The Big Picture

• Greta Gerwig brings depth and sensitivity to Barbie, exploring women's issues and relationships, making her the ideal director for the project.
• Gerwig's ability to assemble a strong ensemble cast enhances her exceptional screenplays, with a notably diverse cast in Barbie.
• Barbie's rebrand as a progressive and empowering figure aligns with Gerwig's feminist message, making the film emotionally impactful.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie finally arrived in all its pink glory in the Summer of 2023, giving us a star-studded cast, campy costumes, and eye-popping choreographed musical numbers. Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Mattel’s iconic Barbie and Ken dolls, the final result of the long awaited, heavily marketed film was a masterclass in writing, casting, and tackling complex themes with comedy, demonstrating why Gerwig was the perfect director to bring Barbie to life on the big screen.

Greta Gerwig Made Her Solo Directorial Debut with 2017's 'Lady Bird'

Though now more widely recognized as a director, Gerwig got her start acting in mumblecore films in the mid-2000s, before achieving more mainstream success when she began working with frequent collaborator, and now partner, Noah Baumbach. Before co-writing Barbie together, Gerwig and Baumbach co-wrote Frances Ha and Mistress America, with Gerwig starring as the lead in both. In 2016, she played supporting roles in Jackie and 20th Century Women, and later went on to star in Baumbach's 2022 absurdist dramedy, White Noise.

After co-directing Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg in 2008, Gerwig made her solo directorial debut in 2017 with Lady Bird. Lady Bird, also written by Gerwig, is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film about high school senior Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) as she attempts to find herself and navigate a complicated relationship with her mother. The movie was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, making Gerwig the fifth woman to ever be nominated in the latter category. With its big budget and even bigger ensemble cast, Barbie is a significant departure from her first two films, but Gerwig is no stranger to adapting existing intellectual property. Her second directorial feature, 2019's Little Women, is an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's oft-adapted novel of the same name, and earned six Academy Award nominations while breathing new life into a beloved American classic.

Looking at Gerwig’s career and the film's underlying message, it's clear why she was the ideal director for a project like Barbie. As a writer-director, she brings a certain depth and sensitivity to her exploration of women’s issues and relationships in her films. Her unique sense of humor, attention to detail, and clear passion for Barbie's history and cultural impact add a sense of care and self-awareness to a concept that could have easily remained one-dimensional in a different director’s hands.

Gerwig's Talent for Casting is Evident in 'Barbie'

Another notable feat of Gerwig's is her ability to assemble a strong ensemble cast to enhance her already exceptional screenplays. Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet both starred in her first two films, accompanied by the likes of Tracy Letts and Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird, and Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, and Florence Pugh in Little Women. For Lady Bird and Barbie, Gerwig teamed up with Allison Jones, the casting director behind The Office, and movies like Superbad and Bridesmaids. With Ronan and Chalamet nowhere in sight in Barbieland (despite Gerwig's best efforts), Barbie marks the first time Gerwig has worked with Robbie and Gosling along with the extensive supporting cast including Issa Rae, Ncuti Gatwa, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Michael Cera, and many more.

This is notably Gerwig’s most diverse cast so far, an element that is particularly important in a film about Barbie, a brand that has a long history of promoting a very particular and exclusionary beauty standard. For the majority of Barbie’s history, the classic blonde archetype dominated the market, but the brand has evolved significantly over the years to include dolls of different races, ethnicities, and body types. This is reflected in the cast, with Rae, Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, and Alexandra Shipp playing various versions of Barbie and Ken, and also featuring plus-size actresses Sharon Rooney and Nicola Coughlan as Lawyer Barbie and Diplomat Barbie respectively.

In 'Barbie,' Greta Gerwig Uses the Iconic Doll to Tackle Themes of Patriarchy and Female Empowerment

Mattel's Barbie is one of the most recognizable toys in the world, beloved by generations, but has also been subject to plenty of criticism and debate over its many years on the market, particularly over the lack of diversity among the dolls and Barbie's unrealistic body proportions, reinforcing a largely unattainable beauty standard —thin, white, and blonde, with blue eyes, a large bust, and a tiny waist. In recent years, Mattel has made many changes to rebrand itself as progressive and empowering to young girls, placing more focus on their Career Dolls, which come with accessories pertaining to different occupations like medical professionals, scientists, and teachers. The Barbie Role Models line launched in 2015, and the Inspiring Women line a few years later, honoring strong female role models of the past and present, including women like Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, and Misty Copeland. Barbie doubles down on this rebrand, introducing a society of Barbies with a wide array of occupations, from Physicist Barbie (Emma Mackey) to President Barbie (Issa Rae).

Barbie's incorporation of feminist messages in its branding also aligns nicely with the message of Gerwig's film. Gerwig is perceptive in her portrayal of women, their complex inner lives, and the nuances of their relationships with each other and with men, all of which are explored in Barbie. She already tackled a feminist tale in Little Women, and Barbie is even more fervent with its message of female empowerment and deconstruction of the patriarchy. Opening the film with a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey is a clever, tongue-in-cheek metaphor for the tremendous impact Barbie had on American culture upon its release, being the first toy doll with adult features to be mass-produced in the United States, essentially replacing the baby doll, and giving young girls something to aspire to, for better or worse.

Gerwig knew what audiences would be expecting when hearing the words "Barbie movie," but beyond its silliness and elaborate set design, Barbie packs quite an emotional punch. Moviegoers worldwide flocked to theaters decked out in pink for the movie event of the summer, grounded by Robbie's captivating performance as Barbie and Gerwig's heartfelt recontextualization of the iconic doll.

Barbie is available to watch on Max in the U.S.

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