For those who have not seen the Barbie movie, it is a story that follows Barbie and Ken on a journey of self-discovery. Barbie begins to discover the challenges of being a woman such as sexism, and unrealistic beauty standards. 

When Barbie realizes the downsides of being a woman, she has a breakdown in front of her friend Gloria. This breakdown sparks Gloria’s speech to read the full speech click the link provided and scroll down to where you can read it. To begin with, this speech already has an impact in itself but, if we break it down it furthers the meaning of the piece as a whole. 

Sexism has been occurring since the 1960s against women in getting equal opportunities as men. They couldn’t get jobs. They were told to stay home and take care of the house and kids while the men would go to jobs and come home to a hot meal. Obviously this treatment is unfair and eventually women did get to have jobs but still till today some forms of sexism exist. In the Barbie movie, Barbie experienced different forms of sexism which eventually led to her friends’ speech to cheer her up.

Not only did she experience sexism but she also experienced living with unrealistic beauty standards. Throughout time these beauty standards have placed a key role in the lives of women. These beauty standards include a pretty face, Do what you’re told, and overall just sit still and be pretty. It controlled the way they dressed, makeup, hair to even the way they acted. Talk about unfairness! Barbie experienced that control which ultimately made her instantly frustrated and made her feel unpretty. Her friend in the speech reminded her how smart and beautiful she is and how unrealistic the standards are.

This speech implies the view that women can be leaders too. It is powerful for women to hear that the world’s beauty standards are not true “Beauty”. It breaks down stereotypes of what beauty actually is and tells women that they are beautiful just the way they are. Making this piece something worth reading.