13 Movies to Add to Your 'Barbie'-Inspired Watchlist
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The movie that sparked one million corporate partnerships and inspired “the year of the girl” has mostly—except for awards season—exited the zeitgeist and landed softly in the streaming world. In the silence that follows five “I’m Just Ken” remixes, we’re left with only the meat of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Barbie is one of the most successful corporate advertising campaigns ever created, wrapped in the trappings of a feminist fantasy comedy. The film—all plastic pumps and acrylic weaves—had millennial and Gen-Z women everywhere in stitches...then tears (still actively recovering from watching it, hbu?). Barbie blends themes of existentialism, gender roles, perfection, and disconnection, tied together with digs against fascists, sexists, and other kinds of men. For some, the project was a bubblegum pink afternoon of escapism, while for others, it inspired graduate-level theses on modern femininity. Whichever camp you fall into, you're probably looking for more. Here are 10 movies that will scratch that itch.
American Psycho
We're beginning this round-up with the unexpected. American Psycho and Barbie share almost no aesthetic or story similarities. That said, if you loved Barbie, you will love American Psycho. One of the best satirical films ever made, American Psycho stars Christian Bale as a New York City finance bro and part-time serial killer. The joke here is that the traits of the Wall Street yuppie so align with those of a psychopathic murderer, that the two can coexist seamlessly like two sides of the same coin. Don’t let the suits fool you. Like Barbie, this movie was made for the dolls, mostly to make fun of the Kens.
Ladybird
Begin with Barbie and walk backward through Greta Gerwig’s filmography, taking special note of the masterpiece that is Ladybird. A diamond among other gems like Frances Ha and Little Women, Ladybird made Gerwig a household name six years before we entered Barbieland. Starring Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, Ladybird is a mother-daughter epic, amongst other things. Ronan plays a high school senior in Sacramento, determined to make her life more poetic, meaningful, and melodramatic than that of her mother’s, whose sole purpose is simply to get by. Watching this with your mom is as close to free therapy as you can get, so give it a try.
The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives is the world that Kendom was sure to become had America Ferrera not reprogrammed the dolls with her classic “it’s impossible to be a woman” monologue. The 2004 adaptation of the 1972 feminist horror novel stars Nicole Kidman as a powerful television producer who suffers a mental breakdown and is shipped to the suburb of Stepford, Connecticut to become cognitively reprogrammed into the ideal housewife. Gerwig no doubt took inspiration from The Stepford Wives in those “brewski beer” scenes, and just like in Barbie, the reclamation of power and agency is thrilling.
Life-Size
The original “doll and her human” buddy comedy, Life-Size stars Tyra Banks and Lindsay Lohan as a Barbie-esque doll and a young girl attempting to navigate the Real World together after the doll is brought to life via a resurrection spell. In Barbieworld, Life-Size is considered the first live-action Barbie movie. TL;DR: Tyra walked so Margot could run.
Don't Worry Darling
In this movie—with an equally star-studded cast as Barbie, might we add—, a young 1950s housewife (played by Florence Pugh) begins to question her life when she notices strange behavior going on in her community of Victory—an experimental company town where the men work on a top-secret project while the women all stay at home.
Ted
Like Barbie for the boys, Ted stars Mark Wahlberg as a man who wishes for his teddy bear (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) to come to life. One of the most popular comedies of the 2010’s, Ted earned the title of the second highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time, snagged an Oscar nomination, and inspired a franchise—including a new prequel series streaming on Peacock.
I, Tonya
This one’s for Margot. It’s true that our Barbie is a perfect specimen of a human woman, but more than that, she’s a multi-talented actor capable of humanizing both plastic dolls and disgraced athletes. In I, Tonya, Robbie plays American figure skater Tonya Harding, who rose to infamy in the '90s for her involvement in an attack on her biggest competitor, Nancy Kerrigan. The film follows her rise to figure skating fame, her fall to disgrace, and the abusive relationships in her life that shaped her for the worse. All that said, the movie is strangely upbeat. Barbie x I, Tonya double feature, anyone?
But I’m a Cheerleader
This 1999 satirical rom-com stars Natasha Lyonne as a high school cheerleader who is sent to conversion therapy by her parents, only to become more confident with herself and her sexuality. Like Barbie, But I’m a Cheerleader has all the makings of a good feminist comedy, including the pervasiveness of gender roles and the feminine rage hidden under layers of hot pink plastic and chiffon.
Mamma Mia!
You come in excited about the musical numbers and Meryl Streep (obvi) just to go through an existential journey and cry over the evolution of mother-daughter relationships that happen over time. If this roller coaster of a journey isn't what you experienced while watching Barbie, then we were watching different films, TBH.
Barbarella
True cinema is a hot girl with a blowout saving the galaxy. Barbarella stars feminist icon Jane Fonda as a space traveler sent on a mission by the U.S. government to find and destroy a weapon threatening the fate of humanity. The 1968 sci-fi film is an adaptation of a comic series from the early '60s and is considered to be the first erotic comic book praised for promoting women’s sexual liberation—in the form of intergalactic alien sex, obvi. Anyway! Now is a good time to catch up on the Barbarella lore, as there is a new adaptation in the works at Sony Pictures said to be produced by and starring Sydney Sweeney.
Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie
Let’s talk about America Ferrera’s monologue again. If the reminder of the impossible expectations laid on the shoulders of modern women hit for you, then boy do we have a documentary to add to your list. Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie is a 2018 documentary that traces the creation of the Barbie doll and its effect on popular culture and beauty standards. Like Barbie, the doc goes beyond the physical aesthetics of the plastic doll and explores the symbol that Barbie became in modern culture and the feminist movement.
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Legally Blonde
Who could forget about our favorite lawyer Barbie?! Not only is the fashion in Legally Blonde similar to the 'fits seen throughout the Barbie movie, but both Reese Witherspoon's character as well as Margot Robbie's reject the male gaze and go on a quest to prove that women are forces to be reckoned with. What, like its hard?
Battle of the Sexes
We’re ending this list with another opportunity to laugh at egocentric men, which is a core tenant of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. This 2017 sports film stars Emma Stone and Steve Carell as tennis legend Billie Jean King and male athlete Bobby Riggs. The story comes from the real-life 1973 tennis match dubbed “the Battle of the Sexes,” wherein Riggs challenged King—a measly woman—to a match that she absolutely slayed. King went on to become a feminist icon, championing equal pay for men and women in the world of sports.
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