Hiba boulmirate

IRPS 172

Barbie's Big Screen Leap: Not Revolutionarily

Feminist… In a Good Way

The Barbie movie’s popularity doesn’t imply the beginning of a new era of feminism but rather

the big studios’ acknowledgement of the shift that the movement has undergone by finally

bidding the girlboss farewell.

Talks of the making of a movie on the iconic Barbie doll made millions of women and

girls around the world rejoice. Yet, this sentiment had less to do with the notorious doll itself

and more about the names attached to the production, namely director Greta Gerwig, known

for her contribution to the paradigm shift in female centered entertainment through her

magnum opus: Ladybird. This era of imperfect female centric storylines with female directors

behind the lens finally spoke to a generation that does not identify with the ideals enforced

by their predecessor: “the girlboss”.

Girlboss feminism’s heyday lies somewhere between the so-called post-feminist era

of the turn of the century and the rise of female power figures, especially in business. With

social media platforms in hand, the girl boss takes ownership of her brand and arms herself

with feminism -and entitlement- to showcase how women can indeed have it all. This

reiteration is inspired by the female boss trope of the late 90s and early 00s who is punished

for prioritizing her career (eg. “The Devil Wears Prada”) or does not find fulfillment until she

gives in to the the love of a man (eg. “The Proposal”, “The Ugly Truth”…). This era of feminism

was defined by personal fulfillment and career success as mutually exclusive. As such, girl

boss feminism on screen is epitomized by portrayals like “Emily in Paris”, where career

advancement does not have to come at the expense of personal fulfillment because they are

intertwined thanks to social media branding. Girlboss feminism is all about women’s

economic empowerment, and at the top of its Maslow pyramid is a female CEO.

But what’s so wrong with women making it big? Isn’t that what feminism championed

for decades? Well, girlboss feminism is at its core pink capitalism. It is empowering but almost

exclusively for affluent white women, who at times sell out on feminism in order to obtain

girlboss status. Biopic series “Girlboss” about clothing brand founder and coiner of the term

itself Sophia Amoruso is a perfect example of how in the age of the girlboss, feminism is

commodified and empowerment jargon utilized to perpetuate the problematic repercussions

of capitalist culture. Even the slogan: “Live, Love, Laugh” has been ironized by Gen-Z critics

into: “Gaslight, Gate keep, Girl boss” to describe the trope. The reason for the rejection of the

girlboss is that she is more out of touch than she is aspirational. Furthermore, her positivist

attitude does not resonate with a generation who experienced its coming of age during a

global pandemic -the turning point and official decline of the girlboss trope- and whose

mental health struggles are heightened by the very socio-economic structure that the figure

of the girlboss upholds. Moreover, the rise in streaming -also facilitated by the pandemic-

contributed to the increasing ownership of audiences over content they consume and in ways

disrupted the top-down influence of networks and the industry at large, especially as

consumers pay direct subscriptions to a given streaming service.

In this new era, Gen-Z feminists have reverted back to childlike joy and reclaimed

girlhood and more importantly true choice feminism including destigmatizing the desire for

domesticity. The generational divide in conceptualizing feminism is clearly seen in the rise of

“Bimbo feminism” and the reconciliation with the hyper-feminine that previous feminist

waves have rejected and vilified in order to level out the playing field and optimize corporate

success. Moreover, bimboism as a new feminist trend is important because it does not

suggest that young women today are completely anti-feminist but that they can opt out of

proving their intellect every waking minute or being on their best feminist behavior, because

it is exhausting. As such, humanized portrayals of imperfect feminists (“Fleabag”), female rage

(“Promising Young Woman”, “Pearl”) or simply female characters that are relatable (“Normal

People”) represent a paradigm shift in the writing of female characters. Of course nuanced

female characters have existed before; but the difference is that now this is what is expected

by audiences. The Barbie production merely benefitted from the window of opportunity

facilitated by the changes in feminism at large and its translation into screens. It was simply

a way for big studios -in this case Warner Bros- to cash in on this cultural shift.

Barbie is in no way a perfect feminist movie and it shouldn’t be. That’s the whole

point! The very idea of an obnoxiously feminist movie has little space in this new paradigm,

because what does that even mean? That is why it is incredibly naive to attribute this new

age of female centric storylines and media to this singular production and its box office

success alone. Not only is the latter in large due to the alleviation of covid restrictions and the

re-opening of theaters; but more importantly to the paradigm shift from girlboss to bimbo

feminism already taking place. What’s more is that the glorification of the movie also eclipses

the work of other artists who rippled the wave big Hollywood studios -disguised in a Barbie

costume- get to gleefully ride. This is to say that the Barbie movie was not the turning point

but rather serves as a -significant- punctuation of a new equilibrium, where female characters

get to exist in their full humanity representing one or some of the multitude of shades of

womanhood out there.

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https://www.modernintimacy.com/what-is-bimbofication-why-is-it-rising-in-popularity/