8/23 - <non-tea post> Barbie and Meta Storytelling Structure

Barbie and Meta Storytelling Structure

<*A non-tea post and spoilers for the Barbie Movie. We'll get to tea posts later this week, I promise*>

Meta storytelling structure in the Barbie Movie.

In the beginning of the movie we hear the narrator say, "Barbie doesn't walk down the stairs of her Dream House. If you want to move her, you just pick her up and put her where you want her to go". That opening line sets the whole structure of the story world we're entering.

Throughout the movie there are jumps and edits that are somewhat jarring. Especially when set in the "Real World". When Barbie goes from a vision of Sasha to being able to find her school, when Barbie randomly meets Ruth behind a random door in the middle of a chase, when she and Ken get arrested and released several times with no explanation.

These edits make us uncomfortable because we know that the real world doesn't work like that. We try to apply real world, step by step, cause and effect action rules to the story when it's the clashing of the "Real World" and "Barbieland", the clashing of the reality and the fantasy, that is the whole exploration of the film.

By the end of the movie there is bleed through with these two worlds. There are aspects of real world cause and effect and Barbieland is changed. The conversation between Barbie and Ken is a bridge between doll-speak and real-speak. And President Barbie actually walks down the stairs of the Dream House.

At the very end, Barbie is fully human in the real world and gets a ride to her doctor's appointment, no longer a doll that gets picked up and moved out of reality.

This movie is brilliant. Even the parts I was uncomfortable with (the reality jumps) are brilliant and serve a purpose. I can't wait to watch it again and learn more.

Btw, when I was young the Barbie I wanted most was "Day to Night Barbie" She had a business suit for daytime when she was at work that transformed into a fun dress for evening. My family couldn't afford fancy Barbies so I never got it but I dreamed and thought about it a lot. Ideas, toys, and role models are powerful when you're young. Now, in my middle age, I'm a BIPOC, queer, woman, business owner, who plays dress up at cons. And it never occurred to me that I couldn't be all those things. I am my own Barbie.