“Barbie” in Mormonland: Parallels in Patriarchy
I not sure how any LDS member can watch this film and not see parallels between the on-screen Mattel leadership’s behavior and the similarly patronizing, patriarchal structure of their Church.
*Warning: Contains spoilers! *
I just watched the Barbie movie last night and yes — I did buy a pink shirt beforehand and pose in the life-size pink doll cutout box . I assume every movie theater has one. It’s not just part of the current cultural phenomenon, it’s a cinematic rite of passage before one honors the Great Greta Gerwig’s smash hit. The accolades are well deserved, the movie was hilarious, entertaining and brightly colorful albeit a bit preachy on the feminist side. However, having been raised Mormon and watching the film in Utah, I felt it contained a criticism that members of the LDS Church should immediately recognize as valid.
However, it was more of a visual message than say the one contained in America Ferrera’s lengthy mommy monologue. And not so much the one from Ryan Gosling’s Ken-dom conquering — ahem, Ken-quering — of Barbieland via patriarchy, beer and horses; or Margot Robie’s Barbie having moments of feminist realization and empowerment. Rather, I found it in the on-screen presentation of the Will Ferrell-fed antics of Mattel’s corporate leadership in how they ran the company and addressed Barbie’s liberation.
Again, I want to stress the on-screen version of Mattel — because even a cursory glance at Mattel’s corporate structure reveals that sure, the CEO is male and out of the eight remaining members, 3 are female. 60% to 40% ratio. Not too shabby, unlike the 100% male yes-men surrounding their pink-tied boss-man I saw flashed on the silver screen.
Obviously, Gerwig was proving a political point; but if even marginally socially-conscious members of the LDS Church were paying attention they would see the on-screen Mattel leadership team is a precise replica of the leadership team of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or really any Mormon offshoot, with the exception of Community of Christ (the former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
They might recognize the putting of Barbie on a pedestal by putting her in a box, is the exact same way that Church leaders treat women in general and specifically women in “leadership” — because like America’s character in the movie, she has zero decision making power within the fictionalized version of Mattel’s leadership board. The same is true in the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Too Many Characters to Type.
In short, I not sure how any LDS member — man or woman — can watch this film and not see a direct parallel between the on-screen Mattel organization on-screen and the patriarchal structure of their Church.
Of course, I must recognize which audiences among all Mormondom would even watch this film in the first place. My gut tells me that those with uber-conservative viewpoints, especially on gender, would see the glittery pink product of Barbie and say, “Eh, let’s go see ‘The Sound of Freedom’ instead.” In the ever-widening expanse of modern political extremism, radical feminism is the last thing that Trump-supporting, Republican-registered, ‘Merica-loving Mormons would ever be caught supporting.
However, more left-leaning, liberal-minded, religiously-nuanced members of the LDS Church — the so-called PIMOs (stands for “Physically In, Mentally Out”) or ProgMo’s (Progressive Mormons) — would be more than happy to indulge and have a fabulous pastel-plastered outing to the cinema. Those are the folks that I am positive (again in my gut; as Stephen Colbert once stated, ‘…that is where the truth is found) will watch the movie and be like, “O-M-Gosh, the palpable patriarchy of Mattel and their handling of Barbie and Barbieland is exactly like my Church!”
Perhaps that might be an impetus for them to shop elsewhere for less-patriarchal pastoral services. But for stout TBMs (True Blue Mormon or True Believing Mormon) who had Barbie dolls in their house growing up and are a bit curious about the hubbub caused by “Barbie”, the film might be worth a watch. There might be lessons about the dangers of stoic patriarchy, as well as the nuisance of militant feminism. Bring along your pre-teen children or older, or better, pre-teen or older daughters, so their eyes can be opened to the pratfalls of patriarchy…. Ahem. To teach them a valuable lesson about the pitfalls of political grandstanding.
Insert the Larry David shrug here.
Look, I appreciate the fact that all in all, the “Barbie” movie did not take itself all that seriously — at least not to a religious extent. It did touch on existentialism, which is the foundation of all religious thinking. It just got me thinking about who among Mormon faithful/faltering/fearless (depending on your perspective) actually saw the movie; and saw the same parallels that I did.
I don’t expect change anything any time soon, I just wanted to draw the attention of our lovely Medium readers to this singular fact — that here in the most modern of times, there still exists an organization that thinks it is beneath them to allow a woman into the higher echelons of their leadership. That in a U.S. based religion, one of the richest in the world that is run akin to a corporation, gender and/or sexual identification automatically disqualifies one from becoming an executive and making important organizational choices.
And that there is a movie in theaters today that directly lampoons such organizational behavior, and that movie is one so steeped in popular culture that seeing it is the only way to believe it.
I guess my hope is that someday “Barbie” becomes the next “Johnny Lingo” — showing at an LDS meetinghouse near you.
