Among the many insightful moments in the Barbie movie, America Ferrera’s monologue is a highlight. Basically, it’s a riff on how women are always too much of one thing and not enough of another. Whether the field is professional, financial, maternal or romantic, we never seem to get it right.
The ideas, however, are not new. In fact, the Mexican poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote a precursor to this monologue in the seventeenth century. In “Hombres necios que acusáis” Sor Juana concentrates on the patriarchal double standard that governs women’s romantic lives: if you are too receptive of masculine attentions, you are considered easy, but if you reject men, you will be classified as stuck up. In other words, no woman wins in this scenario.
The America Ferrera monologue expands Sor Juana’s poem to include double standards regarding body image, leadership, money, and relationships. Unfortunately, while most of us are nodding in agreement, less attention has been paid to the ending of the movie. The America Ferrera character proposes a new Barbie, an ordinary Barbie. The CEO’s first instinct is to shoot her innovative proposal down, no surprise there, but when he finds out it can make money, he accepts it. Am I the only one to notice that she got no promotion, no bonus and zero acknowledgment for her lucrative idea? Until that scenario changes, we will be watching variants of the Ferrara monologue for the next 400 years.
I’m Frances Jaeger, and that is my Perspective
