What’s the Matter With Barbie?

Life in Barbie Land, the utopian pink paradise that’s home to life-size versions of every Barbie doll that has ever existed, is one long party. Barbie (played by Margot Robbie) wakes up in her dream house every morning, hangs at the beach all day with the other Barbies and many admiring Kens, then hosts a girls’ night that’s one long choreographed dance sequence. It is a life of prescribed joy, a brand-managed universe where nothing is ever allowed to go wrong and Barbie’s perfectly arched heels are never allowed to touch the floor. Which is what makes it particularly funny when she, mid-dance, asks aloud, “Do you guys ever think about dying?” Record scratch.