Barbie lives the same perfect day over and over in Barbieland, until she starts thinking about death and her feet go flat. She travels to the real world with Ken to find out why, and Ken comes home with a new idea called patriarchy. Watch how the toy world was built as real sets, painted skies included.
Barbie is a 2023 comedy and fantasy film directed by Greta Gerwig. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (2 cinematography, 1 narrative, 1 sound and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Lost in Translation uses several of the same techniques.
Limiting the film to a tightly chosen set of colors, or giving each place or state its own set. The colors tell you about the world and its mood without dialogue.
How this film uses it
Barbieland is built in bright toy pink, from the houses to the cars. The sets needed the paint supplier's whole remaining stock of one shade of pink. When Barbie and Ken reach Los Angeles, the pink is gone, and the real world looks plain next to them.
Where to see it
The first morning in Barbieland. Barbies wave to each other from open pink houses, and the sky behind them is a painted backdrop.
Designing the sets to reflect what is going on inside a character. The place they live in tells you things about them that the dialogue doesn't.
How this film uses it
The Dreamhouse has open sides and no stairs. The pool has no water, and the food is flat. The designers treated Barbieland as a world with no air, water or electricity, built the way a child plays with dolls. Barbie lives with nothing hidden, so her first dark thought feels completely out of place there.
Where to see it
Barbie's morning routine. She showers with no water and floats from the top floor of the Dreamhouse straight down into her car.
Dropping a character into a world whose social rules they don't understand. The comedy, and some insight too, comes from the constant mismatch between them and everyone around them.
How this film uses it
Barbie and Ken arrive in Los Angeles sure that everyone will love them. People stare and laugh at them. The jokes come from how confident they are that Barbieland rules still apply. The same trip shows Ken a world run by men, which sets up the second half.
Where to see it
Venice Beach. Barbie and Ken roller-skate along the boardwalk in matching neon outfits, get stared at by everyone and end up arrested.
Removing music, background sound or dialogue from a moment where most films would fill it. The quiet forces you to sit with what is on screen.
How this film uses it
Barbie's dance party plays like a music video, with every Barbie and Ken moving in sync. Then she asks the room if they ever think about dying, and the music stops dead. Everyone freezes and stares at her. The sudden quiet makes 1 dark thought land like a crash.
Where to see it
The Dreamhouse dance party. The music cuts out the second Barbie asks her question, and she covers by joking that she's dying to dance.
Staging dreams, fantasies and imagination as literal scenes. The inner mind becomes visible, whether as wish, fear or creative power.
How this film uses it
During the Kens' beach battle, Ken sings 'I'm Just Ken' and the fight turns into a big musical number. Gerwig said the idea came from her love of dream ballets in 1950s musicals like Singin' in the Rain. Ken admits how small he feels next to Barbie, and the huge musical staging makes that sad and funny at once.
Where to see it
'I'm Just Ken'. The beach battle between the Kens turns into a choreographed dance-off on a stylized set.
Questions
Barbie: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Barbie use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Barbie (2023): Color Palette as Worldbuilding, Production Design as Psychological Space, Fish-Out-of-Water Comedy, Strategic Silence and Dream Imagery as Inner Life.
Who directed Barbie?
Greta Gerwig directed Barbie, released in 2023. CineCode also covers Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2019).
What films are similar to Barbie?
Films that share techniques with Barbie include Lost in Translation (2003), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Poor Things (2023), A Little Princess (1995).
