Barbie movies sure have gotten better since I was a child. This one is the best I've seen. The focus is not on the usual Barbie subjects - boyfriends, fashion, and shopping. There aren't even any boyfriend-girlfriend relationships in the movie, just friendships between girls and between girls and boys. The focus is actually on solving problems, helping others, and getting things done. There is the usual pinkification, but the attention to fashion and consumerism is kept to a minimum. The characters also look better - they are still too thin to be real, but the girls have smaller breasts and the boy looks pretty normal and isn't unrealistically muscled out. The two male characters are friends and helpers with personalities, not just pretty boyfriends.
There are also a number of positive messages throughout the movie. Barbie is confident, smart, and capable, and the other characters, both girls and boys, look to her to solve problems, decide what to do next, and fight bad guys. One of the concluding messages Barbie learns is, "We don't have to do what we're programmed to do. I can change the game. Now it's time to change the game to fit me." There is also a character who is afraid of heights, and I was sure that was going to be turned into a damsel distress moment, but instead she learns that it's okay to be afraid, but don't let fear control you - and saves herself.
I also appreciate the subject matter. With women being underrepresented in STEM fields, especially in the incredibly fast-growing field of computer technology, I think it's very positive that this movie portrays Barbie as a computer programmer. She is the sole designer and developer of the game which they are playing inside of for most of the movie. I also appreciate that this movie is presenting video games as being totally "for girls," which does something to counteract the general perception, especially among children, and the marketing, that video games are "for boys." This is important because nothing has been found that even comes close to video games in being effective at improving skills related to fluid IQ (working memory, object tracking, mental rotation, reaction times, puzzle-solving, visual-spatial reasoning, and quick and accurate decision-making). If it takes some pinkification to get the message to girls that video games are not just for boys, and are for them too, I'm okay with that.
The original designer of Barbie created Barbie because she noticed all dolls for girls were baby dolls, which restricted girls to playing the role of mother and nothing else. She wanted to create a doll that was an adult woman with many careers, so that girls could imagine all the amazing things they were capable of doing. I think Barbie is finally starting to live up to that vision, and be more than "Everyone's Favorite Fashion Icon."
