbie dolls’ feet are molded to the shape of high-heeled shoes), and thoughts of death. Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who has been damaged by too much rough play, advises Stereotypical Barbie to leave Barbieland and go to the real world to find the child who is playing with her. She is accompanied on this journey by Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling), who tags along out of desperation for her attention.

In the real world Barbie is disturbed to find that the mere existence of Barbie dolls has not fixed women’s problems the way she believed it had. Meanwhile, Ken is excited to be introduced to the concept of patriarchy, believing that it entitles him to the respect he has so long craved. Barbie encounters Mattel’s bumbling CEO (Will Ferrell), who attempts to force her back into her packaging and send her back to Barbieland. She also meets an entry-level Mattel employee and aspiring doll designer named Gloria (America Ferrera), who has inadvertently caused her problems, and Gloria’s disdainful daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), who has rejected Barbie dolls because of their unrealistic feminine standards. Meanwhile, Ken takes his newfound knowledge of patriarchy back to Barbieland and leads the Kens in a revolution. The remainder of the film focuses on how Barbie, Gloria, Sasha, Weird Barbie, and Barbieland’s other misfit characters attempt to wrest control of Barbieland back from the Kens and how Barbie resolves her existential crisis.

Box-office success and cultural impact

The film was a stunning financial success, spending four consecutive weeks at the top of the domestic box-office chart and becoming the highest grossing film of the year. Its domestic box-office haul was more than $600 million, and its total worldwide box office topped $1.4 billion. Within 17 days of its release, it became the highest grossing film of all time by a solo female director. (Frozen II, which was released in 2019 and was codirected by Jennifer Lee, earned more worldwide, though Barbie surpassed that film at the domestic box office.) The film also earned a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film’s blend of humor, surreal visual style and musical sequences, and self-aware social commentary. Robbie and Gosling received particular acclaim for their performances, Robbie being the delightful heart of the film and Gosling going all-in on the absurd machismo of Beach Ken’s character arc.

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The film became a cultural touch point for its wild popularity and iconic marketing. More notoriously, its unabashed feminist themes provoked backlash from right-wing commentators and men’s rights groups, who objected in particular to the Kens’ second-class status in Barbieland and to the film’s satirical critique of Beach Ken’s macho awakening. A monologue delivered by Gloria about the impossible expectations placed on women also went viral and inspired debates about women’s role in society.

Barbie’s release on the same day as Christopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer, another summer blockbuster but with an entirely contrasting tone, spawned the popular “Barbenheimer” meme, with humorous images, videos, and tweets mashing up the two films. Additionally, the box-office success of both films stirred hope in the film industry of audiences’ return to cinema moviegoing after years of decline caused in part by home streaming and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards

Once the 2023–24 film awards season got under way, Barbie was among the most honored films in number of nominations. It scored nine nominations for the Golden Globes, including in the categories of best musical or comedy motion picture, director, and screenplay. In addition, Robbie and Gosling each earned a nomination for their performances. Three songs from the film’s soundtrack were nominated for best original song, the winner being “What Was I Made For?”—composed by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell and performed by Eilish. The film also won the Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement (a new category for the 2024 awards ceremony).

Barbie received eight nominations for Academy Awards, including best motion picture. Gerwig and Baumbach were nominated for best adapted screenplay, despite having campaigned for a nomination in the original-screenplay category. Gosling and Ferrera each received a nomination in the supporting acting categories, and the film also earned nominations for best original song, best costume design, and best production design. However, many fans and critics were shocked that Gerwig was not nominated for best director and that Robbie did not receive a nomination for best actress. The so-called snub led Gosling to release a statement, saying, “There is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film.” The film received the Oscar for best song, awarded to Eilish and O’Connell for “What Was I Made For?”