1st Edition
In a Barbie World Barbie as Narrative, Symbol, and Cipher
In a Barbie World: Barbie as Narrative, Symbol, and Cipher brings together a group of global scholars representing different disciplines and identities to examine the myriad themes that emerge from the Greta Gerwig film, Barbie.
In 2023, Barbie unexpectedly became the highest grossing film of the year and surprised audiences with its perceptive exploration of feminism and feminist philosophies. Taking an inclusive, interdisciplinary approach, this collection is the first book to undertake a philosophical and academic consideration of Barbie. This collection of essays approaches the film from different disciplinary perspectives, considering it simultaneously as a cultural phenomenon and as an academic text. Chapters cover a range of topics, including patriarchy, consumerism, capitalism, colonialism, sexual identity, race, recognition, relationships, mothers and daughters, queerness, girl power, feminism, and, of course, its theatre rival, Oppenheimer.
In a Barbie World: Barbie as Narrative, Symbol, and Cipher offers an accessible yet scholarly contribution to the fields of gender studies, political theory, philosophy, film studies, bioethics, and education, among others. It will be of value to students of these subjects at both undergraduate and graduate level, as well as to broader audiences who are interested in Barbie and its themes.
Introduction
Anna Gotlib and Claire Elise Katz
Part I: Barbie, History, and Feminisms
1. From Golden Lassos to Dream Houses: Femineering Power in Mid-Century America
J. Lenore Wright
2. Feminism and Consumerism in Sex and the City and Barbie
Nanna Hlín Halldórsdóttir
3. Barbie and the Subversion of White Feminist Fantasy that Wasn’t
Serene Khader
Part II: Barbie and Identities
4. Requiem for the Snowflake Self: Barbie’s Journey from Innocence to Experience
Daniel Conway
5. Are You Really #Kenough? Barbie, Main Character Syndrome, and NPCs
Anna Gotlib
6. Weird Barbie and Me…and You?
Jade Schiff
7. Imagining Masculinity Without Patriarchy: A Critical Analysis of Proposals From the Film Barbie
Amir Jaima
Part III: Barbie as Counternarrative
8. Dismantling Barbieland: Dissonant Perspectives and Challenging Narratives
Sydney Zentell, Sharon Matthews and Claire Elise Katz
9. Could It Be Hope? Exploring, From A Critical Perspective, Barbie's Inescapable Allure
Gabriela Arguedas-Ramírez
10. Invitations to Girls’ Night: Creating Discursive Space for Solidarity in Barbieland and Beyond
Lisa McKeown
11. Barbie Breakups and Feminist Utopias: Consciousness-Raising in Postfeminist Times
Katrín Pálmad. Þorgerðardóttir and Eyja M. Brynjarsdóttir
Part IV: Coda
12. They Tried to Put “Barbie” in the Corner
Susan Bordo
Biography
Anna Gotlib is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brooklyn College, City University of New York in the United States.
Claire Elise Katz is Professor of Philosophy and Education at Texas A&M University in the United States.
