It’s the movie that’s launched a thousand think pieces, and more than a few analytic hit jobs. Ever since Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster hit, Barbie, debuted in a pink fever dream of merchandise tie-ins and red carpet film premieres, people have hotly debated the film’s merits, and potential dangers. 

Is Barbie, a “feminist film”, as Greta Gerwig has declared? A timely satire that skewers the problematic aspects of Barbie’s legacy and highlights our culture’s fraught gender relations? Or is it most definitely not a feminist film, as some Mattel executives have said? And, either way, does it matter?

Today, senior culture writer and life-long Barbie aficionado, Louise Rugendyke, on how she’s processed the film’s various messages, and why so many people have a deep emotional connection to this most divisive of dolls.