Barbie, one of the year's most anticipated movies, dropped its first official trailer and finally gave fans some insight into the plot. The film looks to follow the titular character as she navigates an existential crisis and travels to the real world to get some much-needed answers on life, happiness and her purpose in the world. Accompanied by Ryan Gosling's Ken, Margot Robbie's Barbie serves as the chosen one, who notes not all is right with Barbieland and might be tasked with saving it.
The movie is a comedic look at a variety of themes, including corporate consumerism, sexism and existential dread, all wrapped up in a glittery pink bow. One notable comparison the trailer makes is to The Matrix, with Kate McKinnon's Barbie offering Robbie's two shoes, a play on the famous red pill vs. blue pill scene. Despite the narrative similarities of the two stories, there is another film that the Barbie trailer lands closer to: 2022's controversial Don't Worry Darling.
Barbieland Looks and Feels Like Victory, California
Olivia Wilde's controversial Don't Worry Darling hinged on its interesting 1950s retro aesthetic, something Barbieland shares. While Barbie stems from an existing property from the 1950s steeped in capitalism, Don't Worry Darling's Victory, California, fabricates a company town that is presented as a Utopia. The people of the town live to serve their leader, Chris Pine's Frank, the big boss, who is the primary antagonist of most of the movie. The "Frank" figure in Barbie exists outside the paradisaical setting, allowing the '50s vibe to be genuinely happy rather than an outright lie.
Barbie's lighter tone lends itself to an easier criticism of capitalism. Satirical in nature, its lack of mystery allows for a more clear interrogation of the ideas of consumerism and commodities, especially with Barbie herself as a product. In contrast, Don't Worry Darling is unable to decide what the primary conflict of the story is. Between the corporate greed of Frank and the misogyny and controlling nature in Jack, the movie splits its focus into a muddled message that ultimately falls flat. If Barbie can stick to its satirical guns, it can comment on all of these themes while keeping Barbie's search for herself at the center as a driving force for the story.
Barbie and Alice Are Both Trapped by Perfection
As portrayed in the trailer, the inciting incident in Barbie is that, despite the perfect world she lives in, Barbie isn't happy. This conflict is exactly the same as Alice's in Don't Worry Darling, where the day-to-day of the simulation she's living in goes from inspiring to insidious. Florence Pugh's performance is a large part of what makes Alice compelling, and the film does a good job early on with the mystery of Victory and what's in the desert. That said, it never quite manages to give reason to Alice's discontent -- she seems happy to be the wife and doesn't long for more, but she gets caught up in the mystery behind her neighbor's death.
The motivation behind Barbie's escape from the simulation is already much more centered on herself. Based on the trailer, there isn't anything that triggers her dread, but rather just the mundanity of perfection every day. Comedy also helps the story here, as does the distinction between a simulation vs. a parallel world. It's unclear if Barbieland is a simulation or just another dimension similar to the animated world of The Lego Movie. This makes Barbie's distress somewhat more relatable, rooted in the idea that she should be happy but isn't and wants to find out why, thus avoiding a lot of the confusion and dissonance in Alice and Don't Worry Darling.
Jack's Goal in Don't Worry Darling Is To Be a Ken
Although Chris Pine's Frank and the "Company" are the apparent villains in Don't Worry Darling, the final moments of the film reveal Jack to be an archetypical incel and the film's true antagonist. Jack's motivation for trapping Alice in Victory is that he feels inferior to her and wants to play the part of the perfect man, where his wife dotes on him, and he can be part of a league of gentlemen. The men of Don't Worry Darling chose a 1950s setting as this was the golden age of the American household. It also happens to be the setting of Barbieland, as that was when the doll launched.
Based on hints in the Barbie trailer, the Kens of Barbieland, especially Ryan Gosling's central Ken, might be full of misogyny. The character seems to be a satire of the quiet sexism that permeates life, and Ken is very much the butt of the joke in these instances. Furthermore, the inclusion of this aspect of the trailer lets audiences in on what to expect. With Ken's ignorance clearly on display, the character toes the line between adorable and concerning and seems consistent from the jump. Barbie takes a much more simple and relatable approach to the larger questions posed by Don't Worry Darling, and as long as the movie keeps its approachability and fun aspects, it could deliver some really profound and emotional answers.
Barbie is in theaters everywhere on July 21st, and Don't Worry Darling is available to stream now on Max.