Lobby Correspondence: Barbie on Opening Night
It was a lot, and I loved it.
Watching Barbie in a cinema on its opening night of release was an overwhelming experience for me. I am used to going into screenings at my local cineplex which are 30% full (at best!), barely crossing a soul in the corridor on the way to the allotted screen, and entering a corporate-branding-infused lobby.
Tonight, I walked in behind a group of five friends with matching ‘Barbie’ t-shirts who were visibly excited to be going out to The Pictures together. The member of staff who scanned my ticket was dressed head to toe in pink, with matching eyeshadow and stars stencilled onto the side of her eyes. Every other member of staff had a pink top on. And there was bunting! It was tacky, but the normal, inoffensive blandness had been transformed into a bright, sparkling hub full of character and life. During the screening, row upon row of seats were filled, with the sound of laughter audible from every direction. I suppose the collective joy just took me by surprise.
While watching Barbie, I laughed at its silliness. I beamed at its campness. I smiled at its cheekiness as it dared to take swipes at the ridiculousness of supposed manliness and our pseudo-progressive society. I cried tears of relief and genuine sadness. Internally, I was screaming because a film that just ‘gets it’ got made and is being seen and absorbed by diverse audiences across the world. I say this with knowing naivety, but it feels like a game-changer.
In my screening, just before the film started, the BBFC’s classification screen appeared, telling the (12A) audience that there may be: ‘moderate innuendo, brief sexual harassment, implied strong language’. And the man sat directly behind me guffawed at the phrase ‘brief sexual harassment’ like it was petty, nothing of note, an unnecessary phrase to include - to him, a joke. It maddened me at the time, a seemingly throwaway response, symptomatic of a widespread attitude towards unacceptable behaviour which is still often passed off as ‘banter’.
But then Barbie played, and it made a statement about what it is to be a woman in a world which berates you for trying to be… well, anything. And it made that statement with charisma, humour, wit and panache. And I hope that the film overwhelmed that guy, and anyone else watching, just as it did for me.
I say this without any intended overstatement, but Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is phenomenal. A literal theatrical, historical phenomenon. It was a lot, and I loved it.
These are just my initial post-cinema thoughts, but there will be more when I’ve had a chance to let Barbie sink in (and have gone back for another viewing).