Ever since Barbie hit the screen last week, not only did it smash several box office records, including becoming the biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman, but it has already become the ultimate girl-power movie endorsed by millions.
Of course, all of that is for good reason. As a TikToker by the name of Brittney Garcia-Dumas shared with her followers a few days ago, there's a crucial minute-long moment in the first half of Greta Gerwig's movie that most might have missed.
"Just a warning about the beginning of the Barbie movie," Garcia-Dumas explains in the video, "when they're accepting their awards, they don't say, 'thank you,' they say, 'I worked really hard for this and I deserve it.'" Before the clip cuts her off, she adds, "...And it will truly make you feel like you can walk through a wall!"
As Greta Gerwig's Barbie keeps breaking records, fans of the film keep discovering things that others might not have paid attention to
Just a warning about the Barbie movie — in the beginning, when they're all accepting their awards, they don't say 'thank you,' they say, 'I worked really hard for this and I deserve it.'
Image credits: brittneygarciadumas
A TikToker named Brittney Garcia-Dumas recently caught one empowering detail she thought should not go unnoticed
It will truly make you feel like you can walk through a wall.
Image credits: brittneygarciadumas
More than 1 million people swarmed to Garcia-Dumas' video to celebrate the powerful message Barbie is sending to all women
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
From cheeky references to Kubrick's magnum opus 2001: A Space Odyssey or Wachowskis' The Matrix to a celebration of one of the most popular dolls in the world, it's no wonder why Barbie has become an instant classic. Since her directorial debut, Lady Bird in 2017, Gerwig has embraced the female-empowerment message that Hollywood was and is lacking.
"I had a sense of wanting to make a story centered around a young woman that did not include a question of whether she would end up with this boy or that boy as the central question," she told The Warp in 2017. Her intentions continued in her next cinematic endeavor, Little Women (2019), for which Gerwig was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.
In an interview with ABC, Gerwig expressed her unwavering belief that the film is undeniably feminist. "‘It most certainly is a feminist film. But it’s feminist in a way that includes everyone; it’s a ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ version of it," she explained.
Barbie has already been hailed as the 'Ultimate Female Empowerment Movie,' while making history as the biggest opening weekend for a female-directed film
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
Everyone who has already gotten a chance to catch the Barbie movie in cinemas knows that neither Greta Gerwig nor her on-screen muse played by Margot Robbie denies the message the film sends. The movie predominantly unfolds in Barbieland, a pink-pastel female utopia where women reign supreme and hold positions of power, occupying almost all roles, leaving Kens as peripheral figures.
Of course, knowing the mixed history of the iconic doll itself - at one point, slammed for its unrealistic body image, at another, for its embrace of traditional gender norms ("You set the feminist movement back 50 years, you fascist!" Gerwig's script reads at one point) - it's no wonder that Barbie also got a lot of heat from conservative cinemagoers.
In response to the film's themes, conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, for example, expressed his strong disapproval, recording a 43-minute video where he burned Barbie dolls as a form of protest. He criticized the movie, labeling it as "one of the most woke movies" he has ever seen.
Additionally, Ginger Luckey Gaetz, the 26-year-old wife of Representative Matt Gaetz, raised her concerns about the movie for not addressing matters of faith or family. She also criticized the “disappointingly low T from Ken,” who struggles to imagine himself without the company of Barbie.
“I’ve been very impressed with women, like Reese Witherspoon and Margot Robbie, who have started their own production companies," Gerwig has said
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
Understandably, other women were pretty excited about this little detail in Barbie as well
