Welcome to #TransTuesday! Tillyvision keeps on keepin’ on with THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 5! You’re gonna get some trans confirmation in this one that you’re not gonna believe… but it’s true!
PART 1, and the context.
PART 2, and act I.
PART 3, and things start getting messy.
PART 4, and the messes compound.
43:29 – The Mattel AGENTS (all cis men) arrive. “Miss Barbie?” Barbie: “It’s just Barbie.” She doesn’t feel she can be GENDERED CORRECTLY in the real world because she’s not the kind of woman they want and is considering trying extra hard to learn how to be a manly man.
Because we trans women, listen, we didn’t know how to be the men we were told we were. We were bad at it, hated it, were hurt by it, and were punished by family, friends, and society in all kinds of ways for not conforming to it.
We’d watch other men and just try to do what they did and hoped it was good enough that people wouldn’t notice how fake it was, how we didn’t conform, and then tease us about or make fun of us for it (or experience much worse, like slurs and violence, from cis men).
Also remember how I said the Mattel executives were the Agents from THE MATRIX and you scoffed (I know you did, I have minions everywhere) and I said there’d be more proof later? Here you go. Another direct visual reference.
44:17 – Sasha gets in the car with Gloria, who was previously protecting the top brass “all the way up” at Mattel. But remember I said she had a connection to Barbie? And more evidence was later? Here’s some…
This scene is MINUTES after the Mattel boardroom scene, and Gloria has… an entirely new wardrobe. Why would she have stopped to change clothes? No story reason! Except look at her clothes and HOW THERE IS BLUE AND PINK TOGETHER.
Even as Barbie doubles down on trying to be a man (all the nonsense Ken is off doing), she’s coming to realize her own transness more and more. The true woman inside her reflects that.
And so she’s coming to a choice, try to self-actualize with transition, or go back to living the lie. And like so many of us, she’s not going to get it right the first time, because it’s scary as hell.
“Now Tilly,” I hear you say, “Now Tilly, I’ve been reading all this so far and I’m just not sure BARBIE really has anything to say about transness.”
To which I say, c’mon that’s not true! It’s almost like someone made that up for the sake of argument just to make a point hit home harder… but what point could that be?
When Barbie enters the Mattel executive office… THERE IS A TRANSGENDER SYMBOL HIDDEN ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE DOOR. (it’s actually been there all along, but this was the best spot to mention it for reasons you will soon discover)
This isn’t something I added, or someone on the internet snuck in there and it’s been perpetuated without people knowing. This was legit in the movie itself. I checked it in my 4k copy on disc. Here’s a shot from my tv with the contrast goosed so you can see it better.
I reached out to some folks who worked on the movie, to see if this was on the set (and if so, why) or if it was added with special effects (and if so, why). The only reply I’ve gotten is that everyone on Barbie supports trans people, and are glad we felt included.
If there are more conclusive answers, they weren’t provided to me. So why is it there? Is it just a hidden nod? They don’t do anything with it, right? Ah, but they do. Continue on, dear readers, I shan’t lead you astray! SHAN’T.
45:16 – Barbie’s never experienced the real world before, so she pours the water right on her face because she’s used to the cups being empty. Awakening to your transness is actually a lot like water being thrown in your face, it wakes you right the hell up.
45:32 – Barbie: “So what can I do to repair the rift in the space-time continuum, get my feet back and that one cellulite gone, and just generally not turn into weird Barbie.” She’s terrified of the truth, wants to know how to ignore it and go back to pretending to be cis.
45:50 – To fix things she has to get back into the box, the PINK Barbie box. Literally she has to consent to being BOXED IN to the cis binary. Do you… see where the box is located?
46:35 – Barbie wants to meet the woman in charge before she goes but all of them are men. She’s asking to meet the woman in charge of HERSELF, but is finding only dudes.
And remember how earlier I said trans women pre-transition aren’t treated like cis men are, because we don’t “perform” manhood correctly? And how we’re punished for it?
We also don’t experience male privilege the way cis men do, again because we are NOT conforming to what the world and other cis men expect us to be, even when we mirror cis men around us and try to be like them.
If we walk into a room of strangers, yes, at first glance we might have been awarded a degree of male privilege. But the second we had to do anything or interact with anyone… the mask is never perfect. And when you don’t conform to stereotypical manhood, privilege drops off.
And so here, where Barbie’s trying to find the woman in charge (of herself), we get this line from Aaron: “I’m a man with no power, does that make me a woman?” Like… ouch. On multiple levels.
46:47- The CEO resents even being asked about a woman, and says they are a company “literally made of women”. Implying they’re not inclusive or doing things right is so much worse, to them, than actually not being inclusive.
We see this all the time, with any kind of bigotry, including transphobia. Bigots will tell you that calling them transphobes is the problem, not their actual transphobia.
See the trans tuesday on CIS IS NOT A SLUR (there is no default human) for more on that particular nugget of awfulness.
CEO: “There was a woman CEO in the 90s… and another at some other time.” “We have gender neutral bathrooms out the wazoo.” See? It’s all fixed. It reeks of the ways Agent Smith put on a pretty new face while being the same old transphobia in MATRIX RESURRECTIONS.
We’ll use buzzwords and pretend we’re hip, we’ll put a rainbow on merchandise (or… the executive office WALL, maybe?) while doing absolutely nothing to fix the actual problems. It’s exactly what RAINBOW CAPITALISM is.
47:45 – Barbie gets in the box. “I remember this smell. I’m having a real Proustian flashback.” Proust was a French writer and I’m not going to get all into his business here, but something being “Proustian” is likely about recovering forgotten memories.
She’s been OUT OF THE BOX (if not fully realized and self-actualized) long enough to remember how it feels to be LITERALLY TIED DOWN IN THE BOX SOCIETY MADE FOR HER. She’s remembering when she was entirely subsumed by the false male simulacra of Ken.
47:50 – They strap her in, but she runs. And this is where the trans symbol placement is relevant, because it’s as far left of the door as her box is right of the door. She doesn’t want to completely tie her truth down, but she’s too scared to commit to transition.
The trans symbol is pink, she doubts her transness. But she heads out the PINK door between it and the box.
Tying down and boxing in her truth is a lie, but she also can’t totally admit she’s trans and choose to transition yet, so she denies THAT and heads out the pink door, full of doubts.
And, like, this is so often what it’s like when you transition as an adult. It’s all SO confusing and you just don’t know what to do and you deny (or put off accepting) your truth over and over, until you can’t anymore. She’s not there yet. But she’s on her way.
48:20 – The executives give chase, and their executive-only elevator is literally in black and white (and the pink of their lies). Again, they see only THE FALSE DICHOTOMY (or do everything they can to make sure that’s all anyone else can see, anyway).
48:30 – Barbie ducks behind cubicles to evade the executives. Here’s another visual callback to THE MATRIX when Neo was ALSO avoiding AGENTS in his attempt to flee Metacortex/Mattel. I told you the Metacortex connection was more than just the outside of the building!
49:04 – Barbie is in the white hallway, another direct visual reference to the MATRIX, this time RELOADED/REVOLUTIONS/RESURRECTIONS, in the space between worlds.
49:17 – One is the door to where she meets her creator, Ruth. (Remember that Ruth is her HEART. And what makes us who we are? Our hearts.) Ruth is in a kitchen… LIKE THE ORACLE IN THE MATRIX (the Oracle was also Neo’s heart).
This is a double reference to THE MATRIX, with the older-lady-in-a-kitchen and the fact that both of these ladies play the hearts of their respective lead characters. Ruth has a ROYAL BLUE dress under her cardigan, Barbie is CONNECTING with her heart.
And look at all the EARTH TONES in that kitchen. There is truth in Barbie’s heart, if she’s open to hearing it (Neo had the same issue with hearing his heart, at first). The heart always knows, but we can’t ever accept what it has to say until we’re ready.
49:32 – Ruth: “Don’t worry, you’re safe here.” If we’re not safe in our own hearts, where are we?
50:01 – Ruth hands Barbie the cup of tea, literally handing her EARTH TONES AND ROYAL BLUE. The truth is right there if Barbie will connect with it and accept it. And she drinks. She takes it in. She’s getting there.
50:32 – Ruth: “You look different.” Y’DON’T SAY. Barbie: “It’s not how I usually look. I usually look perfect.” I no longer conform to who society said I was or what I had to be and look like. Ruth: “I think you’re just right.” LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, GIRL.
Barbie: “The real world isn’t what I thought it was.” Ruth: “It never is. And isn’t that marvelous?” At first this line threw me, because… no? The way the real world is, and how it treats trans people (and all women) is generally not so good!
But to me, what Ruth (who, again, is Barbie’s heart) is saying is… isn’t it marvelous that the real world IS NOT WHAT THEY TOLD YOU? You don’t have to be a cis person. If trying to be cis makes you miserable, then you’re trans and that’s MARVELOUS.
51:07 – Ruth hears the CEO and executives coming, transphobia is inside the house. But “If you go through that closet,” there’s a way out. Why, DO YOU THINK, the word closet is in there? It could have been “door.” They’re in a kitchen, it could have been “cupboard” or “pantry.”
But no. Closet. C L O S E T. You can ESCAPE by going OUT OF THE CLOSET. Embrace who you are, live your truth, and escape the pain that society wants to box you into. SUPERtext.
51:37 – Barbie runs through the lobby to escape and “come out.” This is really reminiscent of the lobby scene from THE MATRIX, which was the building where Agents were holding Morpheus (Neo’s subconscious) prisoner, right down to the material and construction of the pillars.
I’m not as sure if that one was an intentional reference. It might have been, but I know nothing about construction and that could just be the way… columns… in lobbies are made? I mean that seems weird to me, but I dunno.
52:20 – Gloria and Sasha, in their ROYAL BLUE car, show up to rescue Barbie. Barbie’s now in the same place and fully connecting with the inner child she lost, and the woman she is inside. And this is where she makes an important realization.
Gloria: “I’ve been a little lonely lately and I found those Barbies we used to play with.” Sasha: “I thought you gave those away.” Gloria: “I started playing with them. … because I thought it would be joyful.” Barbie’s inner child, that she never got to be, found no joy from them.
But Gloria thought it “would be joyful.” She’s searching for trans joy. “But it got weird.” The thought of conforming to the only idea of what the false binary says a woman can be prevented her from transitioning, because that didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like what she wanted.
Gloria: “Maybe because I couldn’t be like [Barbie], I ended up making [Barbie] like me?” This is it right here. THIS IS IT. Barbie’s realizing that the woman she is on the inside is messy and complicated and not a stereotype. And that’s a REAL and OKAY kind of woman to be.
And this is where the turn happens, because Barbie realizes while she was searching for Sasha, she actually came for Gloria. She will never get to be that little girl, and that hurts, but it’s not too late to BE THE WOMAN SHE WANTS TO BE.
Next week we’re gonna flash back, and see that yes, the signs of our transness were ALWAYS THERE. And we might just discover we’ve overcompensated into our false cis shell further than we realized.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com