At the Movies: Barbie

What do you do when you’re a perfect girl living in a perfect world with a perfect boyfriend… and it all starts to fall apart? Explore ideas of identity, beauty, and self-worth with the help of this summer’s pinkest movie.

Transcript

SERIES INTRO

RiverLife At the Movies is back! After a 4-year hiatus, we dusted off the props, bought some new movie posters, and dove right in.

Why do we do this series? Well, first, I love movies. But more importantly, there are deep truths all around us, especially in great storytelling. Movies make us laugh and cry because they speak into deep places—our identity, purpose, hopes, and fears.

Over the next 3 weeks, we’re going to look at:

• Barbie

• Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse

• The Little Mermaid

The top three movies this summer. In each one, we’ll talk about the themes they explore and the questions they ask. And along the way, discover some truth from God that can hopefully speak into those deep places as well.

BARBIE

Barbie. It’s an absolute phenomenon.

• It’s the summer’s #1 movie, and it’s not even close.

• It’s Warner Brothers’ highest-grossing movie EVER, beating out Christopher Nolan’s Batman.

• It single-handedly created a shortage of pink paint.

That’s the power of Barbie.

And it’s an absolutely delightful movie. It’s funny, smart, poignant, and emotional. It’s socially biting and relationally touching. Well, here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it already.

BARBIE PLOT SUMMARY

Here’s a basic plot summary: Barbie lives in Barbieland with all the other Barbies and the Kens. But then Barbie begins to have an existential crisis. So, she has to travel to the Real World to resolve this crisis, and of course, Ken tags along. While there, Ken discovers patriarchy and decides to bring it back to Barbie because he’s tired of being Barbie’s accessory. It does not go well for the Barbies or the Kens, so they have to figure out how to fix things.

IDENTITY IN BARBIE

In the Barbie movie, there are a lot of complex themes for a simple doll—gender roles, patriarchy, mother-daughter relationships, life, and even death.

But today, we’re going to talk about a big theme that is all throughout the movie—identity. Nearly every major character in the movie questions their identity, value, and worth.

1. Barbie

It begins with the main Barbie having an existential crisis, symbolized perfectly by flat feet. Suddenly her perfect Barbie world and perfect Barbie life weren’t so perfect. She wasn’t who she thought he was. And later in the movie, she get flooded with feelings of inadequacy, saying:

“I’m not smart enough to be interesting. I can’t do brain surgery. I’ve never flown a plane. I’m not president. No one on the Supreme Court is me. I’m not good enough for anything.”

In her, we see our compulsion to constantly compare ourselves to others.

2. Weird Barbie

Next is Weird Barbie. The one whose human cut her hair, drew on her face, and dressed her in strange clothes. She was exiled by the other Barbies, forced to live on the outskirts of Barbieland. She was the outcast; so she just embraced it.

In her, we see the tendency in some of us to accept the negative labels others give us. “If that’s who you think I am, then that’s who I’m going to be!”

3. Ken

Next is the mother of all identity crises—Ken.

• The opening monologue says, “Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.”

• At one point, Barbie encourages Ken to find his own purpose, and he responds, “But it’s Ken AND Barbie. There is no Ken without Barbie.”

• And he has one of the best songs in the movie, Just Ken, with lyrics like:

  • “Doesn't seem to matter what I do / I'm always number two”

  • “I'm just Ken / Anywhere else, I'd be a ten / Is it my destiny to live and die / A life of blond fragility?

Ken doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t have an identity. But here’s the fascinating this about Ken. When he goes into the real world and sees something that can give him meaning, purpose, and significance. He jumps on it. And that thing is patriarchy.

In him, we see that when we don’t know our identity, we’ll define ourselves by anything, even at the expense of other people.

4. Gloria

Lastly, is America Ferrera’s character Gloria. He’s a stressed working mom, with a strained relationship with her daughter and a jaded outlook on the world.

She has this incredible monologue in response to Barbie not feeling good enough. It beautifully outlines the contradictory expectations women must negotiate in modern society.

I’ve asked my wife, Pang Foua, to read this because this isn’t my story, a man’s story. But it is her story and that of many women in this room.

It is literally impossible to be a woman. Barbie, you are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.

In her, we see what happens when we define ourselves by other people’s expectations.

Barbie’s comparison trap. Weird Barbie’s self-exclusion. Ken’s lostness. Gloria’s impossible expectations. All crises of identity. They are all of us.

IDENTITY IN THE BIBLE

So, how can we avoid these identity crises? Know who you are.

So, over the next few minutes, I want to tell you EITHER who you are in Christ if you believe in Him as your Lord and Savior OR who you could be if you did.

All of this is truth from God, right out of the Bible and adapted from the writings of Neil T. Anderson

If you are BARBIE, caught in a comparison trap… In Christ, you are ACCEPTED.

• You are God's child.

• You are a friend of Jesus Christ.

• You have been declared righteous.

• You are united with God.

• You have been bought with a price.

• You belong to God.

• You have been chosen by God.

• You have been redeemed and forgiven.

• You are complete in Christ.

If you are WEIRD BARBIE and you believe the negative labels people have given you… In Christ, you are a NEW CREATION.

• You are not your past.

• You are not your flaws.

• You are not what you look like.

• You are not what people say about you.

• You are not what people have done to you.

• You are not your clothes, your hair, or your shoes.

• You are not your sexuality, your gender, or your orientation.

If you are KEN, and you don’t know who you are… In Christ, you are SIGNIFICANT.

• You are adopted by a king.

• You are a branch of Jesus Christ

• You have been appointed to bear fruit.

• You are God's temple.

• You are a minister of reconciliation for God.

• You are seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.

• You are God's masterpiece.

• You can approach God with freedom and confidence.

• You can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

If you’re GLORIA, feeling the crushing weight of expectations… In Christ, you are SECURE.

• You are free from condemnation.

• You are assured that God works for your good.

• You cannot be separated from the love of God.

• You have been sealed by God.

• You are hidden with Christ in God.

• You are a good work that God will complete.

• You are a citizen of heaven.

• You have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.

• You are born of God, and the evil one cannot touch you.

No matter who you are in Barbieland or the Real World, in Christ, you are—accepted, a new creation, significant, and secure. The only question is whether you are in Christ.