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Greta Gerwig's Barbie was recently released in theaters. It has already been praised by both fans and critics for its nostalgic theme and brilliant story. It has also managed to earn a lot at the box office. However, there were several things in the film that viewers might have missed on first viewing.
Here are three things viewers might have missed while watching Barbie. There were shoutouts to films, directors, pop culture, Mattel, and a lot more. Everything made sense because the doll is a piece of American history.
Disclaimer: This article will contain heavy spoilers from Greta Gerwig's latest film.
3 interesting things you might have missed while watching Barbie
1) The Godfather reference
After each of the dolls in the movie woke up from the slumber they were in, she got sent to a Ken to act as a distraction. When this was transpiring, Margot Robbie as the lead character and Gloria were reprogramming other versions of the doll. Issa Rae pretended to be interested in Simu Liu talking about Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, The Godfather.
During one of the most hilarious line readings in the film, Rae asked Liu sarcastically if he was watching The Godfather. She also emphasized the wrong syllable to sound unintelligent. Meanwhile, Liu just kept talking throughout the entire film to impress her.
2) Discontinued dolls
There were several instances that saw the characters referring to Mattle being forced to remove several dolls from the market. The company had to remove and discontinue a number of dolls after facing some backlash and displeasure from customers or due to the doll's failure in the market.
There was a moment when Kate McKinnon lined up a couple of extinct dolls. Mattel had produced a variant called 'Growing Up Skipper' back in 1975. This doll's gimmick was that it was going through puberty. This doll also had a mechanism that all allowed it to increase its height and the size of its br*asts.
There was also one doll made called the 'Video Girl Barbie'. It had a hidden camera in its chest and a screen on its back and was called a nightmare for child privacy. In fact, things became quite tense, and even the FBI got involved as they were concerned about the possibility of creating child p*rnography with it.
There were also a couple of very suspicious Kens. 'Earring Magic Ken' was apparently popular as 'G*y Ken' because of its flashy outfit. In 1992, a version of the doll called 'Teen Talk' was introduced. However, Mattel was accused of trying to rewrite gender norms and had to discontinue the doll.
There was also a variant of Ken called 'Sugar Daddy Ken'. He was called that because he had a cat called Sugar. However, people ignored that and thought this doll was p*rverted.
3) A shoutout to Zack Snyder's films
When the dolls in the film were waking up from their fantasy, several movies were used to represent submission due to patriarchy. Even American director Zack Snyder received a shoutout.
When Gloria brought back Alexandra Shipp's character into the real world, the latter said:
"I felt like I was in a dream where I liked Zach Snyder’s cut of Justice League."
The directors-edit version of Justice League was released in 2021. It received mixed reactions but was appreciated by lifelong fans of DC.
Barbie synopsis
The official synopsis of Barbie according to Warner Bros reads:
"To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”) comes “Barbie,” starring Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie (“Bombshell,” “I, Tonya”) and Ryan Gosling (“La La Land,” “Half Nelson”) as Barbie and Ken,"
It goes on to add a list of other stars who are also a part of the film. They include America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Micheal Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Ray, Rhea Perlmen, Emma Mackey, Simu Liu, and Will Ferrell, among others.
The film is currently playing in theatres across the world after its release on Friday, July 21, 2023.
