Does the new barbie movie have gay characters

She’s 64 years old, but never ages. She’s a global phenomenon, switching careers enjoy a pair of shoes. She has been lauded as empowering, and condemned for promoting an unrealistic body image. And now she’s on the large screen in a big way. 

Since its July release, director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has raked in more than $1.2 billion worldwide, making Gerwig the first solo female director with a billion-dollar movie.

We asked two Bates professors, Jon Cavallero and Erica Rand, to provide us the lowdown on what’s up with the doll, from shelf to screen and everything in between, from their areas of expertise: Cavallero is an associate professor of rhetoric, clip, and screen studies, and Rand is a professor of art and visual culture and gender and sexuality studies.

Rand has more than a passing interest in all things Barbie. In 1995, she published the book Barbie’s Gender non-conforming Accessories, an examination of the doll, including its appropriation by children and adults using Barbie in very un-Mattel-authorized ways.

“One big ‘queers-come-hither’ moment in the trailer is when Barbie driv

Image Courtesy of Warner Bros

If you haven’t already seen the new Barbie production what have you been doing! Yes it’s a  bubbly, bright, explosion in pink. But it’s also the most extraordinary, life affirming allegory for gay and trans lives that you’ll ever see. How, you ask? Well strap in, because I've got ten fabulous reasons why the Barbie movie is all about Homosexual realness.

The film’s author and director Greta Gerwig is no stranger to challenging norms and reinventing cinematic narratives. We saw in her Oscar nominated films Lady Bird and Little Women that she has an incredible talent for portraying complex female characters with depth and authenticity. 

With Barbie though, Gerwig takes this talent a step further by subverting the very essence of the doll's traditional image as an star of oppressive femininity and masculine craving. And replaces it with something entirely opposite.

Her subversion aligns beautifully with the LGBTQ+ lived exposure, where individuals often defy societal norms to embrace our true selves. By portraying Barbie as a symbol of acceptance, inclusivity, and self-discovery, who defies expectations and embraces her individuality, Gerwig has cr

Let's face it: "Barbie" was going to be queer. Maybe not gay enough, according to some gays. Maybe too gay, according to anti-gays.

The fact is, this is a film about Barbie, and wherever Barbie goes, some essential queerness will go, too. As a kid, I remember wanting to be Barbie's best gay confidant - I imagined we'd have some pretty amusing sleepovers in her Dreamhouse. I also imagined some pretty fun sleepovers with Ken.

So now that "Barbie" is a splashy, pink-soaked blockbuster, director Greta Gerwig serves up a feminist fantasia in which a diverse group of Barbies, including several played by LGBTQ+ actors, reclaim their world from their Ken-ruling counterparts. As a lgbtq+ boy led into same-sex attracted adulthood by strong women, I am on board with all that teen power in Gerwig's "Barbie."

I also appreciate that the film, starring Margot Robbie as the leading Barbie and Ryan Gosling as the leading Ken, is full of queer subtext that has sent right-wingers into a anti-queer meltdown because, god forbid, dolls should be for everyone. Fox News reported that a Christian news site "warns" that the motion picture '"forgets core audience' in favor of trans agenda and gender themes."

Let them have their bigoted

Barbie is Queerer Than You Think

Barbie is an American fantasy-comedy film, directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig, that debuted in theatres in July 2023. Given the progressive take of the Barbie movie, which features multiple LGBTQ+ actors and trans actress Hari Nef (as Doctor Barbie), keen viewers might observe LGBTQ+ and transgender themes relevant to the contemporary world.

The film follows the story of Barbie, who after malfunctioning in Barbieland embarks on a journey to the real earth in the hopes of becoming a normal Barbie again.

Spoiler Alert: This article will discuss the plot of Barbie (2023).

Womanhood and Exploring Gender Identity in Barbie

The feminist message of female empowerment accompanies Margot Robbie’s “stereotypical” Barbie throughout the entire film. However, Barbie opens up a wider discussion on womanhood and manhood. An array of diverse actresses, including trans actress Hari Nef, play Barbie doll characters. While the movie does not dive into gender nonconforming identity, Barbie still manages to touch upon LGBTQ+ issues without naming them as such.

LGBTQ+ Representation and Trans Actress

In fact, the film features several

Russian lawmaker Maria Butina recently called on Moscow to ban Barbie dolls over LGBTQ+ representation in the new Barbie movie.

The Barbie movie, starring actors Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was released on July 21 and quickly became one of the most discussed films of the year, with conservatives across the globe expressing outrage over its themes including feminism and inclusion of LGBTQ+ cast members.

Butina, a former spy who was convicted and jailed in the United States on charges of conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent, called on the iconic dolls to be banned from Russia over the movie. Her remarks come as Moscow cracks down on Queer rights, with the Mention Duma earlier in June passing among the world's most restrictive laws targeting members of the community.

"What we see [in the Barbie movie] is gays, trans people, and women who have taken over the world, i.e. Barbies," she said. "There's nothing about some kind of union, that there can be a man and a woman, about admire . There's nothing about that. That's basically the whole content [of that movie.]"

She also called for Barbie dolls, as well as the entire Mattel firm, to be removed from the mar