'A woman is not to be put in a box': Quebec feminist scholars hail Barbie film

Aside from those living under a rock or unable to detect a magenta-pink hue, Barbie is everywhere.

Feminist scholars and artists are among those who have screened the Greta Gerwig-directed film starring Margot Robbie.

The Quebec founders of the.sisofficial and feminist Ph.D. candidates Florence-Olivia and Marie-Emmanuelle Genesse said Barbie is the movie modern audiences need.

"It creates these conversations about modern feminism and about dolls that were created so long ago and how it's evolved, and how they still have an impact in today's society," said Marie-Emmanuelle, who is a Ph.D. candidate in law and domestic violence at Queens University in Ontario. "There's so few movies that actually take this stand in our day and age, and so I think it's really great to see."

Naomi Silver-Veniza plays the harp and records covers and original tunes on her YouTube channel. The blond-haired, pink-clad look is far from her usual aesthetic, but she tapped into the Barbie World and had a blast doing it.

"Barbie is a doll that we can project the ideals that we want onto the storytelling that we want onto it," she said. "It leaves it open to being used in a more feminist context because, ultimately, a doll has no soul. We project onto it what we want to, and I think that kind of freedom and flexibility does have something to do with feminism. I mean, feminism is about choice."

Barbie World is a far cry from Naomi Silver-Vezina's typical aesthetic but the Montreal harpist said she dressing up herself and her dolls in pink was a joy. SOURCE: Naomi SV

Florence-Olivia is a Ph.D. candidate in law at Durham University in the U.K. specializing in sexual violence and rape law and added that the majority of movies are viewed through "the male gaze."

"What Greta Gerwig is trying to do, in fact, is actually that this is what Barbie is in 2023; is that to be a woman is not to be put in a box," she said. "You have all these different categories of women. You can paint and still be a professor or a doctor, and it's really to be able to coexist in all these categories without necessarily being subjected to the more patriarchal gaze that we had with previous Barbies."

Though critics, trolls and snarks have voiced opposition to Gerwig's film, with some calling it overly "woke" or "anti-man," the reception across demographics has been overwhelmingly positive.

In addition, some have pointed to the film's star Margot Robbie being blonde, beautiful and white, as reinforcing traditional beauty standards and norms. Gerwig, however, seems well aware of this fact. Robbie's character is "Stereotypical Barbie," with other Barbies being played by a diverse array of actors sucha s Ritu Arya, Dua Lipa, Issa Rae and Alexandra Shipp.

"We can have these discussions and seeing that we can start to analyze the way that women are portrayed and how women are put in categories and put in boxes," said Marie-Emmanuelle.

In its first weekend, Barbie grossed $155 million in North America.

And those who are going are showing up in style.

"When you go downtown, everyone's wearing pink," said Silver-Vezina. "Everyone the line in the bathroom at the movie theatre; everyone is in pink dresses. I think it's an easy zeitgeist to tap into."

The Genesse sisters say the film's popularity should be embraced. They started their sis.official TikTok and Instagram accounts as a way to reach a wider and younger audience and introduce feminist topics in an engaging and entertaining way.

"We're trying to make our super specific research content available to most people," said Marie-Emmannuelle. "We have to reach these people the best we can and they're not always interested in super specific indie movies or reading our research [papers]." 

Marie-Emmanuelle and Florence-Olivia Genesse created a TikTok video showing the silent hand gesture for women or girls who are in danger that a 16-year-old used, which triggered her rescue. SOURCE: @the.sisofficial