Lessons from the world of Ken and Barbie

Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m excited for the Barbie Movie. 

That’s right: in what promises to be the film of the summer, Mattel’s classic doll is being given the cinema treatment. As I write the soundtrack is already all over the radio. Directed by Greta Gerwig, and starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, the trailer promises that ‘if you love Barbie, this is for you’, and that ‘if you hate Barbie, this is for you.’ Since that encompasses just about any woman millennial or older, the filmmakers are on to a winner. 

And they clearly know how to play to the audience. The trailer is big on nostalgia factor, with plenty of knowing in-jokes. Opening in a perfectly pink ‘Barbie land,’ it shows Barbie floating down from the top floor of her dream house and into her convertible car, as if carried by an invisible seven-year-old’s hand. In another scene, Ken says to Barbie: ‘I thought I might stay over tonight.’ ‘Why?’ she replies. ‘Cause we’re girlfriend and boyfriend.’ ‘To do what?’ asks Barbie, innocence unfeigned. There’s a cricket-chirping pause before Ken replies: ‘I’m actually not sure.’ (Of course, they miss out the part where your worldly-wise cousin uses the dolls to reveal to you exactly what boyfriends and girlfriends do, more or less – or was that just me?)