A little movie theological reflection for a Sunday morning?
We went to see the Barbie film to complete the Barbenheimer summer phenomenon duo. I didn't have high expectations because, well, it is about a plastic doll which our daughters enjoyed as their Mom wondered if she was complicit in setting back the progress of feminism. The Barbies our two girls played with were pre the astronaut and doctor versions which supposedly promoted equality.
Barbie, the movie, was great. It was fun and made me laugh out loud. It also packed a punch as social commentary, giving patriarchy the black eye it deserved. Yes, there was a fast-paced rant by the America Ferrera character which evoked something of a "yes, but..." response in this aging white male, but that was okay.
So much of the critique of patriarchy was hilariously spot on, which led me to wonder if this would be a film that conservative Christians would love to hate. Sure enough, an internet search shows that they do. One huffer and puffer declared the movie to be demonic, which is so absurd that it's a seal of approval.
Questions about gender and sexuality plague the evangelical church, from the SBC to the PCA. Books on the topic are proliferating. In that context, it’s understandable that some folks see the new Barbie film as another volley in the gender wars. But Greta Gerwig’s latest project is far too layered to be read through a literalist hermeneutic.
Rather than offering a blind affirmation of feminism or a critique of patriarchy, the movie explores how we use ideology to bypass the messier work of growing as humans. The gender wars are not the plot so much as the setting. They shape the world in which Barbie and Ken pursue maturity.
Both Barbie and Ken venture beyond plastic tropes to discover their full (and sexed) humanity. While these existential questions are refreshing in a mainstream movie, the real magic is found in how they move toward maturity: through imperfection and mistake.
As Vox critic (and former CT columnist) Alissa Wilkinson notes, the movie is a kind of retelling of the Fall. In both Genesis and Barbie, a prototypical woman reaches for forbidden knowledge and then offers it to her male companion. Both are met by a loss of innocence and exiled from perfection.
This is excellent stuff. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/july-web-only/barbie-movie-sexism-feminism-patriarchy-east-of-eden.html
The entire cast is perfect and both Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will be up for awards, even though the word is that Gosling resisted taking on the role for a year.
One last thought. Is it possible for Will Ferrell to be in a role where he isn't ridiculously funny?
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