The new trailer for Barbie dropped today! The trailer gives us a little more information about the plot of the film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. While we got some hints in the first trailer, this one confirms that Barbie and Ken will be going on a quest to the real world after weird things start happening in their home of Barbie Land. Once there, they try to fit in, but end up getting arrested instead. Meanwhile, Will Farrell is a toy executive who freaks out because two living dolls are wreaking havoc!
As a Kate McKinnon fan, I was excited to see that we get a little more of McKinnon’s character, whom I previously dubbed “Marker Face Barbie.” Marker Face was objectively the best Barbie in all of our toy chests, because she was the most real. She’s the one that all of us little weirdos transformed by drawing on her face and chopping off her hair. Marker Face isn’t just a doll—she’s an expression of our deepest selves.
Now, in the new trailer, she seems to be a kind of oracle. She alone has knowledge of the outside world, and she’s ready to entrust it to Barbie Prime. After things start going sideways in Barbie Land, Marker Face gives Barbie a choice: she can either go back to her perfect life, or discover the truth about the universe. Like the red and blue pills in The Matrix, Barbie’s choice is symbolized by two objects: a pink high heel and a Birkenstock sandal. Marker Face knows what choice Barbie has to make. She’s the midwife who will usher in Barbie’s epiphany.
It’s fitting that Marker Face serves as a kind of bridge between Barbie Land and the real world. She’s the one who’s been transformed by it, with her scribbled-on face and her chopped-off hair. She’s been manipulated and changed by this mysterious, transcendental reality. She’s the living embodiment of the chaotic joy of children’s play.
Can we handle this new Barbie movie? Will it blow our minds too much? Will we be left questioning the metaphysics of what we thought was a safe and predictable universe? I need Marker Face Barbie to guide me through it.
Barbie comes out July 21, the same day as a movie about the nuclear bomb! Wear pink!
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
