![]() ![]() At that very moment, I was up from my camping chair, re-positioning the speaker and coaxing kids to swap places so one could lay down and the other could sit, reminding them not to yell - that we were not on our couch at home. There’s a monologue in the film when America Ferrera’s character unpacks all the things women have to be, all the contradictory pressures and expectations and double standards of beauty and responsibility and ambition and caretaking. That Greta Gerwig accomplishes this alongside quips on Stephen Malkmus lyrics and BBC’s “Pride and Prejudice,” never mind a bit that made my 11 year-old ask, “What’s Proust?” is pretty remarkable. ![]() It’s the first studio comedy to gross more than $100 million on opening weekend - it hit $162 million in three days - and it’s the highest opening in North America for a female director - ever. “Barbie” is already breaking all kinds of records. Rolling Stone is calling it one of the most subversive movies of the 21st Century. Also patriarchy, feminism, capitalism and Matchbox 20. When we arrived, Margaret told me the movie was rated PG-13 for “existential angst.” I love this for Barbie.Īs the story unfolds, it’s about a great many things: the confusion and madness and joy and myriad contradictions inherent in being a girl, a woman, and - in different ways - a man. The author, and two of her three children, at a drive-in movie theater in Wellfleet, Mass. The movie started around 8:30, and within 15 minutes, the sun had set and Barbie had entered the “Real World.” The screen was bright, the sound was clear, and we snuggled under blankets, sharing extra-large buckets of popcorn. Walking back and forth from the concessions, I saw at least three pink party dresses and one set of impressively-high pink heels. There was a pink VW Beetle parked two rows ahead of us and the merch table had a run on hot pink blankets (our group contributed to this). Two metal speakers hung from yellow poles stationed between cars, and when we rolled in they were blasting the 1997 Aqua earworm “Barbie Girl.” The vibe was as you’d expect: festive and very pink. We pulled our cars into two parking spaces about five rows from the front, our open hatchbacks facing the screen. We arrived early and had plenty of “seats” to choose from. She was visiting with her family from Virginia, and we packed up two cars, five kids (ages 7 through 13), four adults, one cooler and two shopping bags of snacks and drove to Wellfleet, Massachusetts to watch the movie at a drive-in. The Friday night of opening weekend I saw the movie with Margaret, the same friend who gave us the convertible. When Kate McKinnon’s “Weird Barbie” tells her she needs to go to the “Real World” to find the human whose errant thoughts are causing the glitch, “Ken” - give Ryan Gosling an Oscar right now - pops up from the backseat of the convertible, rollerblades at the ready, and tags along. The next day strange things are afoot at the Barbie dream house: her shower runs cold and her feet go flat. ![]() You’re probably familiar with the premise of the film by now: During an otherwise ubiquitous day of “beach,” elaborately choreographed dance parties and all-girl sleepovers, Margot Robbie’s sunny “Stereotypical Barbie” asks, in a record scratch, “Do you guys ever think about death?” (They do not.) I’m just setting the stage here, because listen: I loved the Barbie movie. I had a He-Man castle, not a dream house, and at 8 was more into The Monkees’ cinematic universe than Barbie’s. She never really got into Barbies, but between her and her two younger brothers, that pink convertible ferried Elsa, Batman and countless pairs of stuffed animals for miles across our hardwood floors.Īs for me, if we’re talking 1980s girlhood, I was not exactly your average bear. When my daughter turned 2, my friend Margaret gave her a pink Barbie dream car convertible. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |