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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 andred 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.

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.

The Morning Edition (formerly Please Explain) brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

The Morning Edition (formerly Please Explain) brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

The Morning Edition

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

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