A brief appearance in Barbie's first full-length trailer teased Will Ferrell as Mattel's CEO. It's a familiar position for the comedic actor. In 2014's The LEGO Movie, Ferrell found himself in a similar role, able to break the fourth wall and elevate the film's conversation about an iconic line of children's toys that double as prized adult collectibles.
Barbie's trailer does not indicate whether Ferrell will function as an antagonist or ally to Margot Robbie's doll as she traverses the real world. In his dual role in The LEGO Movie as the in-universe Lord Business and out-of-universe Man Upstairs, Ferrell amplified the film's inherent themes and pivoted them into a broader conversation about the toy's real-world applications. Not only could Ferrell stand to serve a similar function as Mattel's CEO in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, but he could also contribute to the deeper topics unique to Barbie's function as an anthropomorphic doll.
Will Ferrell as the Final Boss
The LEGO Movie saved its fourth wall reveal until the third act, steeping the audience into a creative and colorful landscape before unveiling the conflict between Ferrell and his son. The LEGO Movie's ensemble of characters occupied a world born of the young boy's imagination without the knowledge that their reality was fabricated. While the synopsis of Barbie will see the toy banished from her pastel paradise into the real world, it's unclear from the trailer how much awareness the citizens of Barbieland have about their own status as products.
In both films, Ferrell stands as the arbiter of reality. A meeting between himself and Barbie could take the film's fourth-wall-breaking function a step further than The LEGO Movie, where Ferrell represented a stereotypical toy collector recognizable to audiences. Larger themes about LEGO as a consumer product are communicated to the audience through the relationship between Ferrell and his son. But his Mattel CEO may open the door for a deeper and more meta-conversation about the product he peddles.
Barbie and LEGO Are More Than Toys
Though Barbie and LEGO were designed as children's toys, their brand recognition has grown and evolved to include adult collectors and hobbyists. The LEGO Movie culminated in a conflict between these two types of consumers, where Ferrell represented a stringent variety of LEGO collectors. Unlike LEGO bricks, Barbie's history as a toy and collectible has stirred up a discourse about gender roles, beauty standards and representation since the dawn of her consumer debut. And in his role as Mattel's CEO, Ferrell will likely represent a capitalist attitude regarding these evergreen debates regarding Barbie as a toy line.
Lord Business and Mattel's CEO reflect capitalist notions and create conversations about LEGO and Barbie's real-life brands. In Barbie, Ferrell could step into a similar role as another toy franchise's fourth-wall-breaking businessman who straddles the line between antagonist and ally. However, it may allow Ferrell the opportunity to wield this power in a manner that covers bolder sociopolitical themes than those that arose in The LEGO Movie.
See Will Ferrell's newest meta role in Barbie, which hits theaters July 21.