A Marxist Analysis of Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper
Ahh Barbie. A woman so special she needs no introduction… but I’m going to give you one anyway. Barbara Millicent Roberts was introduced to toy markets in 1950. Sure, Barbie is a toy with cute accessories, but she was designed to be much more than that; she aims to inspire young girls to pursue whatever profession they choose, whether that’s a doctor, an astronaut, or a mermaid. Over the years, she’s become a symbol for either materialism or girl-power. She is a reflection of what the public wants to see, or at least, what large corporations think the public wants to see. Therefore, Barbie is a reflection of the times that she’s produced in and of the commonly held societal beliefs at that time. So what lens could possibly be used to interpret such an important piece of media?
Why, Marxism of course.
You may be asking what’s the point of analyzing a bunch of dolls when you could be using the archive of knowledge that is the Barbie movies? Great point. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to show you how when interpreted through a Marxist view of class structure, Barbie: A Princess and the Pauper is actually a tale of oppression and class stratification.1
Before we begin though, let’s agree on a definition of Marxism. There are three key principles to keep in mind: 1- history is a cycle of the bourgeoisie (upper classes) exploiting the lower classes (proletariat) until 2- the lower classes rebel against the upper classes. 3- This process is cyclical and will continue until absolute equality is achieved between classes. In these terms, a Marxist analysis is about analyzing both the piece of media and the circumstances that caused the piece of media to be created. Thus, I’ll be talking about this movie in its own setting and as a piece of text created for an audience. But back to Barbie.2
Let’s start with the narrative of the movie. The most obvious ledge for Marxism to grab ahold of is the stratification of classes. The movie displays a pronounced difference between the rich characters who wear fancy clothes and live in “the” castle. The most notable member of the upper classes is of course Princess Anneliese. Everyone else in the kingdom, such as Erika, falls under the label of the “lower classes''. In contrast to the princess, Erika owns only one article of clothing and lives in fear of being sent to debtor’s prison.3 The interesting thing though is that Erika and other people of her class don't seem to be too concerned with an impending life in prison. When the two leading ladies meet for the first time, they sing a song together called “A Girl Just Like Me” in which they compare their daily experiences. Somehow they arrive at the conclusion that they’re pretty much the same person, even though the song lyrics are literally about how one girl never gets to eat breakfast and the other has breakfast served to her in bed by dozens of servants. Erika doesn’t seem to be bothered by the class discrepancy though, and shows no resentment towards the princess for having the power to release her parents from debtors' prison and choosing not to do so. Erika is in fact alarmingly forgiving towards the upper classes who have given her nothing but pain and a broken home.
In the movie, Erika’s objective is to free her parents from prison and pay off her debt so that she doesn’t have to work as an indentured servant anymore. She does achieve this goal by the end of the movie through the help of Princess Anneliese, who pays off her debt and frees her parents, though this happens only after Erika sacrifices everything to save the princess’ marriage. Anneliese on the other hand also wants to experience freedom, though freedom for her just looks like getting to choose the person she marries. This wish also comes true, but only because they discover diamonds in the kingdom mine about ten minutes before the end of the movie, thus solving the kingdom’s debt problem.
This movie discusses the idea that there is a difference in classes, and even makes those differences a major plot point. It does not, however, attempt to address the class divides. By the end of the movie, everything is the same as it was at the beginning, and no one (aside from Erika) seems to experience a change. There’s still enormous class discrepancy and the writers expect us to simply be okay with this. The poor are still poor, and the rich are still blissfully rich. The lower classes show no signs of rebellion and don’t even seem to mind the exploitation.
Let’s move on to looking at the movie as a societal text. It’s no secret that the Barbie movies were created by a big corporation for the purpose of selling toys. Consequently, if a movie does well, it will be the upper classes (namely the corporations) who reap the profits. This particular movie claims to represent the wants and desires of just about every social class, but it’s obviously made to target families with disposable income to spend on Barbie and her arsenal of clothes, housing, and accessories. The movie reinforces the norm that being rich is good and that everyone should aspire to be so, but without taking any sort of drastic action to equalize the monetary distribution.
It also reinforces the idea that there should be different social classes. The movie goes out of its way to show how being poor is just the quaint and charming version of being rich. The upper classes may do things a little differently, but they’re people too, and at the end of the day- if we respect the social order enough- maybe the rich people will grace the lower classes with a marginal amount of kindness. But of course, all of this makes sense when you keep in mind that this movie was made by a company who can do nothing but benefit from convincing people that being poor and being rich aren’t too different after all.
It’s interesting how the resounding message regarding class was not about how the upper classes could solve their people’s problems by redistributing their wealth but how the lower classes could solve their own problems by being more useful to the upper classes. And wow, when you put that in the context of the real world, it’s kind of uncomfortably close to the truth. Western society (and let’s be real, America) has a bad habit of teaching people that X high-ranking social class isn’t the problem. The problem is really just a lack of good-quality Y from the lower classes. Concepts like this are used to keep lower classes in line by convincing people that instead of revolting against the upper classes, they just need to work a little harder, and someday, it’ll pay off. Because at the end of the day, the rich people aren’t “the bad guys”, and there’s clearly no need for the lower classes to rebel against someone who’s “just like me”. All in all, this movie turns out to be a very grim reflection of modern society and how we view class.
And on that cheery note, Happy Holidays everyone!
Why, Marxism of course.
You may be asking what’s the point of analyzing a bunch of dolls when you could be using the archive of knowledge that is the Barbie movies? Great point. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to show you how when interpreted through a Marxist view of class structure, Barbie: A Princess and the Pauper is actually a tale of oppression and class stratification.1
Before we begin though, let’s agree on a definition of Marxism. There are three key principles to keep in mind: 1- history is a cycle of the bourgeoisie (upper classes) exploiting the lower classes (proletariat) until 2- the lower classes rebel against the upper classes. 3- This process is cyclical and will continue until absolute equality is achieved between classes. In these terms, a Marxist analysis is about analyzing both the piece of media and the circumstances that caused the piece of media to be created. Thus, I’ll be talking about this movie in its own setting and as a piece of text created for an audience. But back to Barbie.2
Let’s start with the narrative of the movie. The most obvious ledge for Marxism to grab ahold of is the stratification of classes. The movie displays a pronounced difference between the rich characters who wear fancy clothes and live in “the” castle. The most notable member of the upper classes is of course Princess Anneliese. Everyone else in the kingdom, such as Erika, falls under the label of the “lower classes''. In contrast to the princess, Erika owns only one article of clothing and lives in fear of being sent to debtor’s prison.3 The interesting thing though is that Erika and other people of her class don't seem to be too concerned with an impending life in prison. When the two leading ladies meet for the first time, they sing a song together called “A Girl Just Like Me” in which they compare their daily experiences. Somehow they arrive at the conclusion that they’re pretty much the same person, even though the song lyrics are literally about how one girl never gets to eat breakfast and the other has breakfast served to her in bed by dozens of servants. Erika doesn’t seem to be bothered by the class discrepancy though, and shows no resentment towards the princess for having the power to release her parents from debtors' prison and choosing not to do so. Erika is in fact alarmingly forgiving towards the upper classes who have given her nothing but pain and a broken home.
In the movie, Erika’s objective is to free her parents from prison and pay off her debt so that she doesn’t have to work as an indentured servant anymore. She does achieve this goal by the end of the movie through the help of Princess Anneliese, who pays off her debt and frees her parents, though this happens only after Erika sacrifices everything to save the princess’ marriage. Anneliese on the other hand also wants to experience freedom, though freedom for her just looks like getting to choose the person she marries. This wish also comes true, but only because they discover diamonds in the kingdom mine about ten minutes before the end of the movie, thus solving the kingdom’s debt problem.
This movie discusses the idea that there is a difference in classes, and even makes those differences a major plot point. It does not, however, attempt to address the class divides. By the end of the movie, everything is the same as it was at the beginning, and no one (aside from Erika) seems to experience a change. There’s still enormous class discrepancy and the writers expect us to simply be okay with this. The poor are still poor, and the rich are still blissfully rich. The lower classes show no signs of rebellion and don’t even seem to mind the exploitation.
Let’s move on to looking at the movie as a societal text. It’s no secret that the Barbie movies were created by a big corporation for the purpose of selling toys. Consequently, if a movie does well, it will be the upper classes (namely the corporations) who reap the profits. This particular movie claims to represent the wants and desires of just about every social class, but it’s obviously made to target families with disposable income to spend on Barbie and her arsenal of clothes, housing, and accessories. The movie reinforces the norm that being rich is good and that everyone should aspire to be so, but without taking any sort of drastic action to equalize the monetary distribution.
It also reinforces the idea that there should be different social classes. The movie goes out of its way to show how being poor is just the quaint and charming version of being rich. The upper classes may do things a little differently, but they’re people too, and at the end of the day- if we respect the social order enough- maybe the rich people will grace the lower classes with a marginal amount of kindness. But of course, all of this makes sense when you keep in mind that this movie was made by a company who can do nothing but benefit from convincing people that being poor and being rich aren’t too different after all.
It’s interesting how the resounding message regarding class was not about how the upper classes could solve their people’s problems by redistributing their wealth but how the lower classes could solve their own problems by being more useful to the upper classes. And wow, when you put that in the context of the real world, it’s kind of uncomfortably close to the truth. Western society (and let’s be real, America) has a bad habit of teaching people that X high-ranking social class isn’t the problem. The problem is really just a lack of good-quality Y from the lower classes. Concepts like this are used to keep lower classes in line by convincing people that instead of revolting against the upper classes, they just need to work a little harder, and someday, it’ll pay off. Because at the end of the day, the rich people aren’t “the bad guys”, and there’s clearly no need for the lower classes to rebel against someone who’s “just like me”. All in all, this movie turns out to be a very grim reflection of modern society and how we view class.
And on that cheery note, Happy Holidays everyone!
1 Keep in mind that this article is inherently a stretch and there will be some exaggerated interpretations of both the movie in question and the Communist Manifesto. I’ll keep track of those in the footnotes for all of the dedicated fans out there.
2 You don’t need to know much about the movie to understand this article but here’s a very brief summary for context: Based on the story The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper features Barbie in an exciting dual role as a princess and a poor village girl - two girls who look amazingly alike. The girls' paths are fated to cross when Princess Anneliese is captured and Erika, her look-alike, must try to save her.
3 Marx elaborates more on this by distinguishing the Bourgeoisie from the Aristocracy. Technically Anneliese would be in the Aristocracy but for the purpose of this analysis, we’re going to sort people on the basic premise of upper versus lower class.
2 You don’t need to know much about the movie to understand this article but here’s a very brief summary for context: Based on the story The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper features Barbie in an exciting dual role as a princess and a poor village girl - two girls who look amazingly alike. The girls' paths are fated to cross when Princess Anneliese is captured and Erika, her look-alike, must try to save her.
3 Marx elaborates more on this by distinguishing the Bourgeoisie from the Aristocracy. Technically Anneliese would be in the Aristocracy but for the purpose of this analysis, we’re going to sort people on the basic premise of upper versus lower class.
Citations:
Lau, William, director. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. Universal Pictures, 2004.