Will Ferrell’s Boardroom in “Barbie”
Will Ferrell’s Boardroom in “Barbie”
Barbie
2023 Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is a visually stunning film. Its imagery—impressive and sometimes overwhelming—creates a whimsical world of the imagination. An important aspect of this movie is its use and adaptation of architecture. The pink, skeletal houses in Barbieland clearly derive from the toy Dreamhouses that can still be purchased for the dolls. They are also inspired by and somewhat reminiscent of midcentury modern architecture in Palm Springs, and are even placed among palm trees.1 But it seems to this author that the most compelling architectural creation in the film is the fictional Mattel Headquarters boardroom, although its origin is less evident.
Barbie suddenly finds herself in this boardroom when two Mattel henchmen—who might as well be Secret Service—bring her to the company’s CEO (Ferrell). This is because when Barbie begins suffering physical and psychological issues that a doll should never encounter, she is told that she needs to go to the real world and face the girl, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), who had played with her “incorrectly.” So Barbie and Ken leave Barbieland and drive to Los Angeles (Is LaLa Land the real world?—asking for a friend.) so she can find this girl. Their presence in this city causes problems, including fisticuffs and their arrest, and Mattel’s CEO has Barbie tracked down and returned to him.
Upon entering the boardroom, which may have been computer-generated, Barbie is awed by the architecture. Its entrance wall is lit by LED curved rainbow streams of light. She encounters the Mattel executives in a meeting sitting at their conference table in a pristine and colorful metallic room; its lattice glass-and-steel enclosure offers a panoramic view of The Valley (including the famous Hollywood sign). The lustrous room is circular or heart-shaped, as are its table and pink light fixture.
At first, it seemed to me that this scene was filmed at or inspired by a boardroom at 30 St. Mary Axe, a commercial skyscraper in London’s financial district, often referred to as the “Gherkin.” I have often discussed this important post-modern structure in my lectures on contemporary architecture. This technologically sustainable tower has a lattice A-framed glass-and-steel framework that creates a spiral pattern on the exterior, giving it energy and implied motion.2
It’s unclear to me if this British structure inspired the film’s boardroom. According to Gerwig, the movie’s design is guided by “authentic artificiality”3; this becomes apparent particularly when one realizes that the circular boardroom is incongruously located at the top floor of a rectangular building. For the film, the 55-story Bank of America Plaza skyscraper in Los Angeles was used as the exterior shot of Mattel Headquarters, which is evident from Alexander Calder’s Four Arches sculpture in front of the building.4
The Mattel boardroom is the only colorful area of the building, suggesting that this is where the corporation’s ideas emerge. Later we see gray boxy cubicles where underlings work in some lower floor. Their harsh sterility is implied in the dark, cruel, boring drabness of this environment. The boardroom is where decisions are made. As Barbie excitedly enters it, she asks what she can do so that things can return to normal. The CEO wants her to get inside a life-size box that recalls those in which Barbies are sold. She asks to speak to the woman in charge, any woman of authority. The CEO says he’s in charge and resents the question, emphasizing in his speech his appreciation for women; he then repeats his command. Barbie naively enters the box, but as she puts her wrists in the twist-tie restraints, she suddenly remembers disliking such a place and exits it. Barbie escapes, giving chase.
Before entering the box, Barbie suggests that they find Ken. But the executives are unconcerned with Ken, only with Barbie. Consider the CEO’s words to his men before they discover that Barbie is in the real world: “We are empowering girls, always. But what do we really sell? I’ll tell you what. We sell dreams and imagination and sparkle. . . and when you think of sparkle, what do you think of? Female agency.” What does this mean? Is Mattel really empowering girls through dolls and sparkle? Gerwig is pointing out that girls and women are unimportant to Mattel except as consumers. Women are not in charge, and the one that stepped out of line must be controlled. She has to return to her box. Ken can roam freely. Also the pink circular boardroom suggests the feminine; it sits atop the rectangular, masculine structure. But note that no women inhabit that boardroom. And yet, they are being empowered by “dreams” and “sparkle.” Apparently, capitalism is there to sell illusions to women so they don’t get upset about reality.
As Barbie escapes, Sasha’s mother, Gloria (Ferrera), rescues her by bringing her in her car. There, Gloria explains to Sasha that her dolls were not discarded, as she demanded; in her loneliness, Gloria played with the dolls, the way they did in the past. For some time, Sasha has projected hostility toward her mother, who obviously wishes this wasn’t the case. And Gloria did the unthinkable: she played with dolls! This brings up an interesting difference between the sexes. Men play with basketballs and soccer balls, even professionally. Girls are expected to stop playing with dolls before puberty; it is taboo. Dolls are a girl’s training for motherhood and responsibility; so in adulthood, they are unnecessary. Adults can only collect dolls. Now, imagine how ridiculous it would be if adults could only collect footballs and baseballs, and never play with them. And, yes, women are allowed to play the type of games that men play, including computer games, but they can’t play with dolls. Gerwig points out this discrepancy (among others) between the genders in the film. In her loneliness, Gloria seeks solace in the past. Apparently, she was the one playing incorrectly with dolls. I’m glad Gerwig got to “play with Barbies” in her movie. Let’s all follow suit and play!
Copyright © 2024 by Rosi Prieto, Ph.D.
All Rights Reserved
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/inside-the-barbie-dreamhouse-a-fuchsia-fantasy-inspired-by-palm-springs
Designed by Foster + Partners, 30 St. Mary Axe is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize. Architectural Digest named this skyscraper one of the World’s Most Iconic Buildings. https://thegherkin.com/building/; https://www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk/projects/display/id/1279
https://www.vogue.com/article/margot-robbie-barbie-summer-cover-2023-interview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America_Plaza_(Los_Angeles)