Read "Barbie in the Longhouse"
Back when it first came out I wrote about the most important movie of 2023, and how Greta Gerwig uses the camera to subvert the surface-level text we’re presented to tell a deeper story.
Now Jacob Falkovich has written the definitive analysis of Barbie’s narrative goal and social commentary. It is breathtaking in its insight. I hope Gerwig herself sees it some day so she can get that joyful feeling of “Yes! This! Someone deeply gets it!!”
Jacob’s explanation is built on the unshakable foundation of the movie itself, and should be used as a primer on how to do film analysis well. When I wrote my response I focused on Ken’s journey. This movie touched me to the core and made me cry in the damn theater, so I was very focused on what it meant to me. Jacob brings it back to Barbie and has fully convinced me that the movie was, indeed, about Barbie after all. He does this by demonstrating which social structures the movie is critiquing and what is has to say about them, which can only be done via Barbie’s journey and growth arc. His critique made me tear up again just reading it.
The post comes in two parts.
Part 1 is entertaining and explanatory, and sets up a lot of dominos. But the real pay off comes in…
Part 2 is pure insight-cocaine. This brings everything together and reveals what was open before us if only we had eyes to see, like an all-Ken Dance Off.
Part 2 is behind a paywall. That makes me sad because many people won’t see it for that reason. But it’s so good that maybe it’ll bring Jacob a lot of subscribers, and he really deserves them. It is worth it. Use your free unlock on this post, you will not regret it. I hope he forgives me if I quote this little bit from below the fold as a teaser:
Ken is never a threat to Barbie. He’s utterly incapable of violence even after he learns about “the patriarchy” and gets weirdly enthusiastic about horses. Male attention is a threat to the regime.
If you read no other movie critique of the last 12 months, read this one. It’s so good.