This week, we’re once again losing ourselves in fantasy. One of our main avenues into fantasy is of course the movies. And of all of this year’s Oscar contenders for Best Picture, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is the only fantasy film nominated. The Academy, in its almost 100 year history, has more often neglected films of the fantasy, sci-fi, and comedy genres in favor of more serious films rooted in reality.
“Barbie” is all about losing yourself in fantasy. The titular doll becomes so disillusioned with her own dreamland, she loses her sense of self and must find her way through entering the real world. There, she and Ken discover our patriarchal society and return with very different ideas about their world.
The emotional conflict in the film is not as simple as man versus woman, but rather the fantasy we imagine for ourselves as kids versus the lives we live once we become adults. How do we reconcile those things?
It may be tempting to escape into a perfect fantasy and not face the atrocities of reality or to abandon fantasy altogether, but we do need fantasy. Gerwig uses the fantastic setting of Barbieland in stark contrast to our real world, offering a different point of view. Once we’re able to understand why things are the way they are, we can start to imagine how things could be different.
– Angelo