What Was I Made For? Greta Gerwig’s <i>Barbie</i> (2023)

When introducing the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award at the 2024 ceremony host Jimmy Kimmel joked this 'is actually a controversial category this year because a lot of people want to know: At what age do you tell a screenplay it was adapted?'The controversy Kimmel alluded to was the status of Barbie in the 'Adapted' rather than 'Original' screenplay category, which provoked criticism from some industry figures.Based on Mattel's iconic fashion doll, the live-action feature film Barbie confounded expectations on its release.Not only did Barbie become the highest-grossing film of 2023, but it also received critical acclaim for its music, production design, performances, and social satire.This enthusiastic reception saw Barbie contending for many honours at end-of-year award ceremonies, acclaim that was unprecedented for a film based on a toy.Yet, despite efforts by some commentators to diminish the film's status as an 'adaptation', it was by playing with 60 years of pink plastic that Barbie derived much of its impact.Live-action adaptations of Barbie had been proposed for years with stars like Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway attached at various stages.However, it was only when Academy Award-nominated actor Margot Robbie agreed to star that the film progressed into production.In addition to playing Stereotypical Barbie-'when someone says, "Think of a Barbie".That's me'-Robbie also produced the film through her company LuckyChap Entertainment.Even before Barbie LuckyChap had a reputation for original, women-led stories with films like I, Tonya (Gillespie 2017) and Promising Young Woman (Fennell 2020), so when indie-darling Greta Gerwig was hired to direct and co-write the adaptation it primed audiences and critics to expect more than a twohour toy commercial.Beginning in 'Barbieland' the film follows Stereotypical Barbie as she undergoes an existential crisis that begins with flat feet and progresses to taking a trip to the 'Real World' to meet the CEO of Barbie's manufacturer Mattel played by Will Ferrell.Along for the journey is the dim-witted 'Beach Ken' (Ryan Gosling) whose desire for the pair to be 'girlfriend and boyfriend' is not reciprocated by Barbie.When Mattel's all-male board attempts to put Barbie back in her box, she is rescued by novice Barbie designer Gloria (America Ferrera) and her disaffected teenage daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt).Barbie brings Gloria and Sasha to the feminist haven of Barbieland only to find that in her absence Ken has reshaped the pink paradise in the image of the 'Real World' with beer-swilling, horse-loving men now in charge.