With all the hype around the Barbie movie from the media and clients alike, I felt compelled to take my wife to go see it. Aside from seeing the movie trailer, I went in with an open mind and no expectations. I was surprised how a superficial-appearing movie was able to hit on deep and complex psychological undertones.

*Spoiler Alert*

If you have not yet seen the Barbie movie, you may want to pause reading and come back after you have.

If you went to see Barbie expecting nothing but a fun-loving, light, and airy experience – you might have left the theater feeling disappointed or confused. The reviews are mostly positive for a movie that is on track to be the highest grossing film of all time. Did you miss the many psychological rabbit holes this movie went down?

The first part of the movie starts off light and fun, but the plot quickly goes into the depths of the inner psyches of Barbie and Ken and their struggle to find themselves and meaning in their lives. While this article does not cover the psychological depths of the entire movie, both Barbie and Ken have psychological conflicts which I will outline below.

Barbie’s life may seem perfect, but she struggles with existential issues and finding her life purpose.

Barbie needs to find herself.

Barbie has her own inner psychological conflicts. Her character is that of a “stereotypically beautiful” woman who is friendly, bubbly, and leads a carefree existence. She, too, lacks a sense of purpose. Unlike other Barbies, she does not have a career or job (including motherhood,) and she does not appear to have a connection to her true emotions. She lives a carefree, fun, but superficial existence in Barbieland. Her sense of self is shattered when she begins to contemplate the idea of death and has an existential crisis. She starts to lose some aspects of her “perfect” appearance, develops cellulite, her feet become flat, and begins to experience sadness and complex emotions. This is deeply troubling to her as her entire identity and sense of self is wrapped up in how she looks. When her appearance starts to fail her, she becomes deeply depressed and conflicted and goes on a journey to “the real world” to try and figure out how to fix her imperfections.

In the “real world,” Barbie is shocked to learn that she is not adored by the current generation of young girls. She becomes disappointed to learn the negative impact her stereotypical appearance has had on the self-esteem of women. This is a deeply profound insight for Barbie, as well as for the audience. How could a doll have so much power? The creator of Barbie, Ruth, had the intention of creating an adult doll for young girls to play with and enjoy. Her goal was to help young girls dream  that they could be doctors, lawyers, construction workers – anything they wanted when they were adults. Due to the negative influences of men running Mattel, patriarchy, stereotypical Barbie’s “perfect appearing body” and lack of authentically diverse Barbie dolls, created unrealistic and unhealthy body image expectations. This resulted in some girls experiencing low self-esteem, disliking their own bodies, and having low self-worth because they compared themselves to an unrealistic ideal. While I do not think this was the intention behind Barbie, the doll became a cultural icon and had wide-ranging influences – both positive and negative. In the movie there were some insightful and deeply meaningful discussions between Barbie and Ruth, her creator, where Barbie learns she needs to grow, evolve, and find herself.   

Ken is a handsome doll with self esteem issues.

Ken has low self-esteem and no life direction.

Our lovable Ken doll’s life sadly lacks purpose. He lives in Barbieland which is a “woman’s world” and a superficial one at that. The women and men are given jobs and titles without really having to work for them. Ken’s job is being “a beach guy” and he doesn’t seem to even have any particular beach skills – like swimming, lifeguarding, or surfing. He is a good-looking man who lacks any real character or substance, and he seems to have a role as Barbie’s accessory doll. He fawns over her, only feeling happy and validated when she shows him some superficial attention. When she shows other Ken Dolls attention, he feels anxious, insecure, and jealous. He does not seem to know why he loves Barbie (seemingly because of her looks?) What is profoundly troubling for Ken is that his whole identity is wrapped up in whether or not a beautiful woman likes him and shows him attention. He lacks a stable sense of self, a sense of true purpose, or identity.

Deeply troubled by his inner conflicts and resentful toward Barbie for rejecting him, he finds temporary solace in the idea of patriarchy. When he enters the modern-day world and learns that patriarchy affords men power, privilege, and status just for being men – he becomes enthralled. The idea of feeling powerful and strong compensates for his feelings of insecurity and lack of sense of self. This is indeed true in the real world where men might seek power and status as a way to mitigate against feelings of worthlessness, weakness, and low self-esteem. They create an inflated sense of self, a protective armor through power and status, and through having control over women. Ken brings these ideas back to Barbieland, and well, if you’ve seen the movie, you know what happens next. Barbieland essentially gets ruined by Ken bringing toxic patriarchic ideals to the land. Fortunately, the Barbies plot a successful revolt.

Let’s Talk about Barbie and Ken’s relationship.

Barbie and Ken need couples therapy.

Barbie and Ken have serious relationship issues! Their relationship, is, as one could expect, a very superficial one. There’s no intimacy – of course, no sex because they do not have genitals – but there also is a lack of physical touch or affection. They do not communicate well with complex emotions and needs. Ken feels deeply insecure and constantly seeks Barbie’s attention for validation and to fuel his ego. Barbie seems to ignore Ken and his needs. As a couple, their communication is very poor. They do not have deep conversations – or arguments to get at key issues or problems in their relationship. Ken does not seem to know why he loves Barbie, and it is unclear if Barbie really loves Ken, or just loves her role of being “Stereotypical Barbie.”

It is also unclear how and why they are together – and they don’t even seem to know. Their relationship is poorly defined and has very unclear boundaries. It seems they’ve never had a talk to define their relationship. As a result of their poorly defined relationship, Ken’s insecurities and feelings of jealousy and anger are fueled when he sees Barbie talking with other men (other Ken dolls) and feels deeply threatened. Barbie is often dismissive and rejecting of Ken’s needs, and Ken does a poor job of communicating them. Without some quality couples therapy, their relationship is likely doomed to fail.

As a couples therapist, I would encourage Barbie and Ken to explore their wants and needs openly and encourage them to openly negotiate what they want their relationship to look like. When might Ken get to sleep over, for instance? Or is that something Barbie will never be comfortable with? As individuals and as a couple, they need to gain more insights into their feelings and then learn to communicate openly with one another. There seems to be a power dynamic early on in their relationship where Ken feels unable to communicate his needs and feelings to Barbie and fears her rejection. It seems unclear if Barbie truly loves Ken – or if she just likes having him serve as her boyfriend. Both Barbie and Ken would benefit from individual therapy as well to cultivate health identifies as individuals, build their self-esteem, and find direction in their lives.  

In Summary

I really enjoy it when a fun movie can accurately hit on and convey realistic psychological issues. Many Pixar movies are great at this. It takes true skill for the writers, directors, and actors alike to create a movie with these complex undertones to get their audience to really think critically, be moved, and reflect on their own lives and problems in society. The Barbie Movie, at least, did that for me. Like the rest of us, Barbie and Ken need to grow, mature, and work through their inner conflicts to find purpose and meaning in their lives. Therapy could certainly help them with this. With some additional support, they might even make their relationship work, too.