“That reality-challenged woman”: dreams and matter in Barbie

Abstract

This essay will explore some of the ambiguous interactions between imaginary spaces and material reality as articulated by Barbie, considering the implications for its understanding of womanhood. First outlining a series of oppositions between fantasy and reality, Barbie and “real women” in the film, I will then highlight the ways in which this binary framework is ultimately undermined. With reference to both media theory and trans theories of embodiment, I will argue that the film resists oppositions between imagination and reality in ways that are generative and progressive, yet which simultaneously serve to enhance the film’s marketability.