‘Barbie’ is Greta Gerwig’s best film, despite minor missteps; g1 already seen

[ad_1]

Premiering this Thursday (20), one of the most anticipated films of the year is the director’s most creative film and lives up to her promises of portraying the doll’s complexity. Ambitious, “Barbie” is a film that makes fun of the most famous doll in the world, but not only. In addition to her, her manufacturer, Mattel, fans and haters are also the butt of jokes. As expected, it is a feminist satire, wrapped in a bunch of ironic scenes. With its premiere this Thursday (20), the feature, which has provoked an exacerbated frenzy even before its premiere, exposes a contrast between the fictional Barbielândia and the real world. In the pink universe, Barbie is perfection in the form of a woman, or rather, a doll. Sexy, successful and happy, all its versions live together in harmony and dominate everything around, from the constitution to astronomy. Ken (Ryan Gosling), Barbie’s (Margot Robbie) romantic partner, does not have the same level of relevance as his fellow countrymen. While they split into multiple roles as president, writer and journalist, he is at best a man who tries unsuccessfully to be good at surfing and get late nights with his lady love, who treats him with disdain most of the time. The reference to the position that Ken occupies in the collective imagination is clear. Without the glamor of the doll, he was always limited to the status of “Barbie’s boyfriend”. Very different from her, which, as well shown in Greta Gerwig’s film, is comparable to the monolith of “2001 – A Space Odyssey”, by Stanley Kubrick. Scene from ‘Barbie’ Press Release In the hyper-happy world of Barbieland, cellulite, morning breath and reflections on death don’t exist. As Aqua’s lyrics say: plastic life is fantastic. Everything changes, however, when the “stereotypical Barbie” — the name that the characters give to the main version of the doll, the sensual blonde with unrealistic proportions — begins to show defects such as flat feet. Upon discovering that the flaws are the result of interference from the real world in Barbieland, the protagonist goes, against her will, to the human universe to find the solution and finally abandon her cellulite. Ken follows the character and, together, the two embark on a journey of discoveries, of which the main one is the existence of patriarchy — a concept that bothers the protagonist, but enchants the puppet. Owner of the piece in the enchanted Barbielândia, Barbie sees herself violated, ignored and belittled in the world of flesh and blood. Not even Mattel, which gave life to her universe, is made of powerful women. Scene from ‘Barbie’ Press Release Emphatic on gender inequality, the film may sound, at times, exaggerated in its allusion to patriarchal violence, having, for example, very caricatured scenes about harassment. The choice, however, manages to dialogue well with the style of the script, which is immersed in a mocking metalanguage. One of the great mysteries created around the feature is how Gerwig would align the doll’s controversies with its popular appeal. The result is a work that manages to show this complexity with lightness and wit. An example is when Barbie, who swears up and down to be a feminist symbol — for exercising hundreds of professions, being independent and having the house of her dreams — discovers that she is hated by a legion of women. Her feminine ideal is branded as fascist, capitalist, and the personification of a bimbo — a term used for vain girls who are sexually attractive. We see the protagonist reflect on her own existence, emphasizing her flaws, and devaluing her attributes, when comparing herself with other Barbies, which, on a planet of female rivalry like Earth, makes perfect sense. Gerwig humanizes the toy in such a way that even those who roll their eyes at the doll must sympathize with her, thus giving new layers of duality to the plot. That is also why it promises to please such different audiences. Although it knows how to unite humor with criticism — and inserts a Mattel mea culpa — “Barbie” also has slips. The racial contradictions of the doll, which took more than thirty years to have a black version, for example, are even mentioned, in the form of jokes, but do not gain much space. The film also has scenes that are long-winded, like a long Kens war, which would perhaps work better being leaner. None of the slips, however, come to detract from the scope of the work. Gerwig has made a film that is, at the same time, funny, dramatic and provocative. It is no exaggeration to say that this is his most creative and best executed work. Instead of dragging scenes like those of “Little Women”, or clichés like those of “Lady Bird”, previous directions of the American woman, “Barbie” does not leave the viewer tired of the screen and still offers a content that, from the beginning, is full of originality.

[ad_2]

Source link