Pretty in Plastic: Aesthetic authenticity in Barbie Land

Abstract

Our report critically applies aesthetic authenticity as a theoretical lens to interrogate the multimodal reproduction of gendered relations in the Barbie (2023) movie. Recent research has focused on how the aesthetic authenticity stakes are being continually elevated, such that this requires ongoing labour and continual renegotiation. It is not surprising that even Barbie finds this exhausting! We offer an analysis of character arcs across the movie, before exploring how a plastic doll enables conceptual insight regarding aesthetic authenticity. We discuss how the movie reconfirms neoliberal postfeminist perspectives on how women should seek their happy ever after. Finally, we consider the implications of representations of patriarchy and matriarchy before setting out suggestions for future research and concluding our report.