Barbie and the Bible
Towards the end of the Barbie movie, Gloria, a mid-level manager at Mattel, Inc., played by America Ferrera, lets loose a bitter monologue about how tough it is to be a woman. She could have merely cited the Book of Genesis, which is wiser than her own script-writer: “With painful labour, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Genesis explains that the patriarchy was a consequence of sin. (Including, no doubt, the form it supposedly takes at Mattel’s board, which is depicted in the movie as entirely male and obnoxious.) Because human babies have big heads, childbirth was dangerous before modern medicine: the ancients compared it to battle for men. And when Adam was told, “To dust you shall return,” this applied to Eve as well. Our bodies eventually conk out. It’s Tough to Be a Woman But Gloria says little of death, disease, childbirth, or patriarchal oppression. Rather, she complains that people expect too much from femal...