Oh, Barbie.
For girls around the world, she’s an icon of beauty, fashion, and fun. For me personally, she’s my childhood. Growing up, I watched every single Barbie movie. Some of my favorites were Barbie: Mariposa, Barbie: Mermaidia, and Barbie: Fairytopia. (Who could forget Barbie: Fairytopia?)
But the recently released Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling has drawn far more attention than all of the animated Barbie movies combined. Why? What’s the draw? Is it nostalgia? The A-list actors and actresses in the cast? All the pink? Perhaps it’s simply unrealistic expectations.
Not the Barbie of My Childhood
I went to the movie theater last weekend to see a movie (no, not Barbie), and as soon as I walked into the theater, I was struck by the insane amount of pink I saw. Teen girls, elderly women, and even middle-aged men were wearing pink to show their enthusiasm for the new Barbie movie.
Honestly, I was saddened by it—not because Barbie is the wickedest movie that has ever been made. Based on what I read, it seems relatively clean content-wise. But it saddens me that so many people are excited about it because its message is clearly anti-biblical.
I don’t blame non-Christians for flocking to theaters to see a movie with an anti-biblical message, but I strongly believe Christians shouldn’t support this movie.
At the heart of Barbie is a hatred for the way God made men and women. According to Scripture, men were designed to lead and women were designed to support them as they do. I understand accepting this design might be hard because in our fleshly nature, we don’t want to submit; we want to be in charge.
But it’s a perfect design nevertheless because it’s how our perfect God designed us.
Could’ve Been Great
Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. (Titus 2:3-5 NASB1995)
If you see Barbie, I guarantee you won’t be encouraged to love or be subject to your husband (whether you’re married now or hope to get married in the future), love your children (whether you have children now or hope to have children in the future), be sensible, be kind, or work at home. Sadly, Barbie encourages the opposite.
Frankly, I don’t want to support a feministic, man-bashing movie—no matter how much pink it’s cloaked in.
If you’ve already seen Barbie, know I’m not trying to hate on you or your movie choices. But if you haven’t seen it, I strongly encourage you to avoid it. There are few (if any) redeemable elements in it.
Instead of being a fun, lighthearted family movie about a beloved childhood toy, Barbie was an agenda-driven movie with an anti-biblical message about the roles of men and women in society. What a missed opportunity.
Allie Beth Stuckey recently discussed Barbie on her podcast Relatable. This episode is spot-on! To hear what she has to say, click here.
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