What can you say about Barbie? I mean really – what can you say?
I was at a screening of Oppenheimer on the weekend at the Palace Cinema in Ballina.
It was concurrently disturbing, good, riveting and beautifully shot. It was full of stunning performances and I cried through one third of it (that’s an hour of crying). The sound design was incredible; the story was very intense and exciting but, for me, Oppenheimer was mostly just disturbing.
I walked out of the darkened cinema – dabbing at my eyes and dragging myself from the 20th back to the 21st century, and was met by a wall of pink on pink – and squealing, hyper-excited, dreamy-eyed Barbie fans – and their daughters. There were hundreds of female humans and a few token ‘Kens’, squishing to get to the door.
Not just a movie
Needless to say, the 2023 Barbie is not just a movie, it’s a phenomenon, and an experience, and a frenzy, with many cinemas offering the opportunity for viewers to have their own Barbie experience inside a plastic box.
To be honest, I haven’t seen it yet and I think the wafting of all-pervasive strawberry body spray might be just too much for my brain to cope with – I’ll wait to see who gets the streaming rights…
In the meantime – The Echo spoke to a Gen X-er who grew up with her very own Barbie. (Let’s call her my sister Rachel.)
‘Rachel’ went to the Palace Cinema in Byron on Monday for her 50-something-year-old Barbie fix. She said: ‘Barbie was fantastic! I think the film was very inspirational for girls young and old’.
‘While there were some really fun moments, there were some very poignant and thought-provoking scenes. Margot Robbie, America Ferrera and all the Barbies were fantastic. Go Barbie!
‘And go Ruth Handler for creating a doll that has created so many memories for children big and small.’
Barbie is on at both the Ballina and Palace cinemas.
Also, go and see Oppenheimer.
Take tissues.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
