Dreamhouse (R)Evolution
So Barbie is making a killing in the box office. With $500M from its first week, the movie is basically a summer blockbuster. I may go and see it, especially after reading Charlotte Clymer's review:
Neither preachy nor pandering, Gerwig is searingly honest and admirably fair in the screenplay she co-wrote with longtime partner Noah Baumbach. Barbie, the iconic doll, is rendered here—played brilliantly by Margot Robbie—as neither saint nor villain. She is an ever-changing projection of social views that have amalgamated during her tenure at the top of the toy world.
Gerwig drills into that dynamic at the center of the film’s plot. Barbie, who is initially depicted in a montage of the Barbieworld utopia—a gorgeous Dreamhouse, a sexy Barbie Convertible, great friends, perpetual sunshine—is randomly confronted with thoughts of death and finds herself literally caught flat-footed. She consults with Weird Barbie—the iconoclast of Barbie Land, played pitch perfect by Kate McKinnon—who explains to her that these changes are from the outside world, the thoughts of a girl playing with her.
Barbie reluctantly sets out to find this girl in the real world and make things right, so she can get back to her daily utopia. She is joined by Ken (Ryan Gosling), who cannot perceive of himself as anything other than an extension of Barbie and the two are shocked to find that the real world is an inverse of gender power dynamics.
That actually reminded me of the fact that I used to play a lot with dolls when I was a little kid. Or should I say 'action figures', so it sounds more... masculine? They were literally dolls, though. In any case, I had the usual suspects: Batman, Superman, Aquaman, GI Joe, the works. But I clearly remember adopting some of my sister's Barbie dolls as part of the ever changing cast of characters that were part of my daily daydreaming: I think a Barbie or two made it to the ranks of my proto-Indiana Jones after school adventures.
Funny thing is, the Barbie dolls never really interacted with the other toys. They were basically there, with my other toys, refugees from my sister's chaotic playtime (In her free time, she was a schoolmarm and when some dolls didn't do what she asked them to do, they would get a haircut. Yes, it was bad.) and they just sat there, very pretty, with all their clothes and accessories intact. They just watched all the boys go around romancing each other and doing heroic shit, like jumping in a parachute from the top of the dresser or a rose bush.
Now that I think about it, I had a very prolific and active play world when I was little. I would do full-on battles and complex rescue adventures (Superman would always rescue G.I. Joe from some danger, natch). During the summer, water excursions took place with the only doll I kept until I was about ten: a little motorized mermaid who went very well along with a battery operated scuba diver and a collection of sharks that would have me playing in a little pool until my hands were wrinkly or my Nana would call me inside for supper.
For what I remember, it was super fun and I kept many of those dolls for years. I think I lost most of them when I went to college, though. But I still like dolls. Just recently got some of the WWF action guys in a garage sale and I wondered whatever could have happened to my dolls from so many years ago. Hope someone got to play with them. So, tell me, Constant Reader: did you use to play with dolls action figures? What kind of games did you play? Were you a video game kid? A sports kid? Go ahead, it'll stay here between us and the internet.
XOXO
P.S. Conservatives are very pissed at the movie. It's been more and more ridiculous as the weeks have moved along. From Foreheady McRapey and his 'wife' rating Barbie as basically woke trash to Ben Shapiro unintentionally cosplaying as Ken and going as far as burning some Barbies in his backyard. To Cancún Cruz going on TV to talk about it. That tells me I HAVE GOT to go see this movie.
Also, my fav Barbie Dreamhouse is the 1962 model. Do want. So totally cool. Wanna play?
HuntleyBiGuy:
ReplyDeleteI was into cars and trucks. We had a lot of Matchbox cars. We used to build roads in the living and dining rooms with my mother’s clothespins. I used to spend a lot of time on my aunt’s farm in the summer, so one year for my birthday I received a John Deere tractor and wagon. You could actually steer the tractor with the little steering wheel.
When the weather was nice at home, we were always sent outside and we let our imagination run wild with cops and robbers, riding our bikes, or going to the playground across the street and playing on the swings and monkey bars. Ah the innocence of childhood.
XOXO 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏽
Ohhh yes!
DeleteCars were a staple. And the tractor and wagon set was probably rad. I also used to ride my bike all over the place. I tried to be outside as much as possible!
LOL
XOXO
Big says,
ReplyDeleteNever had dolls or action figures. One cousin had a Barbie, that was it. We were a very penny-pinching bunch, our parents having grown up in the Great Depression. For the film, a trusted friend just saw it over the weekend and highly recommended. So, there's that, which means we'll be seeing it. XOXO
P.S. I know you're a reader, not a writer, but we just watched "Little White Lie" (comedy) and thought it was terrific, despite the Rotten Tomatoes 38% rating.
I can imagine the PTSD of the Depression era influencing EVERYTHING people did. Whoa.
DeleteAnd I should try A little white lie. Michael Shannon is very good. I sometimes don't trust Rotten Tomatoes. They can be wrong...
XOXO
Stuffed toys were my favourite toys to play with. I had a couple of Barbies and a Ken doll as well, but none of the fancy lifestyle accessories like the Dream House, boat or camper -- too expensive. I despised baby dolls and refused to play with them. I liked my brother's truck toys and also his cowboy gear like silver guns in a holster set. My brother never had any GI Joes because they didn't come onto the market until he was already a teenager.
ReplyDeleteOhhh
DeleteI never had stuffed toys. They were all plastic (that's why they lasted so long, I guess). Baby dolls have always scared me. My sister had one or two (one that closed his eyes and cried??).
I think I had a holster set and a cowboy hat!
XOXO
I was never into toys, I read a lot instead. Barbie is great!!
ReplyDeleteI got into reading when I was about ten or eleven.
DeleteWhen I was little it was all about fantasy playing. I could play alone for hours.
I need to go see Barbie!
XOXO
Now when I was little my mother and grandmother had no qualms buying me Barbie dolls. And I had no less than easily 15. So I'm really surprised I did not want to see this movie. So far I know nine people who saw it, only two really enjoyed it. So far from what I'm hearing I'm very disappointed they didn't keep the whole movie in Barbie land. I like escapism in my movies.
ReplyDeleteAnd you don't want to know what I put in my Ken dolls into scenario wise.
Oh, lucky you!
DeleteI never really coveted a Barbie (maybe because they were right there) but I know boys who really wanted one and never got it. I have hear the best things about the Barbie movie. I may go tomorrow if I find a partner in crime.
And I do want to know what kind of scenario you put your Kens into. Probably the same I put Superman and G.I. Joe into LOL
XOXO
Yo más que de juguetes era de salir a la calle a jugar inventándome mis historias, que normalmente iban en consonancia con la última película de fantasía o acción que hubiese visto por ahí. De muñecos recuerdo unos hombrecillos de acción de mis hermanos, que con sus uniformes militares y el corte de pelo al cepillo pues ¡fiuuuut! (silbido) vaya, parecían strippers de un night-club-gay. Más de una vez intenté bajarles los ajustados slips azules a ver qué escondían debajo, pero esa posibilidad de juego no estaba contemplada por el fabricante, ¡malditos!
ReplyDeleteY que ganas de ver Barbie ¿verdad?....otro plan para una noche de verano.
¡Feliz fin-de, guapo!
Yo, los dos.
DeleteYo tenía momentos que no quería salir me quedaba en casa (o en el patio) y jugaba solo por horas. Yo creo que los comics y las películas también influenciaban mis fantasías. Y si, los soldados. Y luego nos culpan porque nos encantan los uniformados!
Y que si, que quiero ver la peli! Tal vez esta samana.
Besos, Angelillo!
OXOX
I coveted the lone ranger horses! Saved up and had Bad Bart, his black horse Phantom, and Scout because pinto horses were always my fave. My sister had Silver and a girl doll called Dynamite who was set up for action and could ride the horses. They had many adventures and we made endless bridles and rugs for the horses to wear. I wasn't much of a doll kid otherwise. Mostly we galloped around being horses or I was lost in my own world being an animal of some kind! I remember being babysat up the road and the girl a couple of years older than me had a crammed Barbie wardrobe and we had fun dtessing her Barbies, but that was a one off. Tina on west oz
ReplyDeleteOMG
DeleteThe Lone Ranger! That would have been a blast! And making stuff for the toys was always a joy, too! I made parachutes and little houses. I was never really babysat cause my Nana lived with us.
XOXO