TV & Movies
Twitter Is Calling The Barbie Movie A Masterpiece After Seeing The Teaser Trailer
“I’ve only seen this one frame and yet the #Barbie trailer has now become my entire personality.”
Greta Gerwig continues to prove that life in plastic is fantastic. Though not much is known about the live-action Barbie movie, by now it’s rote for any new detail about the film to go viral. From Ryan Gosling’s debut of Ken’s platinum blonde ’do, to photos of him rollerblading with Margot Robbie, who plays the titular Mattel doll, Twitter is always sent into a frenzy amid the Barbie announcement.
On Dec. 16, Twitter was buzzing again after Warner Bros. finally released the film’s teaser trailer. The campy minute-long clip begins with children playing with dolls in a prehistoric-looking, barren land. “Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls,” Helen Mirren narrates. “But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls, until...”
Enter: a leggy Robbie in a black-and-white one-piece swimsuit, the 1959 Barbie doll’s first-ever outfit, causing the children to smash their baby dolls. A montage of the rest of the cast flashes after, including a sneak peek of Issa Rae and Simu Liu, who also play Barbie and Ken.
Though the plot is still under wraps, the teaser trailer is proving to be more than enough to bring hordes of audiences to theaters on July 21, 2023. Twitter is particularly riveted by the trailer, dissecting the Stanley Kubrick references, vintage toy sightings, and potential soundtrack inclusions.
“Already assembling all pink outfit for the Barbie premiere,” user @insterstelardyad wrote.
Though Barbie has historically been geared toward young kids, Twitter is proving that Robbie’s new film transcends age (and gender). One user cheekily wrote, “Barbie uniting the Literally Me™ filmbros and the Literally Me™ girlies in so iconic.”
Jacqueline Durran, the Oscar-winning costume designer who previously worked with Gerwig on Little Women, is reunited with the director for Barbie and will be recreating some of Barbie’s most iconic outfits. Of course, some shrewd fans noticed that Robbie’s swimsuit is an ode to Barbie's history: it’s the same outfit Barbie first wore when the toy was released in 1959.
The image is already getting a lot of love online. Twitter user @davidopie wrote, “I’ve only seen this one frame and yet the #Barbie trailer has now become my entire personality.”
Many eagle-eyed fans pointed out references to Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in the trailer’s opening sequences. “The AUDACITY of Greta Gerwig channeling Kubrick for a #Barbie trailer is EVERYTHING! We are witnessing a cultural moment for the ages people!”
Kubrick’s official Twitter account chimed in on the trailer, posting, “They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Even Barbie is a Kubrick fan…”
Other fans pointed out that Barbie’s release date coincides with another star-studded movie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, predicting that theaters are gonna be crowded.
Some users are already guessing what songs will feature in the film. One said, “Barbie Girl by Aqua better be part of the soundtrack.”
Many can’t wait to see the full trailer, which will be released in theaters before screenings of Avatar 2: The Way of the Water. At this rate, Twitter might just head to theaters today to get that first look.
Come on, Barbie. We can’t wait.
