'BARBIE' UNRAVELS THE COMPLEXITIES OF MOTHERHOOD IN MESSY GLORY

The wildly popular “Barbie” movie has been touted for its celebration – and critique – of femininity. As a mother and a media scholar, I couldn’t help but see “Barbie” through an even narrower lens: as a film that, at its core, is about mothers and daughters.

- AVIVA DOVE-VIEBAHN

The film’s plot centres on a life-size doll, known as “Stereotypical Barbie,” played by Margot Robbie, who begins to malfunction: Her feet go flat, and she can’t stop thinking about death. So she leaves her perfect plastic life to embark on a quest to restore the boundary between the real world and Barbie land. Along the way, she learns that the real world is nothing like her girlpower wonderland, where Barbies hold all the positions of power and influence and Kens are just accessories.

But its thematic heart rests in the film’s examination of the tensions around being a mother – a role often taken for granted, even as the cultural fantasies of motherhood clash with the actual sacrifices that moms make.

Motherhood as mere drudgery?

I was immediately struck by the movie’s funny but chilling observations about motherhood.