Barbie: Basically a Movie About the Bad Paradoxes of Motherhood

The hugely popular film Barbie has been promoted as a celebration of – and criticism of – femininity. As a mother and a media scholar, I can’t help but look at Barbie from an even narrower perspective: as a film that’s fundamentally about mothers and daughters. The film’s story focuses on a life-sized doll known as the stereotypical Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, who begins to deteriorate: her feet become flat, and she finds herself thinking about death. Can’t stop from. So she gives up her entire plastic life to set out on a quest to restore the boundary between the real world and Barbieland. Along the way, she learns that the real world is nothing like her girl-power wonderland, where Barbies are in all positions of power and influence and Kanes are mere accessories.

But its thematic center rests on the film’s examination of the tensions surrounding being a mother—a role often taken for granted, even as cultural fantasies of motherhood clash with the real sacrifices mothers make. Is motherhood just hard work? I was immediately struck by the film’s funny yet hair-raising observations about motherhood. Since the beginning of time, as the unseen narrator Helen Mirren sarcastically states in the film’s first line, dolls have existed since the first little girl existed. (Cinebuffs will immediately recognize this scene and its setting as an homage to the famous Dawn of Man that debuted in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.) The girls on screen wear drab, archaic outfits and are at home with their dolls in archaic surroundings. -Ghar appears playful, expressionless and practically bowing out of boredom.

The problem with these dolls is that girls can only pretend to be moms, which can be fun — Mirren pauses meaningfully — for a while. Then, she says, her tone turning skeptical, ask your mom. Mirren believes that the appeal of motherhood eventually turns into unwanted drudgery – this reality is highlighted in the moments when the girls meet their first Barbie, who towers over them, is larger than life, and takes them to their homes. The mundane inspires the baby doll to break. Barbie – the doll of a young, beautiful woman – compels children to leave behind the excitement of motherhood for the pink plastic glow of Barbieland, where all Barbies live their best lives forever, the epitome of feminine perfection and possibility Are. The definition of motherhood as thankless and undeserved echoes feminist critiques of child-rearing and housework in the mid-20th century.

These roles not only confined women to the home, but also forced them to repeatedly do tasks that did not reflect their capabilities and derailed their ambitions. In her 1949 book The Second Sex, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir argued that empowering women themselves needed to debunk the myth that motherhood represented the pinnacle of female achievement. American author Betty Friedan repeated this sentiment in her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, opposing it to the image of the happy housewife heroine who finds satisfaction in being a wife and mother. It’s no coincidence that these ideas overlapped with the invention of Barbie in 1959. Before the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, designed the toy to help girls imagine their future adult personalities rather than just play with them.

The Importance of Motherwork And yet, many women not only enjoy being a mother, but motherhood plays an essential role in society and life. Feminist poet Adrienne Rich, in her 1976 book Woman Born, drew a distinction between the relationship mothers have with their children and the patriarchal institution of motherhood, which places women under the control of men. Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins coined the term motherwork in the mid-1990s to highlight the experiences of black women and working-class mothers, many of whom had the opportunity to pursue their own ambitions in addition to caring for their families and communities. Don’t have the resources. When you’re trying to manage day-to-day life without money or other kinds of privileges, options like hiring a nanny or paying for graduate school may not be possible or a priority. For these mothers, survival of their children is not a prerequisite.

Instead of being exhausting and oppressive, Motherhood recognizes that motherhood can be a fundamentally important labor of love and a source of empowerment in its own right. Barbie’s ending defies the notion that mothers are to blame for their children’s mistakes. Instead, the film offers another perspective through the character of Ruth Handler, the founder of Mattel, played by Rhea Perlman. Handler helps Barbie see what she would find if she chose to be human. Symbolically letting go of her creation and encouraging her to forge her own path, Ruth tells Barbie that she can control her no more than her own daughter, and that mothers must lead the way for their children, They should not be obstructed. “We mothers,” she explains, “stay steadfast so that our daughters can look back and see how far they’ve come.”

This sentimental and self-destructive message seems to contrast with the film’s nuanced portrayal of motherhood through humor and criticism. But, overall, Barbie invites viewers to question its structure, principles and message as well – and offers multiple perspectives on motherhood. Being a mother is hard work and sometimes it can be a thankless labor. It can be boring or frustrating. It can be affirming or heartbreaking or both. This includes leading and following, holding on and letting go. Being a mother shouldn’t mean sacrifice or living up to some impossible ideal. Instead, motherhood can highlight the possibilities of living in and with contradictions.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.

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