Genderqueer reflections on Weird Barbie

Bibliographic Data

ID4367174
AuthorsDarby M Babin (0009-0008-8376-5346, University of Ottawa, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume25
Issue4
Pages587-600
Publication date2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-7001 • E-ISSN: 1741-2773
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14647001241291446
OpenAlexW4404119173
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

For better or worse, Barbie (2023) was part of a summer blockbuster phenonemon. Much of the fanfare around the film included conersations about feminism, 'girlhood' and whether or not the film was reductive in terms of upholding an iconic yet often criticised doll. This article attempts to wade through that noise by focusing on my own experience of the film as a genderqueer feminist academic. Blending personal reflection with queer theory and feminist critique, I unpack the use of the gender binary in Barbie Land and the implications, if any, for viewers and the overall 'feminist' positioning of the film (and whether or not that matters). In particular, I focus on Jack Halberstam's concept of gender failure and what that failure looks like in the idyllic world of Barbie. Following my own feminist epistemological commitments, this article makes use of academic as well as non-academic texts, in addition to blogs and other pop culture sources. Ultimately, this article considers the role of whiteness in the acceptance of the non-normative characters in Barbie - particulalry Weird Barbie - and why it is essential for white queers to remember that their experiences are not the queer experience

Aesthetics · Art · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Philosophy