With over $244 million made on its opening weekend, $1.4 billion attained overall at the box office, and an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, the Barbie movie has not only taken the United States, but the entire world by storm.
The blockbuster “Barbie,” directed by Greta Gerwig, was released on July 21st, 2023 coincidentally alongside the movie Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. However, the plots of the movies are polar opposites with the Barbie movie even being proclaimed the movie of the summer by various magazines and media outlets such as Buzzfeed, Forbes Magazine, Esquire, and more. Posters filled to the brim with different shades of pink lined every wall and new products surrounding the fun and pink ambiance of the movie were being announced each day during the release of the film.
This movie follows the story of stereotypical Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, and Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, whose lives seem to be picture perfect until a weird sequence of events takes place leading them to the real world. The movie initially marketed itself to be purely fun, but ended up impacting audiences with the portrayal of themes such as the reality of living as a woman in today’s society, existential crises, and the effects of patriarchy. There were many moments in which the humor was impeccable but the contrast of the more serious themes gave the film a sense of deeper meaning. Using these “controversial” themes in a movie about a concept so anticipated from the moment it was announced allowed for a larger demographic to hear the messages they wanted to portray.
CHS student Grace Ayala stated that “…when I first heard about the Barbie movie I thought it was going to be a lot like Enchanted where the characters are forced into the real world and stuff and then…it was really not like that at all but I was pleasantly surprised honestly. I really liked that it wasn’t just plainly women on top of everything…instead of it being like Barbie is great but Ken is nothing, it showed that both sexes have their own struggles.”
But of course one of the most remarkable qualities surrounding this movie is undeniably its marketing. The Warner Brothers marketing team has gone above and beyond to bring partnerships and collaborations with both the most popular but also the most unanticipated brands. According to Elle Magazine, the Barbie brand has managed to collaborate with 30+ brands and corporations which cover nearly every department in the market including beauty, fashion, appliances, and so much more. These collaborations conjured a lot of buzz throughout social media with popular creators speaking about not only the movie, but also its distinct marketing strategies. Along with the worldwide meme-turned marketing tactic: Barbenheimer, the social media trend that brought attention to both the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies, Barbie’s unique but unexpectedly amazing marketing was a major success.
CHS student Enya Wang commented, “[The marketing] was very good, I feel like especially on social media it was like…super hyped up because it was so widespread.”
Overall, not only was the Barbie movie revolutionary in its concept but it was also creative, innovative, and progressive in all of its aspects. Although the movie was released back in June, the hype doesn’t seem to be dying down which hints at the Barbie movie becoming more than just the movie of this summer, but possibly the movie of the year.
