Hi friends! Welcome to August Live Q&A!

Enjoy the conversation and cannot wait to see your comments and thoughts in the comment section. Below here are Meijun and I's notes that we prepared for this month's Q&A.

Here's the direct link to the announcement post for you to check the links we constantly mention in the conversation, check them out if you haven't.

Read you later,

– Estefi from Uni Creative

Meijun's Notes

Overall Thoughts:

The Big Picture: The Barbie Deep Dive with Greta Gerwig

Interview with Greta

They had to cast the right people for this movie to make it a success – Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, even bringing in Simu as an asian representation.

Maximalism of it? Barbie is wonderfully too much. There’s not enough sparkles. It was part of that joy to make it “too much”? Layering different ideas. How can we make it loud and obnoxious but also quiet enough for people to be able to listen.

Set Design:

Theatrical, backdrop feel

Creating illusion of waves – ideating different ways to create this

Bringing different techniques together to create an artificial world, visual effects with older techniques – they had time to make this happen. –– this is interesting because Barbie in itself is such a historical icon for many so this approach to utilize older techniques to create the set and other visual effects was extremely vital in the success of this movie

A created world vs. an actual physical location vs. green screen.

Being able to master control every aspect of the set (like the sun) is a almost like a direct reflection of how people play with their barbie dolls. This was very interesting to me and made me appreciate it more than if it used green screen and crazy outrageous special effects.

How would they have gone about doing this in 1959?

Bringing vintage classic techniques to the modern and blending those two worlds.

Even the song choices, blending 90’s songs with newer songs.

The theme of juxtaposing old with new is huge in this movie and the making of it.

Barbie as a representation of someone not knowing how to deal with crisis.

Barbie movie for Kids vs Adults?

Since there is a level of sophistication to the movie and cultural connections, would this overwhelm or confuse kids?

Children are more sophisticated and smarter than we think, maybe even more able to handle things that are more metaphysical since they don;’t have such a rigid mindset.

America Ferrera - The Human Mom

She represents and holds so much as a mother, a woman and human being.

Women are walking on a tight rope, but men also are walking on a tight rope in their own way or have women in their lives that they see are walking these tight ropes.

This made is very moving for people to connect with the material.

The Themes I See

Memory and Nostalgia a huge part of the Barbie movie

Childhood vs Adulthood

Old vs Modern (cinematography, set design, music choices etc.)

Real World vs Barbie World

Men vs Women or no gender (no genitalia)

Human vs An Object, a doll

Estefi's Notes:

America Ferrera's Speech

"It is literally impossible to be a woman," Gloria tells Barbie. "You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

"You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining.

"You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

"I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us," Gloria concludes. "And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know."