Compiled By Keith Walsh
Since its release last summer, the Greta Gerwig-directed film Barbie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling has attracted lots of attention, both negative and positive. It’s been called inspirational by fans, while irritating others. And when Gerwig and Robbie were snubbed by the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences who failed to nominate them for their respective Oscars, further controversy ensued. I asked four female musical artists to share their views on Barbie, and got very different takes.
Sienná
First, there’s Sienná, a Japanese expatriate living in Norway, where she creates fascinating experimental world beat electronica.
Sienná writes: “The Barbie movie itself was apparently a creative commercial product ad to generate profit for Mattel. The movie title reminded me of something pink, artificial and plastic. Contrary to all my expectations beforehand, it turned out to be smarter and more metaphorical than I first imagined. Experiencing what we are striving for every day from the point of view of a personified Barbie – one of the most familiar toy products of all time – really was easy to relate to.”
“What I liked best about the movie was that Barbie and Ken themselves go through all the troubles that they’ve been contributing to in regard to gender norms and societal expectations. It has a plenty of self-deprecating and humorous moments that highlight some universal questions that resonate loudly with most of us, both men/women and young/old, dealing with the lifelong feeling of not being good enough, or standing in between ‘our’ needs, desires and aspirations versus ‘their’. I didn´t perceive the meaning behind the movie was feminism. It was all about ‘mutual respect’ towards differences.”
Sienná Web Dot Com
Sienná on YouTube
Sienná on Spotify
Margot Day Of Metamorph
Here’s the New York based goth rocker, Margot Day, who started out fronting The Plague in the heart of New York City and now mesmerizes crowds with her electro goth project Metamorph.
Day writes: “Pale pink is out, hot pink and black are in – it’s a goth pop revolution! Meanwhile, the latest Barbie movie stirs controversy. Its ending featuring Barbie in an AI wasteland with Ken sent away to ‘find himself’ strikes a nerve. It’s a stark reminder of our society’s drift towards independence over romantic commitment. This narrative raises a crucial question: in chasing independence, are we forgetting the value of love, connection and happily ever afters? While Barbie wanders alone in her AI world, my Metamorph songs cast spells of togetherness, gothic romance and love.”
(Margot Day Photo By Alexander O. Smith)
Metamorph HEX At Bandcamp
Margot Day Dot Com
Margot Day And Metamorph On Facebook
Sara Storm Of Nail Club And Latex Cop
And coming from New Orleans, is yet a third electronica artist. Sara Storm works in the lo-fi subgenre creating gritty tunes with her projects Nail Club and Latex Cop.
Storm writes: “I loved Barbie in my youth. I had every product imaginable. I could tell at Christmas just by the prodding of the packaging if I had been given a Barbie. Feeling her nose through the wrapping paper, I couldn’t help sometimes but to indulge in pushing a small line of paper back to cheat myself of the experience of surprise to know exactly which model I had been given. Once I asked my aunt if I would have feet like Barbie as I grew older. I couldn’t comprehend that this doll invention was perfection, something that no human being could be capable of. It was after this experience, I lost the fervor of Barbie fever.”
Storm continues: “One of the most anticipated films of 2023 was Barbie. I passed on the theater experience, having seen the cultish images spread on the Internet of Barbie fever. The intense hues of pink and neon became a summer phenomenon and everyone asked ‘have you seen it? — as one would have maybe asked someone like me about Eraserhead in high school. When my partner and I finally settled down in bed to watch Barbie, we both looked at one another wondering when the film was going to get ‘good’ or easily ‘enjoyable. ’Halfway into the film, we figured it just wasn’t made for people like us. His favorite part was the set design and mine: the patriarchy.”
“If Barbie was created to boost Mattel’s sales, it was successful. If Barbie was created to mansplain the patriarchy to its viewers, it was also successful. Though Gerwig wasn’t a lone ranger in the writing of this film (she cowrote the feature with Noah Baumbach) many viewers came away from this film viewing it as a feminist masterpiece. I have a hard time believing that if this is viewed in the lens of feminist theory then theory has missed its mark and has delved into consumerist ideology. The pivotal scene where Stereotypical Barbie meets Kate McKinnon (also named just Barbie) and is faced with the dilemma that to stay in their world is to wear stilettos or to go to the real world is to wear Birkenstocks leaves women these two options. You either ignore the blatant posing of femininity or you go granola. Stereotypical Barbie chooses the granola life in the end while going to the gynecologist. The ending of the film left me feeling that instead of the exciting prospect of a career, the only exciting thing she could have endured was anatomy. Roll credits.”
“While we’re living in the times of cinema that is afraid of pushing boundaries, Barbie has enticed all ages but misses the logical steps. This was made for consumers and they consumed it. They spent two hours with it. But, what did we walk away with? It didn’t change Hollywood, as they ignored the director and their primary character when they gave Ryan Gosling an award. But, did it change us? Could a film like Barbie weave the narrative of discussing feminist politics in 2024 or did we completely miss the third wave?”
Latex Cop On Bandcamp
Nail Club On Bandcamp
Optik Muzak On Bandcamp
Emily Zuzik Of Woves
Emily Zuzik is an L.A. based singer/songwriter working in electronica, with her innovative duo Woves, and also as an artist in the the pop and rock genres.
Zuzik writes: “It’s hard to say what was most moving about the movie Barbie for me. The biggest takeaway was America Ferrera’s speech about the duplicitous roles of women in modern society, and how conflicting they are, both on the surface as well as emotionally to the wellness of the woman in question. I found that to be where my mind regularly goes these days, struggling to be both an independent entity of my child, as well as a conscientious mother to my child, a partner and yet autonomous from the relationship with my partner, as well as true to myself and career goals overtime. I think a lot of women related to that scene and it was clearly performed well and effectively.”
“There were other examples of this duplicitous nature that came up for me when the Kens reversed the power dynamic in Barbieland. Suddenly, women had to be subservient to men and yet were still being idolized by them, yet not respected by them. Many of us grew up with this backward scenario—being taught to covet the male gaze as a source of power only to give up your power once ensnared by it. That part of the movie I found tremendously triggering and fueled those old fires of rebellion and drive to equalize the playing field. It was like Gerwig’s call to action pushed all the right buttons.”
(Photo of Emily Zuzik by Karman Kruschke, 2024).
Emily Zuzik Dot Com
Emily Zuzik On Instagram
Emily Zuzik Music
Emily Zuzik On YouTube
Recommended Viewing:
Tiny Shoulders; Rethinking Barbie (2018)
Barbie (2023)
(Photo of Barbie Dolls In A Flea Market by Pixarno, on Adobe Stock dot com.)
finis