The Barbie Movie Speech That Even Men Are Talking About

The CEO of Mattel is a man, Ynon Kreiz. And Richard Dickson, the COO and president of Mattel, flew to London where the Barbie movie was in production to argue with the director and leading lady. Dickson apparently felt that a scene in the film was “off-brand” for Mattel and Barbie. The scene in question was when Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), a teenage character from the real world, calls Barbie dolls sexist and fascist.

Both Margo and Greta had to perform it repeatedly to the executive to explain that the scene was essential to the movie.

In real life, it is a man’s world.

Barbie movie speech

“It is literally impossible to be a woman. 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 damn 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.” — From the Barbie Movie

And when there’s truth in words, it will affect people. It could be why the movie did well beyond expectations.

The highest-grossing film of 2023.

But the message in the monologue by America Ferrera can’t only be felt in America but all over the world.

In both the US and Japan, there hadn’t been a woman president or Prime Minister.

In many countries, women have fewer rights than men.

The US has taken away most of the women’s rights to their bodies.

Should a movie be the spokesperson for what is going on in the world?

While in the movie, the character played by America Ferrera is a real woman, that monologue should have been said a long time ago, in Congress, in churches, and schools.

But here we are, it would take Barbie to have this conversation.

Final words

Movies mirror the real world. It will take more than Barbie to change what is wrong in the world or what is wrong with us.

There’s a lot of toxicity being peddled by men who try to picture a world that is a lie, that men are the new victims of women being empowered.

It is not true.

And when powerful men like Elon Musk have a platform to spread this bro-mentality in a tweet, we have to join the conversation because lies are not too far from being a fantasy like the Barbieland, it cuts deeply in the real world.

Go watch Barbie, and start talking about the message and also the joy of having to see the doll we all once dreamed of being — the perfect girl.

Thank you for reading.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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