‘Can we just chill on all the woke opinions about Barbie?’

The critics are out in full force - even Margot Robbie felt uncomfortable about being part of the film. 

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken. Image: Supplied

Can the critics just stop with the wokeness around the Barbie movie?! I mean come on, it’s Barbie and you know what? She just wants to party!

And I say, she should go for it – she’s an icon, she’s 64 years old FFS and she still brings shiny (and matte), plastic joy to so many people worldwide.

As a Barbie fan from childhood where my only child days were spent creating imaginary worlds with my enormous collection of Barbies, I know that in its simplicity- a plastic doll - Barbie can be whomever you want her to be and also, as Aqua said years ago, “Imagination, life is your creation.”  And, still today, no wiser words have been sung (well, that is arguable, but you get my drift).

Want more TV news? Sign up to Kidspot’s Talking TV newsletter for all the up-to-date news sent straight to your inbox.

Margot Robbie admitted to feeling a little uneasy about joining the Barbie franchise. Image: Supplied

The message of Barbie has critics torn

For some reason though, with the upcoming release of Barbie, the movie, critics and commentators around the globe have decided that this film should be some sort of social commentary on the history of Barbie and her legacy.

I have read opinions on why the film should incorporate all the ways Barbie has been controversial, dangerous even – from her distorted body measurements and their influence on body image to her hyper-femininity through fashion and makeup and how that represents negative stereotypes of women- what they should look like and also somehow what this makes them capable of more generally (because blonde, attractive women who wear pink stilettoes can't be President or Nobel Prize winners apparently).

I have read that from what has been shown to the audience so far through trailers, teasers, other promotional material, and the recent press tour, any serious or intelligent insight into these issues “shouldn’t be expected” because all that we are being shown is everything we expect, a shallow representation, just more of all these Barbie stereotypes.

But, seriously, what do you expect from Barbie?

It is literally a film about not just a doll but a brand. And guess what?! At the core, the Barbie brand is pink, it is hyperfeminine, and it is literally plastic. As a fan, I expect nothing more and I don’t want anything more from the film either.

No, that’s right, I don’t want a history of all the wrongs Barbie has made over her six decades of existence.

No, I don’t want to hear about all the ways she has been controversial, I just want to see Barbie be Barbie in her Barbie world.

RELATED: Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse is up for rent

So much... PINK! Image: Supplied

Feminists and Barbie

Now don’t get me wrong, I get there are issues related to Barbie and as a feminist, a mother of girls, and someone who has in the past had disordered eating (albeit not due to Barbie), I understand that some representation of these is a responsibility of the brand and in some ways, the film.

But because Barbie is such an icon, she does actually do this in the film (it’s just not the central focus and done in a very Barbie way because really no one is going to watch that).

Barbie actor and Producer, Margot Robbie told Fandango: "Greta [director] kinda pushes [the movie] in directions that I didn't think [Mattel] would let us go in. I think a big part of that was kind of acknowledging the things that people find problematic about Barbie, as well asthe things that people love about Barbie."

And why do we want them to do anything more than this? As Robbie said on The Project this week, “We wanted to make something that everyone would have a great time watching.”

RELATED: Myer shoppers baffled by naked Barbies

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken. Image: Supplied

What Barbie fans should expect from new movie

That is exactly right, as a future audience member of Barbie, that is exactly what I want and what I expect. 

I want to watch Barbie in her Barbie world having fun with all the other Barbies and Kens. I want to see pink, I want rollerblading, I want a beach house in Malibu, I want a convertible, I want to see all the different Barbies, the iconic women who have joined the collection over the decades and made so many of us want to be different things, go into imaginary worlds and allow us to play the hours away in a rainy day inside.

I want to be taken on a Barbie-esque dream that brings a smile to my face, to laugh (in jest) occasionally at Barbie and Ken, and to just be taken back to my childhood when Barbie was my absolutely favourite world to be in.

As director Greta Gerwig said, “Barbie is an icon who has meant so many different things at different moments,” and I’d like to add, “and to so many different people.” So, let’s just let Barbie be Barbie and save the in-depth analysis documentary for another day (and another audience).

Barbie hits Aussie cinemas on July 20th.

Originally published as ‘Can we just chill on all the woke opinions about Barbie?’