I didn’t do the Barbenheimer experience. Still, stepping into the theater for Barbie was like showing up for a party. The energy was high, the mood infectious, good feelings all around. For a big budget Hollywood movie based on pop culture, it’s such a weird and singular experience that it seems as personal to Greta Gerwig’s filmography as Lady Bird and Little Women. We just hadn’t seen her ideas given such a large canvas.
Rewatching the film at home, I locked into how this is the perfect example of an artist taking something popular and smuggling their own personal ideas inside. The result is something – as the marketing truthfully explained – that’s for anyone who loves Barbie, but also for anyone that doesn’t. (My own position is largely indifferent. Most of what I know about Barbie I got from watching the Toy Story movies.)
When Oscar nominations are announced, there is always the immediate reaction to snubs and surprises. Then years later you forget and assume what was nominated, so I get to be shocked all over again that Margot Robbie wasn’t nominated in what may be her career pinnacle performance. The film’s only Oscar was for Best Song, “What Was I Made For?”, maybe the 4th tune I think about from this soundtrack. It lost Costumes (Jacqueline Durran) and Production Design (Sarah Greenwood), and my first thought is that those went to Wicked. Then I remembered it was the year of Oppenheimer, which wasn’t better but was part of that Best Picture momentum. But no, the winner in those categories was Poor Things, which I liked but isn’t nearly as creative and clever as all the Barbies and Kens in Barbieland.
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