Barbie World and happiness

I can’t say I ever expected to discuss the theological implications of a movie based on Barbie dolls. And yet, Barbie is dominating headlines, not only for bringing in a whopping 155 million dollars on its opening weekend but also for garnering thought pieces on the deeper meaning of its plot and for its cultural implications about the identity and value of women. A Vox article, for example, compared its plot to the biblical account of the Garden of Eden, with a primal couple living in a paradise before newly discovered knowledge about good and evil taints the world with corruption.

Whether or not director Greta Gerwig intended that particular angle, her Barbie not only engages with contemporary discussions about feminism but also the biggest of worldview questions, such as “What’s the meaning of life?” “What has gone wrong with the world?” and “What will fix the world?” 

In the process, Barbie tells a story of the world that, beneath its shiny colours and self-aware snark, more closely reflects the tenets of postmodernism than the truths of Scripture.

Happiness in Barbieland

In Barbieland, the meaning and purpose of life are to be happy, and happiness means a woman-run society of libertine freedom and unhindered expression. Lines repeated throughout the film include “Barbie is every woman, and every woman is Barbie” and “Barbies can be anything, so women can be anything.” In this view, to be empowered is to be free of restraint and responsibility. Something that is also communicated in its view of motherhood.

Christian reflection and common sense betray what’s wrong with this subjective view of happiness. How can anyone be happy if happiness is what life is all about, and our experiences swing on such an extreme pendulum of circumstance, freedom, and expression? As C.S. Lewis taught, true happiness is a byproduct of a well-lived life rather than the goal. Happiness requires we are connected to something larger than ourselves, ultimately God. We belong to the One who made us for Himself, and we find true joy in Him.

What’s Wrong in Barbie’s World?

Barbie’s answer to the question, “What’s wrong with the world?”  is, well, men. When she is cast into the “real world,” she discovers that its brokenness is due to the actions and attitudes of men, primarily against women. As one character proclaims, “We can only agree on one thing. We all hate women. Men hate women, and women hate women.”

This is both an astute observation and an odd complaint in a society unable or, more accurately, unwilling to say what a woman is (other than as a “non-man”). In the world of this movie, every man is oppressive and oblivious. Barbie can outsmart them all, while Ken only “slows her down” and “gets into trouble.” Rather than accept the female-ruling class of Barbieland, Ken longs to emulate the powers of middle-aged white men in the “real world.” So, he introduces his own brave new world, “Kendom.”

But in the world of Kendom, the ultimate obstacle to happiness and freedom is men. They are not good. Women are. This is, of course, the same framing of reality that shaped second and third-wave feminism.

In the biblical account, sin is disobedience and the longing for autonomy. What’s wrong with the world is the resulting conflict, pain, and death. Sin has infected the world ever since, turning the sexes against one another. Men have screwed up the world. So have women. Both were created good by God. Both are not good because of sin.

In the film, Barbieland is fixed by expelling the patriarchy. Barbie calls on one of the “real” women from the “real” world to preach the gospel of oppression to brainwash Barbies. The unthinking Kens turn against themselves. The Barbies are given a Barbie-fied version of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique: Women are victims of oppression and can never win. They are even victims of their own bodies, shaped as they are by the design of motherhood. On this point, the movie is not subtle. In a scene from the film’s first two minutes, young girls, bored with their baby dolls, smash them on the ground until their heads explode. A pregnant Barbie is also described as “creepy” and is discontinued.

In the end, Barbie Chooses the Real World.

In the end, Barbieland is made new, restored to the paradisical, women-run society it once was. The Kens “find themselves” too, but apart from Barbie. In other words, men and women were not made for each other.

Or were they? Much of the film’s discussion concerns the final scene, in which Barbie chooses to not live in the restored Barbieland utopia but in the real world of humanity instead. As such, there’s a not-so-subtle acknowledgement of the reality of human bodies, especially the female body. It’s not clear if Gerwig intended this final scene to undermine the subjective portrayal of Barbieland. Whether she intended it or not, it is clear that this is a world of objective realities, and the answers to life’s biggest questions can only be found by first acknowledging that.

John Stonestreet serves as President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.Michaela Estruth is a Resident Assistant at Hillsdale College.