When the air is about to turn crisp and Winthrop students arrive to fill the halls of buildings and Scholars Walk, summertime is soon to be coming to an end.
While students worked and vacationed during the flashes of summer heat, movie theaters offered a chance to unwind, cool down and enjoy what was new at the box office.
Movies such as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Oppenheimer”, “The Sound of Freedom” and many more filled the big screens across the United States and even the world.
Some of these movies “flopped” or failed to receive financial success as expected while others broke box office records.
Despite some films’ success, none has achieved the same success as the star-studded and pink-filled blockbuster, Barbie.
Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Issa Rae and a line-up of up-and-coming stars, Barbie explores the adventures and misadventures of a Barbie doll winds up having an existential crisis.
Following the movie’s debut on July 21st, the summer of 2023 became a giant trend of “Barbie Girl Summer.”
Fashion became dominated by “Barbie Pink,” and TikTok filled up with clips, terms, songs and memes from the million-dollar-maker blockbuster.
The “Barbie” brand even had an Airbnb up for visitation full of “Kenergy,” which according to the director Greta Gerwig, describes men who support women and their full potential.
With the movie dominating the box office and trends, Winthrop students were not immune to the “Barbie” phenomenon.
To Winthrop senior and interior designer Amelia Nichols, the Barbie” movie “was totally worth the hype” and “it was a very well-done film and I thought that the actors and actresses did a good job portraying difficult topics in a lightened form.”
When asked if she thought “Barbie” positively portrayed feminism, Nichols said, “I think it definitely was a step in the right direction. There are not a lot of movies that have women as the main characters or in that way that it is their life and how it would be impacted without men. So I thought that was an interesting perspective and it also got people talking about conversations that they might not have if they hadn’t seen the movie.”
Although “Barbie” speaks for the power of women, critics of the film claim that the film demeans men and makes a harmful, anti-men statement, making the film controversial despite its popularity.
Nichols disagrees with this statement and says, “I don’t necessarily think it demeans men, I think it just was probably a little bit of an interesting perspective for them as they’ve never seen a reality where they weren’t in the majority or if they didn’t experience the patriarchy.”
Junior chemistry major Jaylin Sypolt agrees with this view, and when addressing the controversial portrayal of men in “Barbie,” says, “Honestly, I think it is doing more good than bad.”
While Sypolt enjoyed the movie and said “That the ‘Barbie’ movie is probably one of my favorite movies right now.” She thinks that the pink trend should “simmer down, but I don’t mind that there’s a trend like that’s cool.”
Sypolt also says she “Likes the message that they sent as well as the actors in it, like Michael Cera and Margot Robbie. And it was funny.”
Following the success and popularity of “Barbie,” Mattel intends to continue its success with more toy-driven movies.
Currently, a Polly Pocket-themed movie is in the works, starring Lily Collins and directed by Lena Dunham.
Other toy-to-movie films waiting to achieve similar success include American Girl, Hot Wheels, Barney, Uno, Thomas the Tank Engine, Masters of the Universe and more.
Although she has seen “Barbie”, Sypolt was unaware of the plans for more toy brand movies and added that she probably would not see the toy-driven movies, but it all depends on the casting of the films.
Nichols has similar sentiments and says, “I think it would be hard to top “Barbie” because it was so successful, there’s obviously chances for other toys as well, but since “Barbie” is so internationally known, it can be difficult with other less-known things.”
