Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Ken. I'm podcast Barbie and welcome to verbal diorama, episode 310 Barbie. This is a podcast that's all about the history and legacy of movies, you know, and movies you don't. That has a great day every day. Ken only has a great day if I look at him. Welcome to Verbal Diorama. Both long term, longer distance, low commitment, casual, brand-new listeners to the podcast and long term, long distance, low commitment, regular returning listeners. Thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to listen to this podcast. I'm so happy to have you here at both Barbie's Dream house and Ken's Mojo Dojo Castle House for the history and legacy of Barbie. And like I say, huge thank you. If you are a long term, long distance, low commitment, casual listener who does listen to this podcast on the regular and has continued to listen to and support this podcast over the last six years and over 300 episodes, it means so much to continually have your support podcast. Barbie has a great episode every episode. So this bit on the podcast I've wanted to focus on female fronted movies. Started with Black Widow and then Red Sonja and now Pink Barbie. Or just Barbie. Barbie can be anything. So women can be anything. Black Widow was a superhero. Red Sonja was all fantasy and swords and sorcery, but both kicked ass. While looking great, Barbie is decidedly less violent. Although she does punch a guy in the face for touching her inappropriately. And somehow she's the one that ends up arrested and the guy does not. But in Barbieland, the Barbies are in charge. And the Kens, well, they're just Ken. Honestly, I have nothing big planned for this episode. Just a giant blowout party with all the Barbies and planned choreography and a bespoke song with irrepressible thoughts of death. Just stick around because I'm just m. Anywhere else, I'd be a 10. Here's the trailer for Barbie.

In Barbie land. The Barbies and the Kens live together harmoniously with the Barbies in positions of power and seniority and the Kens just being Ken. Barbie has a great day every day. But Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him. When Barbie starts to think about death. Gets cellulite and starts to experience an existential crisis. She visits weird Barbie, A Barbie who was played with too much. Who tells Barbie she needs to go to the human world and find the little girl playing with her and ensure she's happy again. Ken stows away on the journey. But the real world is not a nice place for Barbie who feels intimidated and uncomfortable by the behaviors of men. And Ken realizes that Barbieland needs patriarchy. Let's run through the cast of this movie. We have Margot Robbie as Barbie. Ryan Gosling as Ken. Kate McKinnon as Barbie. Issa Rae as Barbie Alexandra Schick as Barbie Emma Mackey as Barbie Harry Neff as Barbie Sharon Rooney as Barbie Anna Cruz Cain as Barbie Ritu Arya as Barbie Dua Lipa as Barbie Nicola Coughlan as Barbie Simulu as Ken Kingsley Ben Adia as Ken Tuti Gatwa as Ken Scott Evans as Ken John Cena as Ken America Pereira as Gloria Ariana Greenglatt as Sasha Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler Michael Cera as Alan Connor Swindles as Aaron Dinkins, Emerald Fennell as Midge Will Ferrell as Mattel's CEO and Helen Mirren as the narrator. Barbie was written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach was directed by Greta Gerwig and based on Barbie by Mattel. Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls. But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls until 66 years ago when a doll was created that showed little girls they could be more than just wives, mothers and homemakers through play. They could be an astronaut, a veterinarian, a pilot or a doctor. She could have her own dream house, multiple cars and pets. Little girls can be anything. This little girl played with Barbie, usually playing out soap opera storylines cheated on Barbie a lot in my house. But Barbie was also fond of Action Man. Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, co founder of Mattel, and first launched on 9 March 1959 at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The doll was named after Handler's daughter Barbara, who by that time was 17 years old and it was revolutionary for its time because it depicted an adult woman rather than a baby or child which was the norm for dolls back then. Handler got the inspiration after watching her daughter play with paper dolls of adult women, giving them adult roles and careers. She noticed there was a gap in the market for a three dimensional adult female doll. The design was influenced by a German doll called Bild Lilli, which Handler discovered during a trip to Europe. Lily was a dress doll available in two sizes, 30 centimeter and 19 centimeter, with other fashion items sold separately. Build lily launched in 1955 and in 1964 Mattel acquired the rights to Build Lily, which is coincidentally when production of Build Lily stopped. Lily is widely recognized within the industry as the grandmother of Barbie. The first Barbie doll was made of vinyl instead of hard plastic, had rooted hair with a curly fringe rather than a wig cat's and included separate shoes and earrings which were not molded on as lilies were. The original Barbie wore a black and white striped swimsuit, white sunglasses and came in either blonde or brunette. She was marketed as a teenage fashion model and cost $3. The doll was initially met with skepticism from toy buyers who thought parents wouldn't want to give their children a doll with an adult female body. However, Barbie became an immediate success. Ken, her male companion, named after Handler's son Kenneth, was introduced in 1961. Barbie has had an on and off romantic relationship with Ken, but they've also had relationship drama too. In February 2004, Mattel announced that Barbie and Ken had decided to split up, but they were hoping to rekindle their relationship after Ken had a makeover. In 2011, Mattel launched a campaign for Ken to win back Barbie's affections. The pair officially reunited on Valentine's Day 2011. During their quote unquote split, Barbie was allegedly very friendly with an Australian surfer called Blaine. Over the decades, Barbie has evolved significantly. She's had hundreds of careers, from astronaut to president, reflecting changing societal attitudes about women's roles. Barbie has also become more diverse over time. While the original doll represented a narrow beauty standard, a stereotypical Barbie standard, you might say. Mattel has introduced dolls at different ethnicities, body types and abilities. Over the years, the brand has faced criticism regarding body image and beauty standards, leading to ongoing efforts to make the line more inclusive and representative. One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for young women, leading to a risk of eating disorders and plastic surgery ideals. A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches or 29 cm tall, giving a height of 5 foot 9 inches. At 1.6scale, Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inch chest, 18 inch waist and a 33 inch hips. According to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, she would lack the 17 to 22% body fat required for a woman to menstruate. In 1997, Barbie's body mould was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs. In 2016, Mattel introduced a range of new body types, tall, petite and curvy, releasing them exclusively as part of the Barbie Fashionistas line. It's responded to criticisms pointing to a lack of diversity in the line. Barbie now has over 22 skin tones, 94 hair colors, 13 eye colors and five body types. That doesn't mean Barbie hasn't had her fair share of controversy over the years, including launching a Barbie Oreo School Time doll, which you could choose a black or a white Barbie, but within The African American community. The term Oreo has been a slur for decades. Dark skinned Barbies were originally marketed as Barbie's friend Christie, who debuted in 1968. Black Barbie was launched in 1980, but just used the same mold as the white Barbie. In 1990, instead of using the same molds for the Caucasian Barbies, new ones were created specifically for Black Barbie. In addition, facial features, skin tones, hair texture and names were all altered. The body shapes looked different, but the proportions were the same to ensure clothing and accessories were interchangeable. Midge really was a pregnant doll they discontinued because they thought it promoted having children out of wedlock. But in Barbie's reality, Midge had been married to Alan. Yes, that Alan for several years. In 1997, Mattel launched a wheelchair doll called Share a Smile Becky, designed to reflect the diversity of the real world. However, Becky was discontinued after her wheelchair couldn't fit through Barbie's Dream House doors or the Barbie Dreamhouse elevator. In May 2022, Mattel launched the first ever transgender Barbie modeled on Laverne cox. And in 2024, Mattel expanded its Barbie line to include dolls representing individuals with down syndrome and vision impairments. Richard Dixon, who left Mattel in August 2023, and Lisa McKnight, Mattel's executive vice president and chief brand officer, oversaw the decisions relating to Barbie for a movie. They had evolved Barbie over the previous 10 to 15 years as a character, transforming her to be more relevant to modern society and culture, as well as McKnight launching the Barbie Dream Gap Project in 2018 to positively impact the lives of over 25 million girls by leveling the playing field for girls. And and Mattel being so willing to poke fun at itself in a Barbie movie was considered an extremely risky move. This was the first time Mattel had allowed Barbie to appear in live action instead of just in animation. And I think we should all remember how risk averse they were to have her cameo in Toy story in 1995. The potential was there for financial ruin if this movie had sailed. The template was there, though, because nine years before Barbie, the Lego Movie had been a critical and commercial success. In 2014, it was proof that a toy line could be adapted into a successful movie. But the Lego Movie also inadvertently set such a high bar for what a toy movie could achieve that earlier attempts to make a Barbie movie struggled to match the creative ambition of the Lego Movie. The earliest known attempt to adapt Barbie was in 1986 when Cannon Films attempted to get a movie version that, quote, shows her owner that all her Dreams can come true, unquote to life. This was decades before Mattel became more strategic about their film licensing. Mattel signed a partnership with Universal in 2009 to make a Barbie movie with Lawrence Mark, set to produce with Rob Hudner, the VP of entertainment for Barbie, and Richard Dickson, the same guy I just mentioned, set to executively produce. The project stalled in development without ever moving beyond initial discussions and rights agreements. In April 2014, Mattel teamed with Sony Pictures to produce a new film which would have Jenny Bix writing the screenplay and Laurie McDonald and Walter F. Parks producing. Bix was then replaced by Oscar winner Diablo Cody. Sony wanted a girl boss feminist twist on Barbie, which Cody felt was wrong. She struggled to write it and never completed a draft despite being announced in 2015 as the writer. The then recent release of the Lego Movie had set a bar so high that not even Diablo Cody could figure it out. Sony ordered further rewrites by Lindsay Beer, Burt V. Royal and Hilary Winston, who submitted son separate drafts. Winston's screenplay was chosen and Amy Schumer joined the project in 2016. In Winston's screenplay, Barbie would be kicked out of Barbieland for not being perfect enough and would go on an adventure in the real world before returning with the realization that perfection comes on the inside, not the outside. Schumer would then rewrite the script with her sister Kim Carameli. However, Schumer exited the project in 2017 joking she was too skinny for the role and citing scheduling conflicts, though she later revealed the script wasn't feminist and cool enough for her. Sony hired Olivia Milch to rewrite the screenplay and approached Alethea Jones to direct as a means of interesting Anne Hathaway, in signing to Star Jones was attached to direct by March 2018 and Hathaway joined the project shortly after. But after years of development struggles, Sony Pictures deal with Mattel for the film. Rights expired in October 2018 and the project then moved to Warner Bros. Causing Jones and Hathaway to leave the project. Meanwhile, in September 2018, Mattel Playground Productions became Mattel Films with a focus on films based on their iconic toy brands, with Barbie becoming the first movie for that studio. Sony Pictures deal expiring led to the proactive approach by Margot Robbie and her production company, Lucky Chap Entertainment, to actively attempt to take on a Barbie movie, and Robbie personally approached Mattel CEO Enon Creech in an attempt to secure the rights to the iconic doll. She told the executive that her idea for a Barbie movie would honor the legacy of the brand, but that they also wanted to acknowledge Barbie's history of encouraging unrealistic beauty standards and to talk about the things that the company might not want to talk about, because you can either be included in the conversation or someone else can talk about you. Mattel were interested in the prospect of an open conversation surrounding the issues Barbie has and how they could poke fun at that and be a bit more meta as well as poking fun at Mattel too. Women being at the foundation of the company because there was a female CEO in the 90s and then another one at some point. So that's two right there. Jill Barrett was CEO from 1997 to 2000. She played a major role in expanding the Barbie brand and also spearheaded Mattel's acquisition of the Learning company, although that move ultimately led to her resignation after financial losses. Margo Georgiadis was CEO from 2017 to 2018 until she was succeeded by Enon Creeds. Now at that time, Margot Robbie was positioning herself more as a producer on a movie about Barbie, way that starring as Barbie less of a priority. Margot Robbie is a fantastic actor, but she's also an astute businesswoman and Lucky Chap has positioned itself as focusing on female driven stories like previous movies and episodes of this podcast on I, Tonya and Promising Young Woman. So this made the producer role essential to her vision for the project. But both Creech and Mattel executive Robbie Brenner were also determined to cast Margot Robbie, not Robbie Brennan. She's someone else as Barbie. Not only did Robbie have the classic blonde Barbie look, they were also impressed with her ideas, one of which was hiring Greta Gerwig to write the movie because Robbie loved Little Women. And again, Robbie personally contacted Gerwig to ask her to write the screenplay and Gerwig agreed on the condition that her partner Noah Baumbach co write. Gerwig and Baumbach were hired to write the script in July 2019. While Gerwig was Robbie's first choice for director, she wouldn't sign and direct for two more years. But in the meantime, Gerwig knew who Barbie was. In her first draft she wrote that Barbie was Margot Robbie, and Margot Robbie was officially cast as Barbie in July 2019. Gerwig and Baumbach were given complete creative freedom on Barbie and worked on the screenplay during the COVID lockdowns. Gerwig's mother had discouraged her from playing with Barbies as a child, but eventually relented and Gerwig was fascinated on how humans create dolls that imitate humans and what does that mean existentially? But Margot Robbie isn't one to rest on her laurels, and she also personally pitched the movie to Warner Brothers, comparing it to Jurassic park, what the sort of bold, brave idea with a visionary director could achieve. And this movie was going to be a Barbie movie, but also about gender roles, feminism, identity, the deconstruction of perfection, traditional gender stereotypes and how harmful they can be, the pressures women face and the often contradictory ideals they're held to, but mostly the patriarchy, the existentialism and capitalism. Barbie's animation history in movies has been long and fairly fruitful. She starred in no less than 44 animated movies from 2001 to to 2025, as well as several animated TV series, specials, short films, and as well her appearances in Toy Story 2 and 3. But this would be Barbie's first time in live action. Margot Robbie's stereotypical Barbie lives as one of many Barbies populating Barbieland and also cast as Barbies include Issa Rae as President Barbie, Harry Neff as Dr. Barbie, Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie and Anna Cruz Kane as Judge Barbie. Dua Lipa also cameos as Mermaid Barbie as well as appearing on the soundtrack, which I will come to a bit later. Ryan Gosling was cast to play Beach Ken, whose only job is Beach. Gosling's announcement as Ken had a few articles stating that he was too old to play him, which is interesting because it's usually women who are too old to play a character in a movie. Beach Ken has a menagerie of fellow Kensington, including rival Ken Simulu who did backflips during dance rehearsals and this was subsequently incorporated into the film, sparking jealousy in Gosling's character and leading to the rivalry that plays out. We never get to see them beat each other off though, unfortunately. But this is a movie about Barbie, not Ken, and so most of the Kens are merely just background, including some of Britain's best up and comers like Kingsley, Ben Adir and Shuti Gatwob, who found out he was cast as Doctor who during filming of Barbie. John Cena agreed to a cameo as Merman Ken after running into Margot Robbie during filming in London. Cena was filming Fast X at Leedsman Studios at the same time as Barbie was filming at the same studio. Robbie asked him to be a merman and he agreed. Principal photography on Barbie began on 22nd March 2022 at Leaveston Studios and wrapped on 21st July. They also famously filmed on location at Venice Beach Skate park in Los Angeles. Greta Gerwig opted to use filming techniques from the 1950s to create a period accurate look, including for in camera special effects. Barbieland's production design is the stuff of pure Hollywood escapism and fantasy. A soundstage of dream houses painted in hyper saturated color. There are no laws of nature, no gravity, but there is the air of playtime. Margot Robbie's stereotypical Barbie drinks from an empty cup, bounces off of plastic water, brushes her hair with an oversized fake brush and floats from her top floor bedroom down to her car on the street as if carried by invisible hands. Sarah Greenwood is the production designer and Katie Spencer the set director. They've been nominated for six Academy Awards each and they were pivotal to making Barbieland look like Barbieland. Taking inspiration from Barbie's history as well as mid century Palm Springs and old Hollywood, Greta Gerwig would dub Barbieland authentic artificiality. There is CGI in Barbieland, but it's used very sparingly and never on the set itself. It is a complete set with painted backdrops. And Barbieland comes with its own set of rules. There's no black, no white, no chrome, no physical elements like sand, water or fire, no electricity or wind. Barbie's world exists as if it were for a child. Her wardrobe has plastic wrap over it and outfits magically appear on Barbie and for Barbie. Proportions for the set echoed an actual Barbie dream house, where Barbie is just a tiny bit too big for her furniture and car. They reduced everything in size by 23%. Barbieland was built across seven different stages at Leavestone, the largest of which was 250 foot long, 140 foot wide and 50 foot high. Barbie's dream house is a reinterpretation of Richard Neutra's 1946 Kaufman House, the property that defined Palm Springs modernist design, but with a crucial difference. Because the Dream house has no walls or doors, because children don't walk their dolls down the stairs, they pick them up and move them. Hence no doors. The skyline of Barbieland was a 250 foot long, hand painted, bubblegum blue skyline of the San Jacinto Mountains. Set design was also inspired by the photography of Slim Ahrens, who took photos of socialites and celebrities with his work, principally appearing in Life, Town and Country and holiday magazines. He shot his most praised photo in California, which is called Kings of Hollywood. A 1957 New Year's Eve photograph depicting Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and James Stewart relaxing at a bar in full formal wear. And there's a lot of pink in this movie. Barbie made headlines during the pandemic when it was reported that global supply of pink paint was running out. It wasn't just Barbie. Record low temperatures at the paint factory in Texas in 2021 had affected the stock and the company was struggling to meet general demand. But all publicity is good publicity that all world's pink paint was going to build Barbieland. The actual shades of pink took a long time to reach. They're based on a Roscoe pigment mixed with white to create various shades. The palette chosen for the scenes in Barbieland were inspired by the classic three strip Technicolor look which was dubbed Techno Barbie. Director of photography Rodrigo Prieto created a lighting system for Barbieland that was basically seven massive suns rigged so every Barbie could be lit from every angle because the lighting always has to be perfect in Barbieland. Carrying on the retro 50s themes is the costume design. The costume design here is Jacqueline Duran, seven time Academy Award nominee and two time winner for Anna Karenina and Little Women. Barbie was her seventh Academy Award nomination for Best Costume design. And playing with Barbie is inherently playing with fashion. So Duran Drew from the 1950s and 60s Retro looks for Barbie for When we meet her with only 15 colour combinations and mostly pastels. Borrowing from Barbie's real historical fashion but also going to random shops to find pink items for Barbie as a doctor. The costume team were inspired by 60 years of Barbie doctor outfits. All of the Kens originally matched their Barbie but with fewer options, but as the movie progresses so does the fashion. Many of the outfits were inspired by actual Barbie fashion but updated like the acid neon skating look for Venice beach which is Based on the 1994 Hot Skating Barbie which is a full on sleeved catsuit. But they copied the pattern of the catsuit for the main part of the body and updated the look to make it very 80s feeling. They were also able to pull from Chanel's archives for vintage suits, beach wear, sportswear and accessories including a pink Chanel suit originally worn by Claudia Schiffer on the Runway in spring summer 1995. Margot Robbie wears a mixture of true vintage pieces and recreations of Chanel items. The ski suit Barbie wears in the traveling scene is vintage Chanel, but they didn't have a male version for Ken, so Chanel kindly made one specifically for Ryan Gosling. And a movie with such lavish costumes warrants a cameo from costume royalty. The then 91 year old Anne Roth Oscar, BAFTA and Tony Award winning costume designer. Emmy Award nominated and with more than 100 screen credits including being previously featured on this podcast for her work in Mamma Mia. Roth Cameos as the woman on the bench that Barbie calls beautiful. This cameo was mistakenly attributed by outlets like the Daily Mail as starring Barbara Handler, the real life daughter of Barbie creator Ruth Handler. But of course, the Daily Mail got it wrong. There are also nods in Barbie to classic cinema like the wizard of Oz, the Matrix, Singing in the Rain, west side Story, the Trenchon Grease, An American in Paris, the Red Shoes, the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, as well as Obvious nods to 2001 Space Odyssey, the Godfather and Pride and Prejudice. Barbie also channels silent era Hollywood movies and theatrical effects for the transition between Barbieland and the real world, where Barbie uses a variety of vehicles and travels across magical landscapes, including space, to get to the real world. The vehicles were practical stationary vehicles that hovered over a moving background and foreground, with the background moving slower than the foreground, which is basically achieved by technicians on set pulling ropes to make the conveyor belted foreground move. The only one that wasn't a set like this was the camper van set. Greta Gerwig insisted on using traditions and techniques from filmmaking in the 50s because that's when Barbie debuted. They had practical miniatures built, scanned and captured. And despite having 1300 visual effects shots, the film prioritizes practical techniques and virtual production techniques and miniature work. And this inspired the creation of hundreds of digital miniatures to populate Barbie lab vistas, set extensions, backdrops, and of course, some full CGI shots. Visual effects supervisor Glenn Pratt worked with Visual Effects Studio's Framestore on Barbieland scenes and UPP on the invisible effects deployed in the real world and also in the car pursuit sequence. Now, this movie is just a two hour ad for Barbie. It's not a two hour ad for the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer SS EV that's driven in those scenes, which bizarrely is an electric vehicle, but it sounds like a petrol vehicle. Anyway, it's time to segue into the obligatory Keanu reference for this episode. And if you don't know what that is, it's where I try and link the movie that I'm featuring with Keanu Reeves, simply because he is the best of Kens. And Jonathan Groff was up for the role of Alan originally, but he had to turn it down and he later regretted the decision because the role eventually went to Michael Cerar, who is really good fun in the movie. Groff obviously co starred in the Matrix resurrections with Keanu Reeves. And so that is the easiest and cleanest way to link Keanu Reeves to Barbie, because unfortunately he's not in Barbie. Alexandra Despatch who collaborated with Greta Gerwig on Little Women, was set to score Barbie. But in May 2023 he left the project and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt joined to compose the score in his place. Mark Ronson was also the executive producer of Barbie the Album, and in addition to executively producing the album, Ronson served as a co producer and co writer on several of the tracks, including Dance the Night, what Was I Made For Man, I Am, and I'm Just Ken. The movie is a who's who of actors, and the soundtrack is a who's who of musical artists including Charli xcx, Heim, Ice Spice, Khalid, Sam Smith, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, Pink Panthers, Tame Impala, and cast members Ryan Gosling and Dua Lipa. But one obvious song is missing, Aqua's Barbie Girl, which was a huge hit in 1997, becoming its own pop culture phenomenon, Life in Plastic. It's fantastic, the absence of which from the Barbie movie soundtrack has a fascinating backstory rooted in a bitter legal battle between Mattel and the song's creators. Mattel sued AKA's record label over the song in 1997, and the label countersued for defamation. Mattel specifically took issue with the sexual and other unsavoury themes that the song associated with Barbie. The legal battle lasted five years, going all the way to the Supreme Court in 2022. The Court of Appeals ruled that the song was protected as parody under trademark doctrine and the First Amendment, with Judge Alex Kaczynski concluding the parties are advised to chill. Come on Barbie, let's go party. In 2009, Mattel completed reverse Course and licensed Barbie Girl for a new Fab Girl Barbie commercial and YouTube music video with rewritten G rated lyrics. While fans were disappointed that the original 1997 Barbie girl wasn't included on the Barbie soundtrack, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice's Barbie World samples and interpolates the original Aqua track. Aqua is credited as a performer and co writer on the track. And while I wish I could talk about every single song on this soundtrack because I love the Barbie soundtrack, I think it's great. I don't have time to talk about every single song on the soundtrack other than just to say I love the songs on the Barbie soundtrack. Great, because I need to talk about the marketing for this movie. Because Barbie was the rare big budget, non franchise movie that literally every company wanted to partner with. It was a strategy unlike anything else that came before or after the teaser trailer was based on the beginning of the movie featuring little girls playing with baby dolls set to The Music from 2001 A Space Odyssey and was specifically placed just before showings of Avatar the Way of Water, the highest grossing film of 2022. Case studies have been extensively written about Barbie's marketing and how it changed how Hollywood can effectively market a movie and market a movie specifically to women. It is something that will continue to be studied for decades. From the get go, Barbie's marketing was unapologetically bright pink and girly. Bright pink billboards just stating the date in the Barbie font popped up everywhere and Margot Robbie's press tour and promotional outfits Foley embraced not only the vibrant pinks but also Barbie's historical fashion. Each of her outfits embodied one of the iconic Barbie dolls of the last seven decades. Stylist Andrew Mukamel, who traveled with the cast, sourced outfits at each location that paid homage to an original Barbie doll look. Not even the SAG AFTRA strike that cut the press tour short could stifle the buzz about the Barbie movie. The strike meant some looks didn't get their moment to shine, so Andrew Mukamal and Margot Robbie would end up collaborating on the world tour. A copy table book containing all the planned looks including never before seen photos referencing intended looks by Givenchy inspired by gay parisienne Barbie from 1959 which was intended for Berlin Carolina Herrera, inspired by movie mixer Barbie from 2007 intended to be worn in New York and Miu Miu inspired by Evening Splendor Barbie from 1959 intended for Tokyo. The COVID of the book has Robbie laid out like a Barbie in a box wearing the Claudia Schiffer Chanel suit, also intended to be worn in Tokyo. Social media was utilized in an organic way by promoting a Barbie selfie generator and encouraging people to upload their own photos. Over 13 million people used the Barbie selfie generator before the movie even came out. Stem Barbies could buy a fuchsia pink Xbox hairstylist. Barbies could buy branded products by Revlon and l' Oreal makeup artist Barbies could have lines from Nyx and nail polishes by Opie. You could even buy a pink Barbie burger at Burger King in Brazil. Or weirdly enough, Barbie endorsed home insurance. You could rent a Malibu Barbie Dream House through a partnership with Airbnb. The huge non Barbie mansion in Malibu was given a massive makeover and turned into a modern day Barbie Dream House. Competition winners could win two free one night stays at the Malibu Dream House. In June 2023, Barbie officially took part in Pride Month in multiple cities including in Los Angeles and New York with a huge Pink Pride parade featuring floats, skaters and drag, which was attended by the LGBTQ stars of the movie like Scott Evans and Alexandra Shipp, and they featured in LA's Hot Pink Hollywood Pride float. And then there was Barbenheimer, a term first used in a tweet by Matt Neglia of Next best picture in April 2022 that became synonymous with the summer of 2023. Oppenheimer started life as a Warner Brothers movie. However, Christopher Nolan was unhappy with studio's simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max releases and didn't want that for Oppenheimer. Maybe he'd been on the phone with Scarlett Johansson following Black Widow, but nevertheless he left Warner Bros and he'd worked with them since 2002 and he took Oppenheimer to Universal. Drew agreed to Nolan's terms, which included a production budget of $100 million, an equal marketing budget, an exclusive theatrical window ranging from 90 to 120 days, 20% of the film's first dollar gross and a three week period both before and after the opening in which Universal could not release another new film. But Warner Brothers could release another new film and their planned release of Coyote vs. Acme on 21 July 2023 would instead become their planned release for Barbie, the same date as Oppenheimer. And allegedly Nolan's disagreement with Warner Bros. Was cited as the principal cause of this decision. Both films held their premieres in London in July 2023 Barbie on 12 July and Oppenheimer on 13 July and on 14 July SAG AFTRA declared a strike which halted promotional activities involving its members. This type of film release counter programming has happened before, most notably on 18 July 2008 when Warner Brothers and Universal again released two competing movies in style and tone. Warner Bros. With the Dark Knight and Universal with Mamma Mia. The Dark Knight won that time. The Barbenheimer phenomenon was widely credited with boosting interest in both films, but specifically Barbie. With a total of 79% of tickets sold over the weekend being for the two films, 52% of those tickets were for Barbie. That was a total of 18.5 million people, with many people on social media specifically wanting to see both because they were so widely different. But the ultimate winner of Barbenheimer was Barbie. Barbie was released on 21st July 2023, immediately hitting number one at the domestic box office with Oppenheimer taking second place. It would stay at number one for four weeks before it was dethroned by Blue beetle in its fifth week, and even then, Blue Beetle only grossed $2.5 million more in its first week than Barbie did in its fifth week. Barbie would stay in the top 10 for 11 weeks. The release of Barbie was controversial throughout the world, though there was controversy over the alleged appearance of the nine Dash line, a depiction of the South China Sea from the Chinese perspective in the film, and Vietnam's Film Censorship Authority banned the film for allegedly displaying such lines. In contrast, the Philippines requested that the lines in question be blurred. The nine Dash line is controversial due to maritime border disputes between China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. In July 2023, Warner Brothers issued a statement explaining that the map in the concerned image was a childlike crayon drawing with dashed lines depicting Barbie's journey from Barbieland to the real world and was not intended to make any type of statement. Jordan Richards Schoner from Concordia University said that while the map might seem innocuous, the repeated presentation of images that supported the goals of the Chinese government risks increasing their acceptance by international publics and is therefore a cause for concern. In the world map drawing, dashed lines can be seen Asia, the United States, Greenland, Brazil and Africa. There were also several countries specifically in the Middle east that refused to show Barbie because of the promotion of homosexuality. Nevertheless, Barbie was a huge box office success during its opening weekend and set the record for any film that was not a sequel, remake or superhero property. With a domestic opening weekend gross of $162 million, its total domestic gross was $636.2 million. Internationally it grossed $810.8 million for a total worldwide gross of $1.48 billion on an estimated 128 to $145 million budget. It has an 88% of rotten tomatoes with a consensus reading. Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling, with particular praise for the partnership of Gerwig and Robbie, Ryan Gosling, the costumes and the production design. On the 26th of February 2025, Barbie became the first film to be logged 5 million times on Letterboxd. But also it is effectively a 2 hour Barbie commercial. Some critics saw it as satirizing capitalism, while others perceived it as being a satire utilizing capitalist themes. Barbie was nominated for eight Academy Awards Best Picture Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Supporting Actress for America Ferreira, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, two for Best Original Song and for Best Production Design. It would win Best Original Song for what Was I Made For By Billie Eilish in true Ken fashion, after Ryan Gosling was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the movie but Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were not, he made a statement saying that there was no Ken without Barbie and no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig. It was nominated for five BAFTAs, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Margot Robbie, Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. It was also nominated for nine Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, Best Actress for Margot Robbie, Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Director, Best Screenplay and three for Best Original Song. It would win Cinematic and Box Office Achievement and Best Original Song for what Was I Made For By Billie Eilish. Barbie is tied with Cabaret for the second most nominations in Golden Globe Awards history. The film's soundtrack album and score received 12 nominations at the 66th annual Grammy Awards. It received a record 18 nominations at the Critics Choice Awards, more than any other film, surpassing the Shape of Water and Everything Everywhere all at once, which had 14 each. Following Barbie's premiere, Gerwig stated she had no plans for a sequel with her co writer Noah Baumbach and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling only ever being contracted for one film. In December 2024, the Hollywood Reporter reported that a sequel had entered early development with Gerwig and Baumbach set to return. The representatives for Warner Bros. Gerwig and Baumbach denied the claim. There will however be a new Barbie animated movie from a deal between Mattel Studios and Illumination which was announced in July 2025 for a new theatrical animated Barbie adventure, this time distributed by Universal Studios. Thanks to Barbie, Mattel's other roster of toy related upcoming films include Masters of the Universe due out in 2026 and also Barney, American Girl, Bob the builder, Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, Polly Pocket, Rock and Sock and Robots and Uno, all in various stages of development. Barbie is not a perfect movie, but it's at least trying to be more than just Skin Deep. A brand that for so many years had an unattainable level of perfection and beauty at its core, has a movie that actually takes that perfection and rips up the rule book. Barbieland initially represents the idealized feminist realization of women holding all positions of power and gender based limitations being eliminated. It celebrates women's capabilities and the importance of female empowerment and self determination. It also critiques certain aspects of contemporary feminism. It shows how even well intentioned feminist spaces can exclude or marginalize others. The Kens in Barbieland are essentially Decorative accessories with no real agency or purpose. Even characters like Midge and Alan are excluded from Barbieland to a degree. The film also gently mocks feminist rhetoric and the impossible standards that can emerge from girl boss culture. But Barbieland isn't the real world. And so when Barbie and Ken do go to the real world, it's a cultural shock for both of them. Ongoing gender inequalities, workplace discrimination and the persistence of beauty standards that affect women's self worth. The patriarchy's harmful effects show when Ken transforms Barbieland into Kendom after visiting the real world, demonstrating how male dominated systems can marginalize women, reduce them to decorative roles and prioritize male ego and competition over collaboration. Which is of course how the Barbies eventually take Barbieland back. It's not necessarily demonising the patriarchy, instead exploring more why someone like Ken would find it appealing. He discovers a sense of purpose and identity that he lacked in matriarchal Barbieland, where he felt invisible and defined only by his relationship to Barbie, through Barbie's existential crisis and eventual decision to become human. True feminism must include the right to be imperfect, mortal and complex. It suggests that both the plastic perfection of Barbieland and the patriarchal alternative of Kendom are incomplete solutions, that there are no easy answers to the issues in society, but healthy ones require balance, mutual respect and space for everyone to find purpose and identity, regardless of gender. It advocates for systems that don't simply flip power dynamics, but create genuine equality and understanding. And this is a message we need more in 2025 than ever, especially when the Kens seem to be taking control of more and more Barbie. The movie isn't here to hate on men, but show how damaging the patriarchy is and how it actually doesn't make anyone's lives better. If anything, this is a movie women can walk away from, knowing that a matriarchy would never be better, and men can walk away realizing how harmful the patriarchy is to women. Women will have their existences validated and men will hopefully understand those experiences. I love this movie for its beautiful production design and costumes, for its soundtrack, for its performances, but also for making me feel seen. I do think Barbie man could have been more inclusive and diverse because most of the Barbies and Kens we do see in the background or in the dance numbers, we just get fleeting moments of apparently. Bowen Yang, Dan Levy and Ben Platt were all considered to play Kens, and a cameo by Olivia Colman was cut. She would have been a rival narrator against Helen Mirren, and I would have loved that. Margot Robbie is really everything. She is the perfect Barbie in every respect. But as a producer, I really think she is everything. I've been a huge fan of her work for ages. She's out there doing great things as producer Barbie and I don't think she'd mind being referred to as that. Ryan Gosling is really terrific in this movie. As the eye candy for a Barbie that just isn't interested and the bringer of patriarchy and as the downfall of patriarchy. He just plays this Ken who is so insecure, doesn't know who he is or who he should be without Barbie. He has his mojo dojo, castle house, but he's still so miserable because there is no Ken without Barbie. But his realization that he is Ken, it's just so great. The idea that kids are playing with the Barbies and Kens makes so much sense that Ken doesn't understand what staying over because your girlfriend and boyfriend actually means. To be honest, when I found out patriarchy wasn't just about horses, I lost interest too. Greta Gerwig, given the ability to do so, has made something audacious, unrestrained and flamboyant. A cinematic event that there hasn't been in some time. A wholly crowd pleasing, brightly colored, layered look at life through the eyes of Barbie. Where else would you see a depression Barbie, the patriarchy being described as men, mansplaining the Godfather. A movie that doesn't care about setting up a wider universe, but just commenting on the one we currently have in a Hollywood of playing it safe, prioritizing sequels. Barbie could have just been another cookie cutter adaptation, but not under Gerwig's fierce direction of what she wanted Barbie to be. It feels like Barbie should never have been this good. And yet it's proven that if Hollywood trusts filmmakers who know what they're doing, we get good stuff. Reportedly, Mattel did bulk on one scene, but when it was acted out for them, they got it. It just didn't make sense on the page. But also kudos to Mattel for taking the risks because it paid off figuratively and literally. I wish the movie had leaned more into the mother daughter pairing of Gloria and Sasha and for them to have more of an arc. It's a Barbie movie, so it has to be about Barbie. But Barbie is brought to the real world by Gloria's own existential crisis as a woman, as a mother, with the associated speech of some of the impossible standards. Women are held to being thin, but not too thin. But no, it's being healthy, leading without being in charge. And acknowledging the system is rigged and unfair, but doing so is complaining, etc. Which felt quite cathartic to hear spoken out loud. And still to this day feels like the underlying message of this movie is about how we were never going to live up to the unrealistic ideals of Barbie. Humans only have one ending Ideas Live Forever. Barbie was wrong on one thing though. Our mothers didn't just stand still. And not just our mothers, but our mothers, our grandmothers, aunts, and all women have never stood still. They stood up. They gave women the right to vote, gave us the right to own property, and to be more than just owned by men. But what is true is that their daughters have come so far. It is a profound line, but it's just not true. Not to my experience. Women could never stand still. Women have had to give up a lot to become mothers and still do, but they don't stand still. Barbie stood still and stands the test of time to embody our hopes and dreams so we as little girls could see ourselves as whatever we wanted to be, to find what we were made for, to grow up and make the world better for future girls and women. This movie makes me emotional and I'm expressing it. I have no difficulty holding both logic and feeling at the same time and it does not diminish my powers. It expands them. As for this podcast, Barbie I'm just em and I'm enough and I'm great at doing stuff. Thank you for listening. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on Barbie and thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you want to get involved and help this podcast grow, you could tell your friends and family. You could leave a rating or review wherever you found this podcast. Or you can find me and follow me on social media. I'm erbaldiorama across social media and you can like posts, comment on posts and share posts. It all helps with getting the visibility out of this podcast. This podcast Barbie is now going to watch the BBC's Pride of Pretty Dis for the seventh time until she falls asleep. And because it's my birthday soon. Coming next, a special episode all about the BBC's 1995 six part series on Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, featuring some very special guests. Now I don't normally do TV on this podcast. I also don't really have special guests on this podcast, but for the 1995 BBC Pride of Prejudice I simply had to. Every year for my birthday I tend to cover something that means a lot to me and Pride and Prejudice is one of those series that I have watched a lot over the years. It is very special to me and so of course I wanted to bring some special people on to talk about the BBC's 1995 Pride of Prejudice. So please join me very shortly for an episode of that. I want to be a part of the people that make meaning, not the thing that's made. I want to do the imagining. I don't want to be the idea. So if you enjoy what I do for this podcast and you simply want to support this podcast, Barbie, who literally does everything on her own, if you have some spare pennies, you can financially support this podcast. You're under no obligation because this podcast is free and it always will be free. And simply by listening you are supporting this podcast. However, if you wish to, you could make a one off donation@verbaldiorama.com tips or you can subscribe to the patreon@verbaldiorama.com patreon all money made goes back into the podcast. Pay for software subscriptions, website hosting and new equipment. Huge thank you to all of the amazing Barbies and Kens over at the Patreon of Verbal Diorama for supporting this podcast. They are Ken, Barbie, Ken, Barbie, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Barbie, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Barbie, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Barbie, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Barbie, Ken and Ken. If you want to get in touch, you want to say hi, Barbie, you want to give me feedback or suggestions, you can email verbaldiora@gmail.com you can also fill out the contact form verbaldiorama.com as well. And finally,

Bye, Barbie. Bye, Barbie. Bye, Barbie. Bye, Ken.