The “kenergy” is real for Barbie–the highest grossing film in 2023 according to Global Box Office. Barbie has also become Warner Brother’s highest grossing movie beating The Dark Night made in 2008.
However, with Barbie’s popularity, controversy has risen with mixed understandings of the movie’s meaning. While Rotten Tomato rates the movie a solid 88%, websites such as IMDb and Google online voting rate the movie 7.3 out of 10 stars and 3 out of 5 stars respectively. With varying ratings from online sources, opinions also vary between Belleville West students and faculty.
“I think the message of the movie was don’t grow up too fast, and don’t wish to grow up because then you reach the real world,” sophomore Katie Kammann said.
For many, the movie brings a deeper understanding with current events. People have also found Barbie to be a connection to aspects of life such as the struggles of women in today’s society.
“I feel like it was very evident that women deal with a lot of stuff, like trying to balance you know some people are a Mom, they’re a wife,” Math teacher Ms. Periandri said. “It really resonated with me. Then also just making sure that men and women are treated equally and that we understand each other.”
While the film focused heavily on female oppression in today’s society, Barbie also focuses on the inclusivity of all genders.
“It has a good representation of both genders, and I think it’s important for men to be pointed on how women are treated in society, and how patriarchy can be bad for both men and women,” senior Ryann Gordon said.
However, male interviewees felt differently towards their connection with the movie.
“I hated having to dress up as ken. The horror, I had to sit through almost 2 hours of it,” senior Emmanul Rogers said.
Despite contrasting opinions, all interviewees agreed that there should be more equality regardless of whether the film portrayed that or not.
“I mean I think everyone should be equal, and you shouldn’t get to choose to be over someone else.” senior Mitchell Elliff said.
Barbie is a way for people to connect more with each other and to understand people’s struggles in life. Regardless of the tension between the message, many people loved the movie.
“Yes it was amazing, oh my gosh. I loved it, my favorite character was Ken.” sophomore Jaden Gompers said.
Appreciation for Barbie continues to span across not only students and faculty, but extracurriculars as well. Belleville West’s cheer team will be performing 2 Barbie songs for some of their routines.
“We are doing Pink by Lizzo and Dance the Night by Dua Lipa.” said Cheerleader Hayley Kramer
With Barbie’s influence expanding across BW extracurriculars, Barbie’s national impact reflects itself locally. Barbie can be streamed on Amazon Prime on September 12th and on Netflix on September 21st.
