ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author trains her cultural-critic’s eye toward Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Bordo explores how Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig incorporated the best of the many varieties of feminism without declaring any iteration the “correct” one, instead melding them together hilariously, warmly, and subversively. The author also notes how the film deals with the mother–daughter differences with insight and care. Turning her scalpel on the media, Bordo asks why Barbie was the target of so much criticism that has not been extended to other films. Her analysis, which includes her response to the treatment of the film during Oscar season, helps us understand the subtle and not so subtle ways misogyny is still at work, and why Barbie, a pink, glittery film, is in fact such an important intervention.
