BEFORE BARBIE THERE WAS ...

Well, I finally saw one half of the 'Barbenheimer' duo and it wasn't the 'heimer' part. Actually, I found Greta Gerwig's new film of 'Barbie' strangely difficult to unpack on first viewing. If I think of it more as a sort of cinematic essay on the Barbie phenomenon then it makes more sense rather than a movie movie. In its favour though I will say I've always tended to like Pinnochio variations where, in this particular re-imagining of the tale, (spoiler alert) Barbie appears to choose human mortality over toy immortality though I felt there should have been a third-party love interest to reinforce Ken's assertion of masculinity after learning about the patriarchy from the real world. The main aspect of the film/re-branding exercise, however, which got me thinking was about the transporting of Barbie and Ken between the toy world of Barbieland and the "real" world of Los Angeles, California.

There has, in fact, been an almost identifiable genre of movies where mythic or fictional characters step out of their magical realm into the human one. Off the top of my head I can think of 'Santa Claus: The Movie' (1985), 'Masters Of The Universe' (1987), 'Elf; (2003), and 'Enchanted' (2007) to name a few of the relatively more well-known ones.

But the one I think marks the most distinct comparison is "Santa Claus: The Movie" which was a beautifully made Hollywood love letter to Santa that failed to see the irony of its own message of preserving an authentic/organic Christmas all the while having product placement from brand sponsors such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola in almost more scenes than the rest of the cast combined. Okay, I'm slightly exaggerating. But it's a lot.

If Barbie is about emancipation from the stereotypical toy world to learn from humans about the complexities of life and mortality then 'Santa Claus: The Movie' is the reverse where two of its key child characters, Cordelia and Joe, seek magic away from the bleak reality of greedy humans and its consumerist society. I suppose in a way both films are trying to have their cake and eat it by critiquing the culture of consumerism whilst simultaneously promoting and perpetuating the mythology of two icons at the very heart of that same culture itself.

Personally, I always hoped that the Rudolph Steiner-like bespoke toys in "Santa Claus: The Movie" would instigate a hand crafted present renaissance en masse for all the children of the world but inevitably getting older I realised that it wasn't feasible sadly, though I suppose there was nothing wrong with getting a 'Tomy Dingbot' robot toy or the latest 'Rupert The Bear' festive annual for Christmas.

The Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind (probably communists) created a magical origin story for 'Santa Claus: The Movie" in which Santa survives for hundreds of years doing just fine delivering presents from his workshop in the North Pole right across the globe until the second half of the 20th Century hits with its hyper-consumerism and things start to go bauble-shaped.  

Santa's existential crisis with consumers is not dissimilar to God's with atheists. If no one believes in him anymore because the toy makers and department stores have made his role futile then what is his reason to exist?

Barbie (Margot Robbie) faces a similar concern when she suddenly finds herself asking questions about death that jeopardize her previously non-questioning pink existence in Barbieland. But whereas Santa's solution is just to remain true to who he is, Barbie finds she needs to completely reconstruct her idea of her identity to move forward and adapt with a new 21st-century world. In this sense, it is a brilliantly cynical strategy by Mattel formulated by the creative vision of husband/wife team Noam Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. Mirroring the tribal, gender- segregationist wars currently taking place in our real world, it appears that toys now have to re-evaluate their roles through a woke(y) lens of sorts. Ironically, Ken is a loyal devoted man who appears to have unconditional love for Barbie no matter what journey of self-questioning she needs to go on for herself. It's just that in his own insecurity of who he is in her newly re-calibrated Barbieworld, his function becomes ultimately obsolete.

Both 'Barbie' and 'Santa Claus' reflect the attitudes of their times and clearly in the 1980's, preserving some sense of tradition was part of a counter-reactionary zeitgeist that fought (paradoxically) against the excesses of capitalism was the trend whereas in the 2020's reformulating a new paradigm altogether in a meta, post-capitalist world seems to be more the objective.

I also noticed that both films have God-type characters that guide both title characters at key points in the movies. In 'Santa Claus' it is the Ancient Elf (Burgess Meredith) who seems to be the founder of some sort of Meistersinger-style Elf-Guild that advises Santa whereas in 'Barbie' it is the original toy creator Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman) who talks in a Powell and Pressburger soft focus style heaven type scene and helps the plastic doll make sense of her existence.

Personally, having now seen both movies I've decided I'm more of a North Pole type of guy than Barbieland and if you've seen Santa's Workshop in the 1985 movie then you'll know why.

It's AMAZING!

Oh, and did I even mention Dudley Moore plays an elf in 'Santa Claus'? And not just any elf but one that controls the means of production and disgraces himself with his accelerated revolutionary machine-based update of Santa's workshop - a rogue capitalist in Santa Claus's Marxist/ 'Frankfurt School' inspired North Pole utopia who's eventually brought to heel.

Wow, And I thought Barbie was jam-packed with political/spiritual discourse.

I'm now thinking Santa (David Huddleston) in the Salkinds' movie was a literal and metaphorical dead ringer for Karl Marx. Eek!