The satirical comedy has many moments that make you laugh, but then you realize that what’s being said is what you may experience on a daily basis. Greta Gerwig has always been one to express her love for girlhood in her movies, and it’s possible that her motherly instinct kicked in full swing while making Barbie because it is packed. We all know about the iconic monologue, which may not be considered mind-blowing in terms of writing, but that’s what makes it completely in touch with reality. Here we’re listing some more relatable scenes in the film that just feel like they’ve been ripped out of your very own life. There’s something in it for everyone, so let’s quickly get into the most relatable moments in the Barbie movie.
1. Hellen Mirren’s narration
In the opening shot of the movie that perfectly replicates the scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Hellen Mirren’s voiceover points out that it’s fun to “play mom” for a little while, but then not so much. She then suggests asking your own mother about this, and apart from cracking everyone up, this line is like a punch in the gut.
2. Barbie Calling Ken Brave
When Ken gets hurt from “beaching” too hard, he talks about how difficult it is to “beach.” He then goes on to say that his job is hard, and people don’t really see that. Barbie replies that he was very brave to crash into the waves of Barbie Land, and Ken acts cool but feels fantastic about her words of affirmation. He’s rather delighted that she sees his hard work and is grateful for her calling him brave; we’ve all wanted to get complimented like this, you know?
3. Do you ever think about the D-word?
Even if you haven’t seen the film, you know that Barbie’s adventure begins because she has thoughts of death. At a dance party that she throws herself, Barbie asks the other Barbies if they ever thought about death after they all call each other beautiful and say it’s the best day ever. It’s like we can’t have anything good without destroying it with our own thoughts. Do you ever feel like if things are going well today, something horrible is going to happen tomorrow? Yeah, same here.
4. Having a bad day after waking up wrong
After having terrible thoughts, Barbie wakes up in an odd position, has bad breath, gets cold water in her shower, and basically everything gets messed up because she didn’t sleep right. This happened after she had messed up her thoughts—could it be more real? You know every little thing counts to make a day good or bad, but this is an entire lifetime’s worth of messed up.
5. An undertone of violence
When Barbie and Ken start rollerblading into the real world, and people stare at them for their “hideous” neon 80s matching outfits, Ken feels confident and proud and is completely oblivious to the fact that Barbie is getting ogled and feels extremely uncomfortable. He goes on to mention that he doesn’t feel any kind of violence in the way people are looking at him, but Barbie disagrees because she’s a woman.
6. Ache-y But Good
When Barbie experiences her first tear, she describes the feeling as “achey but good.” We all know that a good cry can make a lifetime of difference to the way we feel. I mean, take watching the Barbie movie as an example: crying with other women about women’s power and finding your true self completely changed my mood (Midsommar could never).
7. Uncontrolled thoughts of death, cellulite, and crippling shame
To make herself feel good, Gloria decides to bring out all her daughter’s old Barbies because she thinks it’ll make her happy, but instead, it makes her really sad. Then she goes on to use her sadness as a starting point to make drawings of Barbie with thoughts of death, cellulite, and even shame. As if it weren’t enough for us, why would you make Barbie go through all of this?
8. “Fear with no object.”
When Barbie finds herself worried in the real world, it’s that feeling in the pit of her stomach that makes her feel afraid of the world around her. When she explains this thought as a fear with no clear object, a stranger tells her it’s anxiety, and when Ken says he’s never felt that, she calls out that the kids never take it out on the dads.
9. Aaron Dinkins
This is Greta’s lowest blow of them all, but when Barbie wants to talk to a woman in the Mattel building, she quickly realizes there are no women in charge. That’s when Aaron says he’s a dude with no power, so does that make him a woman? Ouch! Talk about painful truths. Later, the Mattel CEO (sorry, Will Ferrel, but we really hated you there) says that there have been two women who have worked at Mattel, and their foundation is basically women. Pfft.
10. Barbie and Ruth
Barbie meets the ghost of Ruth Handler and tells her that she thought the real world would be different from what it really is. Ruth replies that’s what makes it wonderful, but we all have those moments when we just want to quit everything and be still, kind of like Barbie.
11. Gloria’s self-deprecation
Gloria wanted some fun for herself because she was feeling sad that she was a boring mother with a not-so-great job and a daughter who hated her guts. She wants to have a little fun with Barbie, and quite frankly, I would have done the same if a real-life Barbie asked me to go with her to Barbie Land.
12. Don’t call me baby.
After Ken takes patriarchy into Barbie Land, he decides to also pick up on some random slang from the human man. He calls Barbie “tiny baby,” and she immediately tells him to not call her that. It’s a great interaction that says a lot with fewer words. Just take the hint, my guys.
13. Spa for the brain
Of course, when the Barbies are brainwashed, they have thoughts that make them feel at ease being an accessory, but a particular thing that physicist Barbie says feels rather important for us sometimes. She says she likes not having to make decisions because it feels like her brain is having a spa day. Don’t we all love a good brain spa day?
14. Human thoughts are complicated.
Barbie thinks the things that made her imperfect are the “complicated” human thoughts that Gloria put into her mind. Gloria goes on to explain that change is natural, but Barbie says it’s terrifying. I don’t think I need to say anymore. They’re both absolutely right.
15. The Depression Barbie
Greta didn’t have to call us out so accurately, but a Barbie that cries and scrolls through Instagram for 7 hours a day to look at her friend’s engagement pictures and then watches reruns of the BBC’s Pride And Prejudice would be a sellout for sure. What better than a doll to understand your feelings?
16. You are not good enough.
If you haven’t watched the movie and you’re still reading this article because you want to know about it, I would recommend checking out the film just for the monologue Gloria gives about being a woman. While every word of what she says is completely on point, the trigger is also just as important. Barbie says she’s not pretty anymore, and she’s not even smart. She thinks she’s not good enough to do anything. Every time I feel that way, I’m going to go back to Gloria’s speech.
17. This one is for all the designer Barbies.
If you’ve ever worked with Photoshop, then when Barbie (Alexander Shipp) asks Ken how to use the select tool, you’re definitely going to have a hearty laugh. Not only does Ken (Simu Liu) say she needs to make sure the layer is selected, Barbie brings up other random tools to dumb herself down so Ken can think she has no idea what she’s doing. It’s terrifically hilarious.
18. The Godfather
At the same time, President Barbie tells one of the Kens that she’s never seen The Godfather, and he proceeds to give her a masterclass on how brilliant the film is and the cinematic mastery that goes behind it. Barbie then asks if they can keep the movie on while he explains everything to her anyway (She really just wants to see the movie for herself, people).
19. “I’m like a woman already.”
When Gloria gets Barbie ready to go talk to Ken about being his long-term girlfriend so all the Barbies can peg the Kens against each other and take back the Supreme Court, Barbie shares her doubts about the plan working. Gloria tells her that it’s rather obvious that Ken likes her, and that’s why he’s behaving a certain way. Barbie then says she still doesn’t want to hurt him, and Gloria reminds her that he stole her house, wants to rule the world, and brainwashed her friends. Only then does Barbie realize everything that Ken has done to make her feel terrible.
Being a human can be pretty uncomfortable.
Finally, when Barbie tells Ruth that she wants to be a human, Ruth says it’s a pretty uncomfortable thing to be a human. That’s the part that Barbie wants to experience the most, though. She wants to do the imagining, not be the thing that was created. Just like sometimes we have to accept uncomfortable thoughts and feelings too,
Let us know if there was something you thought was more relatable that we missed out on. Or tell us which of these you found the most hilarious.
