In fact,Barbie’s ultimate aspirations seem increasingly Pinocchio-esque according to Pickles. “Once it was consumers who made Barbie “real” by imagining and playing.” she says. “Now Barbies are based on real women and with the movie,she’s so real,we can see her,she’s a glamorous movie star;she’s Margot Robbie.”
There’s a pink tsunami of hyper-Barbie-mania breaking uncritically across the planet but the only question really relevant in these volatile cultural times is,what’s Barbie got to do with Now?
Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie.Credit:AP
At the time of writing,the movie is still under wraps (and,another cunning marketing ploy to fluff the hype;no preview screenings for journalists either). But trailers have sown clues enough to string a theory. And Margot Robbie’s new flesh and blood doll sure feels like one of those seismic ruptures in Barbie’s evolution,like when she came out in skin-tones other than white,or got a career (lots of careers),or heren pointefeet were lowered for Black rights legend Rosa Parks’ mid-heels in her Inspiring Women series. Maybe Barbie will finally shake her persistent air-head bimbo repute?
“It does (seem) like an unambiguous attempt to modernise and reboot Barbie at a perfect moment in the zeitgeist,” is how Ange Lavoipierre,journalist,comedian and host of ABC’s whip-smartSchmeitgeist podcast puts it. “This Barbie is progressive,she has a tad of nihilism,she’s alive to the kind of darker possibilities and threats of the world that Gen Zs and Millennials know.”
She’s different in other words. Same-same perky exterior,but maybe different,Lavoipierre surmises,and maybe in the knowing,politically engaged and ironic way of Gen Zs and younger Millennials.
“Maybe this is the first time that Barbie is the one making a joke at her own expense,” she muses. “Like,the most meme-ed moment (from the movie) is when (Barbie) asks;“Do you ever think about dying?” and scratch! Everything stops and the world starts to crumble around her... she’s contemplated the void for the first time. She’s a lot more like a real girl.”
Schmeitgeist podcast host Ange Lavoipierre says the new Barbie is more progressive.
A lot more like a real Gen Z or Millennial,from possibly the most complex,intensely political and highly evolved generations,according to Lavoipierre. “Because we’ve been socialised on the internet,developed our cultures in so many different little bubbles,” she says. “We’ve seen things,we know the darkness of the world,there’s a pronounced sense of instability and insecurity.”
Lavoipierre marvels at the brilliance of Mattel’s timing. “I wondered if it was just happenstance or they actually saw the zeitgeist tracking in the way it was and chose this perfect moment (to reboot Barbie) because there were all these little signals,so many signals in deep internet culture... then 2021 was labelled the Year of the Bimbo.”
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And that was it;ding. A new wave of bimbo culture,of all things,is a telling clue to what’s cooking among Gen Zs and younger Millennials now. Recently Lavoipierre devoted a wholeSchmeitgeist episdoe to Bimbo 2.0,a subculture of mostly young women reclaiming hyper-femininity;all its tropes,frocks,heels,makeup and,you could say,all its Barbie-esque dolly accoutrements,as empowering tools of self-expression.
“The new bimbo is innately political,” says Lavoipierre. “She’s making a point but with a wink and in a knowing way.”
Women have evolved Bimbo 2.0 into a deeply complex and ironic new feminism as diverse and individual as there are girls to play and live it. They’ll even play bimbo-dumb to confuse and drain power from trolls and scorners,according to Lavoipierre.
“Pretending to be dumb can mean not having to answer your dumb questions,” she says admiringly. “That’s sophisticated! She’s saying;‘I don’t mind if you think I’m a dumb bitch because it means I don’t have to deal with you’. You’ve got to really back yourself for that.“
By the 1970s,“bimbo” was virtually interchangeable as a gendered insult with “Barbie” and a feminist protester’s placard at the time,“I am not a Barbie!“,read like a rebuke. In the next decades,Mattel continued to shrewdly evolve its doll to chime with the zeitgeist. Where is Barbie in the zeitgeist now?
“This 2023 version of Barbie is trying to match the very,very complicated feminism of a new generation and...(laughing) I think I’ve talked myself into some enthusiasm for her.“
So Lavoipierre’s for Barbie. Me too:I’m for Barbie. Pickles;not so much,though she concedes:“Barbie is culture is bigger than ever. At least you have to say,Barbie is winning.”
Barbie opens July 20. #barbiethemovie