Not suitable under 11; parental guidance to 13 (themes, sexual references, language, violence)
This topic contains:
Children under 11 | Not suitable due to themes, innuendo, sexual references, language and violence. |
Children aged 11–13 | Parental guidance recommended due to themes, sexual references, language and violence. |
Children aged 14 and over | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Barbie |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild crude humour, innuendo, coarse language and slapstick violence |
Length: | 114 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Every day in Barbieland is absolutely perfect. The strong female role models include a President Barbie, Nobel Prize winning Barbies, Doctor Barbies, Astronaut Barbies, and a population of highly intelligent, physically ‘perfect’ women who acknowledge the Kens in their lives but who do not need them. The Barbies believe they are responsible for all the power and opportunities women in the real world have been given and that, through their example, they have fixed all the problems in the real world, allowing women everywhere to lead richly fulfilling and empowering lives. When ‘Stereotypical’ Barbie (Margot Robbie) begins to have thoughts about death and dying, things begin to change. She wakes up one morning with bad breath, falls off her roof, and discovers she has flat feet and cellulite. Horrified by her predicament, she goes to see ‘Weird’ Barbie (Kate McKinnon) who explains that there has been a rip in the divide between Barbieland and the real world and that Stereotypical Barbie needs to go to find her human and help her solve the issues she is facing in order to fix the divide. Barbie sets off for L.A. and eventually permits an enamoured Ken (Ryan Gosling) to join her. Believing her human is a young teen named Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), Barbie eagerly attempts to befriend the girl but is brutally rebuffed and subsequently picked up by operatives from Mattel who, both literally and figuratively, want to put Barbie back in her box. Meanwhile, Ken has discovered the power men in the real world possess and he heads back to Barbieland to share his newfound knowledge of patriarchal society with the rest of the Kens. Barbie manages to escape Mattel headquarters with help from Ruth (Rhea Perlman), the original creator of Barbie, and Gloria (America Ferrera), who not only happens to be Sasha’s mother but who is also Barbie’s human. Together, they travel back to Barbieland to heal the divide but by the time they arrive the Kens have taken over, reducing the mass of intelligent women to brainwashed shells of their former selves who are waiting on the men, at their beck and call, unwilling to make decisions and unable to remember who they really are. When all hope seems lost, it is Gloria who holds the key to helping the Barbies see through the hypocrisy and self-sacrifice, and it is Gloria who reminds them of who they truly are and that who they truly are will always be enough.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Gender inequality; Female empowerment; Patriarchal societies; Identity crisis; Sexualised capitalism; Rampant consumerism; Stereotypical assumptions and attempting to achieve impossible physical ideals.
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is some violence in this movie, including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Barbie is a well-cast, comical, fantasy-adventure, aimed at young girls and tweens, but also targets and draws in the nostalgia of adults who have played with Barbies in their youth. While there are some important messages about female empowerment and some spot-on references to the impossible standards women are held to in every aspect of life, the deeper implications are often glossed over and there are some dangerous messages that some children may focus on instead, including: not being pretty enough or perfect enough, or relating your value and worth to someone else’s opinion of you.
The main messages from this movie are that everyone is unique and that no one looks like Barbie, except Barbie; that you are not your outward appearance, you are so much more; and that it is your thoughts, ideals and values that will add the most meaning to your life and help define who you truly are.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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