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Lovebug Club: A Rom-Com Rewatch Podcast
Lovebug Club: A Rom-Com Rewatch Podcast
“Barbie” Rewatch: She’s A Barbie Girl, Outside Her Barbie World
💕 To celebrate the release of Greta Gerwig’s new Barbie movie, we are watching Barbie! Everything seems perfect in Barbie Land until Barbie and Ken take a trip to the real world. As Barbie and Ken are confronted with real world problems, they start to question everything they know. This episode is full of spoilers, fun facts, and some background on Barbie Land!
🎥 This movie stars Margot Robbie (Barbie), Ryan Gosling (Ken), America Ferrera (Gloria), Issa Rae (Barbie), Simu Liu (Ken), Michael Cera (Allan), Kate McKinnon (Weird Barbie), Helen Mirren (Narrator), Rhea Perlman (Ruth), Ariana Greenblatt (Sasha), and Will Ferrel (Mattel CEO). Written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. Directed by Greta Gerwig.
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🎬 Watch in theaters!
💿 Song pairing: Barbie Girl by Aqua
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Note to the reader: Hi Lovebugs! Our transcripts are auto generated and may not be 100% accurate.
00:00:11:18 - 00:00:12:17
Hadley
Hi Lovebugs!
00:00:12:22 - 00:00:13:19
Sarah
I'm Sarah.
00:00:13:19 - 00:00:18:18
Hadley
And I'm Hadley. This week we're talking about the brand new Barbie movie. We're just going to jump right in.
00:00:19:00 - 00:00:22:11
Sarah
We just saw it today, like a couple of hours ago.
00:00:22:13 - 00:00:25:17
Hadley
And everyone was dressed appropriately in Barbie Pink.
00:00:25:17 - 00:00:40:19
Sarah
Yes. I loved seeing everyone at the theater wearing pink. The movie was everything I had hoped for and more. It was so good. I already went to watch it again. It was so campy, which is my favorite type of movie.
00:00:40:21 - 00:00:48:08
Hadley
We also have to go back and watch it because during America first big speech, there was a small fight that broke out in our movie theater.
00:00:48:10 - 00:00:49:03
Sarah
Yeah.
00:00:49:05 - 00:00:52:08
Hadley
So we missed a few lines that seemed kind of important.
00:00:52:11 - 00:01:14:14
Sarah
And you want to know who were the people that got in a fight? Men. I would've loved to go to a women only screening of Barbie. I think that would have been a good time. Also, Barbie land at the beginning of the movie, when women just ruled, everything was like my ideal world. It was like a total matriarchy at the beginning.
00:01:14:15 - 00:01:26:06
Hadley
Movies. Fantastic. I highly recommend everyone go see it. This episode is full of spoilers, so if you haven't gotten to see it yet, go see it now. Listen later or listen now and be spoiled.
00:01:26:08 - 00:01:34:09
Sarah
We will not be saying spoiler alerts throughout the episode because it's all spoilers, so be warned. Now.
00:01:34:11 - 00:01:56:14
Hadley
The movie opens with a lot of little girls playing with their baby dolls and then Barbie arrives. And this entrance. If anyone's trying to picture it that hasn't seen it, is a reference to 2001 A Space Odyssey, where the giant monolith shows up in the midst of like a desert environment when the apes smash a bunch of things.
00:01:56:16 - 00:01:58:07
Hadley
But this the child smash, they're.
00:01:58:09 - 00:02:11:23
Sarah
All mismatched, their baby dolls. Because Barbie's here now. I did not understand that reference. And honestly, the beginning of the movie was the only part that I wasn't in love with. So maybe if I had understood the reference, I would have liked it.
00:02:12:01 - 00:02:18:12
Hadley
I understand the reference either. Apparently there are a lot of movie references. There are a lot of nods to Wizard of Oz in this too.
00:02:18:13 - 00:02:44:13
Sarah
The only movie reference that stood out to me was at the end when America Ferrera's husband in the movie says Si se puede because of her movie. Got to kick it up. Which came out in 2002. I think it was a Disney Channel movie, but that was my introduction to America Ferrera. Every time I hear Si se puede, it reminds me of that.
00:02:44:15 - 00:02:50:08
Hadley
Saying, That's all I ever think about. The movie has a narrator through parts of it.
00:02:50:13 - 00:02:53:22
Sarah
It's Helen Mirren.
00:02:54:00 - 00:02:59:17
Hadley
At first I was like, I don't know how I feel about this, but I actually really liked how it helped move things along.
00:02:59:21 - 00:03:00:20
Sarah
I loved it.
00:03:00:22 - 00:03:03:13
Hadley
And the songs in this movie are fantastic.
00:03:03:15 - 00:03:05:06
Sarah
They're so good.
00:03:05:08 - 00:03:12:12
Hadley
I love how they like. Describe Barbie getting ready, and then when her day's a little off one day, it describes how that's going wrong.
00:03:12:14 - 00:03:35:15
Sarah
The first song that plays when she is like waking up in her Barbie dream house. I will be adding that to my morning playlist for sure. And I will absolutely have Ken's song on repeat for the next like month. Everyone was so skeptical when Ryan Gosling got cast as Ken because they were saying he was too old and I was right there with everyone.
00:03:35:17 - 00:03:39:02
Sarah
But he plays Ken perfectly.
00:03:39:04 - 00:03:48:03
Hadley
He does. And I was even thinking about that in the movie. I was like, Well, he's kind of old, but I was like, But I like this. It works really, really well to have him be. Ken Great casting.
00:03:48:09 - 00:03:53:02
Sarah
And Margot Robbie is obviously perfect as a stereotypical Barbie.
00:03:53:04 - 00:04:05:20
Hadley
Amy Schumer was originally going to be Barbie, but I read that she wanted Barbie to be an inventor. But then when the writers suggested that Barbie would invent jelly heels, she became wary and she eventually walked away.
00:04:06:02 - 00:04:12:09
Sarah
So show Ronan was going to be in this movie, but her scenes were cut. She was in Little Women and Lady Bird.
00:04:12:11 - 00:04:30:17
Hadley
Ryan Gosling, I guess, accepted this role as Ken after seeing his daughter's discarded doll in the garden. He was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He said, I walk out into the backyard and you know where I found Ken? Jimmy face down in the mud next to a squished lemon. And after that, he sent a photo to Greta Gerwig and said, I shall be here.
00:04:30:17 - 00:04:39:23
Hadley
Ken, for his story must be told. This does feel like a very Ken's story. Barbie has a really good storyline, but can actually gets a little bit of a personality.
00:04:40:01 - 00:04:57:21
Sarah
It definitely has an art. I mean, it dips first, but then he has an art. Just some movie facts. It's a fantasy comedy directed by Greta Gerwig, and she wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach. It's the first live action Barbie movie.
00:04:57:23 - 00:05:06:12
Hadley
They're supposed to depict the Barbie dolls whose feet never go flat. And in one scene, Margot Robbie takes her shoe off and it stays in the same position.
00:05:06:13 - 00:05:09:09
Sarah
I'm impressed that she made it look so easy.
00:05:09:11 - 00:05:15:17
Hadley
Same. She was holding onto a bar off screen and there was sticky tape that held her shoes down to the ground.
00:05:15:19 - 00:05:19:18
Sarah
Oh, okay. I can maybe do it if there is a bar to hold on to.
00:05:19:20 - 00:05:32:01
Hadley
She said that she doesn't like having people sub in to do her hands or her feet for shots. Probably one of the most common things I've heard about this movie is that there was a pink paint shortage worldwide after they made the sets.
00:05:32:03 - 00:05:33:12
Sarah
That's hilarious.
00:05:33:14 - 00:05:44:14
Hadley
I watched this video that they did with Architectural Digest and they gave the tour of Barbie's dream home and the white used in her house is actually really, really pale pink. So everything's pink.
00:05:44:16 - 00:05:45:11
Sarah
Oh.
00:05:45:13 - 00:05:53:06
Hadley
And they're also random pink monkeys throughout it. What? I didn't notice any in the movie when she pointed them out on the Architectural Digest tour.
00:05:53:06 - 00:05:56:21
Sarah
In her house. Yes. Yeah.
00:05:56:23 - 00:06:00:17
Hadley
The clothing team only had 11 weeks to get all these outfits together.
00:06:00:18 - 00:06:01:12
Sarah
Oh, damn.
00:06:01:18 - 00:06:14:23
Hadley
Which seems like a short time. I also read somewhere that a lot of the Barbies that are in this movie aren't, like, technical Barbies that have come out. Like, there hasn't been a lawyer Barbie specifically. But there was an Elle Woods Barbie.
00:06:15:00 - 00:06:16:00
Sarah
Oh.
00:06:16:02 - 00:06:33:11
Hadley
There's a Pulitzer Prize winning Barbie in the film. But there was a commemorative release of Ida B Wells Barbie released in 2021, and she was a Pulitzer Prize winner. So it's kind of like not all of these Barbies are specific Barbies that have been issued, but they are kind of real.
00:06:33:13 - 00:07:10:23
Sarah
I want to look up the Barbies and cans that were in the movie that were discontinued like the sugar daddy. Can I just heard about how conservatives are so mad about this movie and they're saying that it's catering to the queer and transgender community and forgetting its true audience or something and put like a sugar daddy. Cam does not seem like that would align with conservative values either.
00:07:11:01 - 00:07:35:02
Hadley
There was one controversial character that was in this too, with Midge being pregnant. There's a 23 pregnant Midge and baby doll from the happy family line. The star was infamous for having been controversial back when she was released because she was accused of promoting teen pregnancy, even though Midge was an adult doll in this situation. And I guess she was portrayed as a single unwed mother.
00:07:35:05 - 00:07:53:07
Hadley
But Midge is technically and Barbie world married to Alan because of the 1990 wedding day Midge gift set. So they had to redo the box. So there was a little cut out for Alan in the corner of the box to make it look like, Oh, hey, she's married. And then they also had to paint her wedding band on thicker.
00:07:53:09 - 00:07:56:22
Hadley
So people were like, Oh, okay. She's not an unwed single mother.
00:07:57:00 - 00:08:04:04
Sarah
I wonder if there's any cut out scenes because I would have loved to see a scene of Midge and Alan together.
00:08:04:06 - 00:08:05:00
Hadley
Me too.
00:08:05:05 - 00:08:12:08
Sarah
Also, Alan tries to leave with the humans from Barbie land. Is he just leaving Midge in the baby?
00:08:12:10 - 00:08:14:16
Hadley
Maybe. Or maybe he forgot they got married.
00:08:14:18 - 00:08:21:09
Sarah
Since he wasn't on one of the boxes. I love how much I actually learned about Barbie through this movie.
00:08:21:11 - 00:08:26:14
Hadley
I know. And I thought it was really cool that at the end they showed so many of the outfits and the dolls.
00:08:26:19 - 00:08:38:22
Sarah
I really loved the part in the movie when Ken was throwing Barbie's clothes out of the house and they would like freeze frame them in the air and label what collection they were in.
00:08:38:22 - 00:09:05:20
Hadley
The Architectural Digest thing I watched. They talked about the box for Barbie, like how you always could just reach through and pull the clothes off. And her closet is modeled off of that. It's the clothing pack, which you would get those pictures like the freeze frames were on the back with those. They also said that they wanted to make the wardrobe as cool as clueless because coolest set the bar very high.
00:09:05:22 - 00:09:11:05
Sarah
Honestly, clueless as outfits are iconic, their outfits.
00:09:11:05 - 00:09:15:10
Hadley
And then Cher's outfit picker that she only uses once in the movie.
00:09:15:12 - 00:09:24:12
Sarah
The costume designer is Oscar winning costume designer Jacqueline Duran. She worked with Greta Gerwig on Little Women originally.
00:09:24:14 - 00:09:29:01
Hadley
Diablo Cody, who is going to direct this movie? Who did Jennifer's body?
00:09:29:03 - 00:09:38:23
Sarah
Oh, my God. I would have loved for her and Greta Gerwig to team up for this. Also, maybe if Diablo Cody had done it, it would have been more gay.
00:09:39:01 - 00:09:45:09
Hadley
Maybe. One of the reviews I read about this is like this is now a gay classic.
00:09:45:11 - 00:10:10:15
Sarah
Oh, yeah. It doesn't even have to explicitly be gay to be a gay class. It's the camp. And also, when Barbie was like, every night is girls night, I was like, I mean, it can be San Ken home. I loved how the humans were like, all the Barbies have their own dream houses. Where do they can stay? And Barbie is like, I've never thought of that before.
00:10:10:16 - 00:10:13:11
Sarah
I have no idea. I love that.
00:10:13:13 - 00:10:28:23
Hadley
I saw that, Ryan Gosling told GQ. Ken's job is Beach. For 60 years, his job has been beach. What the fuck does that even mean? And then he went on to say, Ken's got no money, he's got no job, he's got no car, he's got no house. He's going through some stuff.
00:10:29:01 - 00:10:30:00
Sarah
He's a beach bum.
00:10:30:02 - 00:10:36:09
Hadley
Yeah, he really is. Showing up in Venice was, like, the perfect spot for Ken. He could have just beached professionally there.
00:10:36:15 - 00:10:40:19
Sarah
What's the woman's name? Who plays the creator of Barbie?
00:10:40:21 - 00:10:42:09
Hadley
Rhea Perlman.
00:10:42:11 - 00:10:54:01
Sarah
She's married to Danny DeVito. They were both in Matilda. That's what I know her from, mostly. But I love that she was the creator of Barbie in this movie.
00:10:54:03 - 00:11:01:04
Hadley
Too. She's also in Cheers, if anyone watches Cheers. She's so funny. My first intro to Danny DeVito. It was Hercules.
00:11:01:04 - 00:11:21:15
Sarah
Oh, yes, I love that. I met him in New York. Oh, he was sitting outside a MoMA and my mom and I walked by and we were like, Oh, my God, is that Danny DeVito? I was like, I really want to go take a picture with him and tell him how much I love Matilda, but I don't want to bother him.
00:11:21:15 - 00:11:26:00
Sarah
And I was like, Just go do it. He was so nice.
00:11:26:01 - 00:11:28:18
Hadley
I'm so jealous that you've met him. I love him.
00:11:28:19 - 00:11:45:06
Sarah
It was cool. The Barbie team attended a Barbie boot camp before filming. The cast went there, an emerging course designed by Mattel, explained the dolls for history. And the dolls best fashion hits and misses. That sounds fun.
00:11:45:08 - 00:11:46:06
Hadley
Yes. Can I say.
00:11:46:06 - 00:12:16:21
Sarah
No? They said open that up. Oh, my God. A Barbie cruise. This would be so much fun. Like Disney Cruises book, Barbie, all pink. They could have educational classes to go to, like the Barbie boot camp. They're going to also have performances and stuff. I need to sell some on this idea because judging by how popular the movie has been already, it just came out and all the theaters are sold out.
00:12:16:21 - 00:12:19:09
Sarah
I guarantee a cruise would sell out.
00:12:19:11 - 00:12:20:15
Hadley
Oh, absolutely.
00:12:20:16 - 00:12:24:22
Sarah
Especially if it's mostly women. That sounds like heaven.
00:12:25:00 - 00:12:27:11
Hadley
Yeah, Women. And then you're Alan.
00:12:27:13 - 00:12:29:13
Sarah
Yes. Alan's the only one allowed.
00:12:29:15 - 00:12:36:17
Hadley
There is a life size Barbie house that they've used for promotional materials in Malibu, which seems appropriate.
00:12:36:23 - 00:12:56:03
Sarah
I'm looking at the picture. It's an Airbnb. Oh, my God. I want to stay there. It reminds me of. Have you seen Trixie, Mattel, the drag queen? She has a hotel that is all pink. It looks so fricking cute. It's in Palm Springs. I really want to go.
00:12:56:05 - 00:13:08:03
Hadley
Something I saw that was cool is there's no writing in Barbie land. They have letters. They have a mail person that delivers letters. But the writing is just beautiful scribbles.
00:13:08:05 - 00:13:19:08
Sarah
There's also no water. I love when Barbie gets to the real world and takes a drink and spills all over herself. This is like I'm not used to that having liquid in it.
00:13:19:10 - 00:13:32:05
Hadley
Everyone just took it at face value. Greta Gerwig really liked that 1950s like soundstage musical vibe, So that was part of why there were so many dance numbers on the soundstages.
00:13:32:07 - 00:13:34:01
Sarah
I love those dance numbers.
00:13:34:06 - 00:13:40:20
Hadley
I loved how Ken was like, You have anything going on? Barbie was like, No, I'm just going to have some friends over and do choreographed dance number.
00:13:40:23 - 00:13:48:23
Sarah
Yeah, I can't wait for the choreography to go viral on TikTok so I can learn it.
00:13:49:01 - 00:14:00:02
Hadley
So we see Barbie getting ready, and then she goes to the beach and we see Ken. And the narrator says that Ken's day is only made if Barbie looks at him every day.
00:14:00:02 - 00:14:04:17
Sarah
For Barbie is a good day, but can only has a good day of Barbie notices him.
00:14:04:19 - 00:14:08:04
Hadley
Exactly. One of the life to live.
00:14:08:04 - 00:14:09:20
Sarah
That's so sad for Ken.
00:14:09:22 - 00:14:28:18
Hadley
Ken tries to go surfing and then the ambulance comes. And I loved this ambulance because it folds out just like a normal Barbie ambulance. What Barbie has her dance party at her house. They're all dancing and having fun. And I forget the exact words, but Barbie says something along the lines of because ever thought about death and everything stops.
00:14:28:19 - 00:14:45:09
Hadley
And then she kind of laughs it off. And her life is a little wonky. The next morning, she wakes up, not super happy to be awake. She has morning breath, her waffle gets burned, her whipped cream goes splat on the counter, her milk is expired.
00:14:45:11 - 00:14:50:12
Sarah
And the song changes as she's going through all of this.
00:14:50:14 - 00:15:00:18
Hadley
The music in this, the way it tells the story is fantastic. And then her feet fall and she doesn't know what to do. So she has to go to Weird Barbie.
00:15:00:20 - 00:15:02:07
Sarah
Played by Kate McKinnon.
00:15:02:09 - 00:15:03:15
Hadley
Perfect casting choice.
00:15:03:18 - 00:15:05:11
Sarah
She's always in the splits.
00:15:05:13 - 00:15:26:15
Hadley
Because she was played with too hard, so she's got funky hair drawings on her face, always in the splits. And Weird Barbie explains that something must be wrong with the person playing with Barbie. So Barbie needs to go to the real world and she gives her two choices of the high heels or the Birkenstocks, and Barbie wants to take the high heels.
00:15:26:15 - 00:15:34:23
Hadley
Then Weird Barbie points out that Barbie just got some cellulite. And if she wants to get rid of the cellulite, she has to go to the real world. And I guess this was a nod to The Matrix.
00:15:35:05 - 00:15:43:23
Sarah
I haven't seen The Matrix, but I did also see that it was a nod to the Matrix where she had to choose between the two options.
00:15:44:04 - 00:16:04:13
Hadley
I could definitely see being a nod to the matrix, like what you think is real suddenly is not because of a choice you made to see the reality. Barbie starts her quick jaunt to the Real World, which involves car, boat, rocket trip, snowmobile, camper, rollerblades. But on her way out of town, Ken pops up. He came with her.
00:16:04:15 - 00:16:16:20
Sarah
Ryan Gosling's Ken is inspired by sun loving Malibu Ken from 1979, who wore turquoise swimwear and had blond hair, tan skin.
00:16:16:22 - 00:16:19:03
Hadley
And I bet his profession was beach.
00:16:19:05 - 00:16:20:01
Sarah
Hmm.
00:16:20:03 - 00:16:21:22
Hadley
He's so good in this.
00:16:21:23 - 00:16:50:05
Sarah
C.M. You flay's Japan can, which was the first Asian Ken doll and was released in 2011, also known as Samurai Ken, Which seems kind of racist. Yeah, but he was included as part of the dolls of the World Series, and he was the first and only Ken to be included in that because it was previously a Barbie only line.
00:16:50:06 - 00:16:52:05
Hadley
Ken, Breaking ground for Ken.
00:16:52:07 - 00:16:53:03
Sarah
Mm hmm.
00:16:53:05 - 00:17:14:10
Hadley
They get out into the real world. Barbie goes to try to find some women, goes to a construction site, and they're all men. And she's getting the first feelings of, Oh, I'm feeling self-conscious and upset and this feels dangerous. Someone comes and smacks her butt, so she turns around and punches him. And then they go to jail.
00:17:14:12 - 00:17:22:04
Sarah
Good for her, though. He deserved that also. He assaulted her first, so she shouldn't have an arrest.
00:17:22:06 - 00:17:43:11
Hadley
But they promptly wind up back in jail when they go shoplift some new outfits. And now they are like fringe cowboy Barbies. Barbie goes to reflect to try to find out where the kid who's having trouble with their emotions is. And she sits down on the bus bench and Ken wanders off.
00:17:43:13 - 00:17:46:16
Sarah
And discovers how patriarchal the world is.
00:17:46:18 - 00:18:00:11
Hadley
He gets super into patriarchy. He's like, Oh, I could be recognized here instead of just the side character known. On staying out with Barbie has her little reflection, and when she opens her eyes, she sees the woman on the bench.
00:18:00:13 - 00:18:06:08
Sarah
I love that when Barbie tells it, she's pretty. She's like, I know, me too.
00:18:06:08 - 00:18:11:15
Hadley
And I love that. That's Barbie's first introduction into someone in the world who's confident.
00:18:11:17 - 00:18:36:15
Sarah
Yeah, I love that. It was par for the course for Barbie, because that's how everybody responded in the matriarchal society of Barbie land. Like whenever one of the Barbies won an award, she was like, I so deserve this instead of being, like, humble or whatever. They're like, Yeah, damn right, I get this award. I worked my ass off.
00:18:36:17 - 00:18:54:19
Hadley
They decided to go to the school that the kid who's supposed to be Barbie's kid is that can go to the library, gets a bunch of books on patriarchy and horses. His whole journey is wild, and the kid that Barbie thinks is playing with her totally tells her off and calls her a fascist.
00:18:54:21 - 00:19:08:23
Sarah
I love how offended she was by that. She also logical. She was like, I don't control the money. I don't like. She's like, that's just not even factually true.
00:19:09:01 - 00:19:36:06
Hadley
Well, it's one of the early Barbie said in the opening. I can have emotion and logic. Mm hmm. So many talents, whole side thing. FBI calls Mattel and it's like, hey, there's a Barbie out again. And they're trying to stop that. But Mattel comes and picks up Barbie and America Ferrera, who works at Mattel and knows there's a Barbie on the loose, picks up her daughter, sees Barbie get captured and is like, hey, let's go save Barbie.
00:19:36:08 - 00:19:39:04
Hadley
Chevy definitely sponsored the cars on this movie.
00:19:39:07 - 00:19:48:17
Sarah
Oh, my God. Yes. I totally noted that when we were watching the movie, I was like, oh, this is basically a Chevy ad.
00:19:48:18 - 00:19:57:22
Hadley
Mattel tries to put Barbie in a box, which I thought was really funny, that she just lined up where the hand ties would be. And then they started tightening from the back.
00:19:57:23 - 00:20:08:11
Sarah
I was like, Oh, this is going to end really quickly. They're already capturing her. But she realizes at the last second what they're doing and she escapes.
00:20:08:12 - 00:20:11:16
Hadley
She runs into the creator of Barbie on her way downstairs.
00:20:11:20 - 00:20:12:15
Sarah
Oh, yeah.
00:20:12:20 - 00:20:15:01
Hadley
Who's randomly in, like, some weird room?
00:20:15:02 - 00:20:32:16
Sarah
She says I do my best thinking at a kitchen table. So I was assuming that they, like, built a soundstage on one of the floors of this building for her to sit at a kitchen table while she works America Ferrera picks her up and helps her get away.
00:20:32:18 - 00:20:37:21
Hadley
They decide to take America Ferrera and her daughter back to Barbie land.
00:20:37:23 - 00:20:40:01
Sarah
But now it's Ken Adam.
00:20:40:03 - 00:21:00:02
Hadley
When he got his little library books, he was like, I'm going to go teach the kids about the patriarchy. And when they get back, it's canned them. And I guess whatever happens in the Barbie world influences what toys go for sale and stuff, because suddenly there's a can house going for sale cans. What was it?
00:21:00:04 - 00:21:06:23
Sarah
It was like Mojo Dojo, Casa house.
00:21:07:01 - 00:21:26:23
Hadley
For thinking doll logic is the same across all boards. Then it would make sense in Lifesize when Eve went back to go save her doll company because she could go be different in her doll world and then the doll of her would come out because like Ken's house comes up for sale and then anxiety Barbie comes up.
00:21:27:01 - 00:21:34:00
Sarah
A panic attack sold separately. That was amazing, but really was.
00:21:34:02 - 00:21:38:08
Hadley
Barbie breaks down because her whole world messed up and Ken ruined everything.
00:21:38:10 - 00:21:41:02
Sarah
Men ruin everything.
00:21:41:04 - 00:21:51:01
Hadley
They really do. America Ferrera and her daughter are going to leave, and as they're on their way out of town, Alan pops up.
00:21:51:03 - 00:21:54:18
Sarah
To see to apparently abandon Midge in the baby.
00:21:54:20 - 00:21:58:18
Hadley
Yeah. Really, Alan, get it together. I wonder how long Midge has been pregnant.
00:21:58:22 - 00:22:03:03
Sarah
That's a good question. She's perpetually pregnant.
00:22:03:05 - 00:22:07:11
Hadley
Someone else pointed it out, and I cut it, too. There are no Kellys in this world.
00:22:07:16 - 00:22:08:21
Sarah
Who is Kelly?
00:22:08:23 - 00:22:11:00
Hadley
I think Kelly's Barbie's little sister.
00:22:11:02 - 00:22:23:07
Sarah
I just read Barbie is the oldest of four sisters and official Barbie Law skipper Stacy O. And Chelsea, formerly named Kelly.
00:22:23:09 - 00:22:26:16
Hadley
Okay. She was Kelly from 1995 to 2010.
00:22:26:19 - 00:22:27:16
Sarah
Interesting.
00:22:27:19 - 00:22:29:08
Hadley
And now she's Chelsea.
00:22:29:10 - 00:22:38:16
Sarah
I had one of them. And she was a gymnast. So she had working joints, unlike Barbies.
00:22:38:18 - 00:22:48:18
Hadley
I had a skipper that did that. And then I had a few little Kelly's. I also had friends of Kelly. Oh. And then for a while, there were baby. Like baby, baby.
00:22:48:18 - 00:22:54:08
Sarah
Yes, I had those because wasn't Skipper a babysitter?
00:22:54:10 - 00:22:55:10
Hadley
I think so.
00:22:55:12 - 00:23:09:11
Sarah
So I must have had a skipper, too, because I definitely had those babies. There was a controversial version of Skipper growing up, Skipper. Like, I go through puberty. They showed this in the movie. She can apparently grow boobs.
00:23:09:13 - 00:23:12:16
Hadley
Oh, is that the one where they put her arm up and her boobs got bigger?
00:23:12:18 - 00:23:44:22
Sarah
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I'm reading all the controversial Barbies. There was an Oreo Barbie, which was a partnership with Oreo that quickly turned into an accidentally racist incident. Apparently, no one at Mattel was familiar with the racial slur Oreo. Ah, makes sense since all of the men running the company in the movie were white. The partnership Oreo Barbie was quickly pulled from shelves.
00:23:45:00 - 00:23:45:19
Hadley
That makes sense.
00:23:46:00 - 00:23:49:03
Sarah
Okay. Measures baby is removable.
00:23:49:05 - 00:23:52:11
Hadley
I saw that in the credits. That's so weird.
00:23:52:13 - 00:23:56:20
Sarah
That is weird. And video girl Barbie.
00:23:56:22 - 00:23:58:12
Hadley
I'd never heard of that one.
00:23:58:14 - 00:24:04:17
Sarah
That was discontinued over privacy concerns because she had a video camera embedded in her torso.
00:24:04:19 - 00:24:10:06
Hadley
I saw that Greta Gerwig was worried that the Barbie movie would end her career, but I don't think it will.
00:24:10:08 - 00:24:16:02
Sarah
No, definitely not. I did like that. They had a wheelchair, Barbie.
00:24:16:04 - 00:24:16:17
Hadley
Me too.
00:24:16:23 - 00:24:22:05
Sarah
And a plus size Barbie. Cut it down with more variety and Barbies.
00:24:22:06 - 00:24:25:06
Hadley
At least they weren't all white Barbies, which was nice.
00:24:25:08 - 00:24:27:16
Sarah
Yes, I love that SRK played the president.
00:24:27:20 - 00:24:29:07
Hadley
Me, too. She was so good.
00:24:29:08 - 00:24:35:11
Sarah
Is it because if anybody should be running the country, it is a black woman. Also, I love Issa Rae.
00:24:35:13 - 00:24:42:17
Hadley
America Ferrera and her daughter have come back to Barbie land to help Barbie, who is having a bit of a breakdown.
00:24:42:19 - 00:25:10:17
Sarah
America gives her speech, which snaps it. I don't even remember what Barbie called it, but it was like the discussion of the cognitive dissonance or something, and it sounds a lot better. And Barbie says it, but they figure out that that is what breaks the patriarchal spell over the other Barbies. And so they hatch a plan to get all the other Barbies broken from their spell.
00:25:10:18 - 00:25:20:07
Hadley
Their plans are fantastic, like they have to distract the cans. My favorite one was Tell me about The Godfather. Do you want to watch it from the beginning? And you can talk all the way through.
00:25:20:09 - 00:25:30:02
Sarah
Oh, that was so funny. I love, though, that all of the Barbies band together and Alan, the cans end up fighting each.
00:25:30:02 - 00:25:35:15
Hadley
Other to make it so the cans can't go to the courthouse to vote for it, to become.
00:25:35:15 - 00:25:36:09
Sarah
A condom.
00:25:36:14 - 00:25:47:07
Hadley
To distract the men. They get them all to fight with each other. And they have a fantastic song and dance montage, which is very 1950s sound stage musical esque.
00:25:47:10 - 00:25:48:18
Sarah
It was giving grease vibes.
00:25:49:00 - 00:25:54:22
Hadley
Yeah. And also, Grease is one of the things that can saw when he was in the real world.
00:25:55:00 - 00:25:58:23
Sarah
Ken's song is also so good.
00:25:59:00 - 00:26:08:00
Hadley
It is. This is a weird side note. Did you notice how veiny Ryan Gosling's arms were? Yes, because it was driving me crazy.
00:26:08:02 - 00:26:16:05
Sarah
Yes. Feel like it adds to the esthetic of how desperate he was. Yeah, that's a good point.
00:26:16:07 - 00:26:21:17
Hadley
I loved the detail with his mink coat that the fabric inside was horses.
00:26:21:19 - 00:26:38:01
Sarah
I also thought it was funny how many actors from sex education were in this movie. The one that the FBI agent called at Mattel and one of the cans and also one of the Barbies are all from sex education.
00:26:38:03 - 00:26:46:23
Hadley
What a good crossover. The kids get distracted by their fighting and dancing and singing and the Barbies vote for it to stay Barbie land.
00:26:47:01 - 00:26:47:16
Sarah
Yay.
00:26:47:18 - 00:26:58:09
Hadley
Barbie talks to Ken about how Ken needs more than just to be Barbie's boyfriend and needs to go find his own identity. America Ferrera suggests that the Mattel guys, ordinary Barbie.
00:26:58:11 - 00:27:06:12
Sarah
Which Will Ferrell starts to say is a terrible idea. But then the other Mattel guy was like, That will be a hit.
00:27:06:17 - 00:27:28:01
Hadley
He's like, that'll make a lot of profit. And Will Ferrell's like, done. And then Barbie has her essential crisis and Ruth shows up. Her creator Ruth and Barbie, have this talk about whether or not Barbie wants to become human. And Ruth says, Well, let me show you what it's like before you make this decision, which I loved. What her feel.
00:27:28:03 - 00:27:43:21
Hadley
The good and the bad and all that. Barbie decides to become a human. And then we cut to her being dropped off somewhere, looking super cute. Being dropped off by America Ferrera, her husband and the daughter. She goes in. In my head, I'm like, Is this a job interview? Which.
00:27:43:21 - 00:27:52:10
Sarah
Yeah, same. I thought it was a job interview. I was like, honestly, she could have worn pink. Like she didn't have to wear that beige blazer.
00:27:52:15 - 00:27:54:22
Hadley
Now, but she's got her pink Birkenstocks on at least.
00:27:54:22 - 00:27:56:16
Sarah
Oh, she did. I didn't notice those.
00:27:56:20 - 00:27:59:08
Hadley
Barbie was going to a gynecologist appointment.
00:27:59:10 - 00:28:21:18
Sarah
It's a good reminder. Everybody make your appointments. I know that we said that, but none of the characters were explicitly gay. But there were some nods to gayness. Barbie did a lesbian salute to, I think, the outer space Barbie.
00:28:21:20 - 00:28:26:20
Hadley
I think it has multiple meanings. But I mean, in the context they go either way.
00:28:26:22 - 00:28:44:01
Sarah
And they're singing Indigo Girls in the car. My mom is a lesbian. She loves the Indigo Girls. Also, a lot of people are hoping that Barbie and America Ferrera's character would have a romance. A little sad they didn't.
00:28:44:03 - 00:28:59:12
Hadley
Oh, interesting. I don't think I would have liked them having a romance with the dynamic their characters had. It felt very like one helping guide the other. It felt kind of like she was teaching her in almost a parental way.
00:28:59:13 - 00:29:00:23
Sarah
I agree with that.
00:29:01:01 - 00:29:05:19
Hadley
But if their plotlines had been slightly different, I would have been all the way down for that.
00:29:05:21 - 00:29:09:20
Sarah
Overall amazing movie. I already want to see it again.
00:29:09:22 - 00:29:12:21
Hadley
Really good movie. It's really fun.
00:29:12:23 - 00:29:20:08
Sarah
Very campy, very existential. If you're not already having an existential crisis, this might make you have one.
00:29:20:10 - 00:29:33:03
Hadley
But then you can be the lowest. You've been emotionally and physically like face down on the ground. It's a good movie. Go see it this weekend. Yes.
00:29:33:04 - 00:29:35:17
Sarah
Break those box office records.
00:29:35:19 - 00:29:37:23
Hadley
Go see last week.
00:29:38:01 - 00:29:41:06
Sarah
Yeah. Just go see it.
00:29:41:08 - 00:29:43:07
Hadley
Yeah, Just go see it whenever.
00:29:43:09 - 00:29:44:01
Sarah
Multiple times.
00:29:44:02 - 00:29:47:07
Hadley
Keep it in the top of the charts for multiple weekends.
00:29:47:09 - 00:29:53:20
Sarah
Yes. Our song pairing for this movie is Aqua Barbie Girl.
00:29:53:21 - 00:30:01:00
Hadley
Obviously, you can't do a Barbie movie without thinking about this song, even if it's not actually in the movie.
00:30:01:02 - 00:30:32:07
Sarah
It's sampled by Nicki Minaj and a spice, and apparently the original Barbie Girl song by Aqua Mattel, who's involved with this movie, had tried to sue Aqua for that song, which came out in 1997 for copyright infringement. But Aqua won the lawsuit because the song was a parody and protected under fair use. So I wonder how Aqua felt about them sampling the song for this movie that Mattel was involved in?
00:30:32:09 - 00:30:36:05
Hadley
Oh, that's a really good question. I had no idea all that went down.
00:30:36:07 - 00:30:37:13
Sarah
I didn't either.
00:30:37:15 - 00:30:42:06
Hadley
I wonder if they ended up being okay if Mattel paid them for the usage.
00:30:42:08 - 00:30:42:17
Sarah
Oh, yeah.
00:30:42:17 - 00:30:51:14
Hadley
Maybe be like how you tried to stop us. And are you paying us to use our music? Great song. Great movie. I just love Barbie.
00:30:51:16 - 00:30:55:03
Sarah
Same. And I love Pink.
00:30:55:05 - 00:31:04:22
Hadley
Thanks for joining us for Barbie. Make sure to leave a five star rating and follow us on Instagram at Love Bug Club Pod for more content episode announcements. See you next time. Love Bugs.