Greta Gerwig hints at Barbie’s mystery plot – and fans are declaring it a ‘camp masterpiece’
Footage of a recent sermon shows Tennessee-based pastor Kent Christmas speaking out against Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Greta Gerwig’s outrageously camp and instantly legendary movie Barbie is edging ever closer. Despite that, little is still actually known about the film’s premise – although fans may have just received their biggest hint yet.
Barbie, which stars Margot Robbie as the leading Mattel doll, and Ryan Gosling as her just-happy-to-be-there counterpart Ken, is already a huge viral hit thanks to the film’s official trailer which landed earlier this month.
Set in Barbieland, a world of pink sands and pastel convertibles, the trailer promised that the film will be a gift from the gay gods themselves. The revelation that it would feature a tapestry of some of the biggest names in Hollywood, from Ncuti Gatwa to Hari Nef, only added to the excitement.
With such little solid information about the plot, and the film’s stars continuing to remain tight-lipped, fans have resorted to doing some digging of their own.
Many had already concluded that the film will be loosely based on Judy Garland’s 1939 hit The Wizard of Oz, thanks to several hints in the trailer – including stills from the classic film appearing outside the Barbieland cinema.
Now, following exclusive clips screening at CinemaCon 2023, director Gerwig has officially declared that, yes, Barbie was inspired by “technicolour musicals like The Wizard of Oz”.
According to numerous film insiders who were at CinemaCon, the director also referred to the film as being inspired by disco music.
The Wizard of Oz plus disco music equates to, as one fan put it on social media, a “potential camp masterpiece”.
It’s a minor plot development, but Variety has also reported that the exclusive clips show the girls of Barbieland encountering some “unusual phenomena”, including their heel-ready dolls’ feet changing into boring, human-like flat feet.
Margot’s Barbie visits Kate McKinnon’s weird Barbie, who offers her the chance to change her high heels for Birkenstocks.
“You can know the truth about whatever you have to do, or you can go back to your regular life and forget any of this ever happened to you,” McKinnon’s Barbie explains.
Barbie, naturally, opts for the heels. Perhaps that’s when the chaos begins…
What we also know is that every character looks as if they would be a lot of fun at a gay bar. That alone makes the film worth watching.
Barbie is due to open in cinemas on 21 July.
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