This year, a profound movie came out about women’s empowerment and how the patriarchy in our country affects all of us, regardless of gender. If you cannot tell, I am talking about the new Barbie movie! If you have not seen this eye-opening and inspiring film directed by Greta Gerwig, you missed out on the closure you needed to fully move on from your childhood.
In a broad summary, the movie is about Barbie, Ken, and all their friends living in the perfect world, Barbie Land. Some weird events keep happening, so Barbie must be courageous and risk going into the real world (oh, and Ken tagged along). This summary alone is enough for me to watch the movie, but there is a much deeper meaning that Barbie carries around with her in a “tiny plastic purse.”
This movie was what I needed to say goodbye to the final chapters of my childhood. When we think about what or who shaped us into the person we are today, we typically think big, like family, friends, or significant milestones in our lives, but most of the time, we do not realize that the small moments are the ones that shape us subtly. As I head into my 20s, I look back at my life and think of how I got to where I am now and what shaped me into the empowered woman I am. The one thing I remember doing the most was playing with Barbies, watching her movies, and dreaming about everything she told me I could be. Of course, the “big” moments in my life also shaped me, but not in the same way. Our younger years are the years that shape us and define who we will grow up to be. For many women, those vital few years of development were spent playing with Barbies.
The movie brought me back to the joyful moments of playing with the different dolls and the times when my mom and I would go on “mother-daughter dates” to Target. We would walk through each aisle of the toy section and look at the different Barbies to see which one we would purchase next. She would point to each of them and remind me that I could be whatever I wanted, so I kept dreaming big because that is what Barbie told me to do. Growing up, my mom continued to drill that lesson into my brain, constantly reminding me that no dream or no career is out of my reach. WE BOTH STARTED CRYING when I went to see the Barbie movie with my mom.
“We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back and see how far they have come.”
The message was empowering, and it was a film directed towards women, both mothers and daughters. Our generation has fond memories of Barbie growing up, but we forget that our mothers also had those. The empowering things that mothers tell their daughters as they play with Barbies are the same things that their mothers told them while doing the same thing. While sitting next to my mom at the movie, she pointed out all the dolls she had growing up and even the discontinued ones the film mentioned. If you cannot tell, my mom has always been my best friend. Having these special moments with her growing up and seeing the movie almost 15 years later creates such a bond because we both experienced it as children. The Barbie movie is like the curtain closing at the end of a play. The final bow of Barbie and my childhood years, but I was able to take that bow with my mom. I realized the impact Barbie has had on every girl and the women in my family, and that is something so profound beyond words.