Greta Gerwig Wanted Barbie's Ending To Be An Emotional Mic Drop Moment
This post contains spoilers for "Barbie."
During the final scene of "Barbie," the titular iconic toy (Margot Robbie) sits in the back seat of a car with her new human family: Gloria (America Ferrera), Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), and her Duolingo-loving husband (Ryan Piers Williams). With her beaming smile and business casual outfit, I assumed she was going to a job interview — an important milestone that would mark her independence as a human woman.
It certainly seems that way when Barbie triumphantly walks up to an office front desk and gives a more professional name, Barbara Handler, honoring the daughter of her creator Ruth Handler. Then, writer/director Greta Gerwig wallops the audience with an ingenious final line: "I'm here to see my gynecologist."
Greta Gerwig elaborated on the "mystical" origins of this clever piece of dialogue in a recent interview with IndieWire:
"I feel that line and that ending is something that I feel about most things that I've ever made — there's something where I don't rightly feel like I can take credit for it. It sort of came to me in a dream and then it was like, 'It can be no other way.'"
Gerwig also told USA Today that she always knew she wanted "to end on a mic drop kind of joke, but I also find it very emotional." By reaching a conclusion that is both hilarious and empowering, the jaw-dropping ending shows how "Barbie" works on two distinct levels; "It was always about looking for the levity and the heart," Gerwig said.
The glorious absurdity of being human
"When I was a teenage girl, I remember growing up and being embarrassed about my body, and just feeling ashamed in a way that I couldn't even describe. It felt like everything had to be hidden," Gerwig remarked in an interview with Variety. The "Barbie" mic drop was a way of changing that. She wanted the last scene to have a big impact, especially on female viewers:
"And then to see Margot as Barbie, with this big old smile on her face, saying what she says at the end with such happiness and joy. I was like if I can give girls that feeling of, 'Barbie does it, too' — that's both funny and emotional."
Living in a country where things like the "Don't Say Period" bill pass through state legislatures, I've certainly felt the shame of purity culture. I was even surprised to hear Barbie utter the word "gynecologist" in a mainstream movie because we've been socially indoctrinated to be conservative about our bodies and their perfectly natural functions. There's been a lot of pearl-clutching over whether or not "Barbie" is appropriate for kids, and while it does have a PG-13 rating, it would greatly benefit young people to see such aspects of life normalized.
When audiences walk away from the "Barbie" ending, Greta Gerwig wants them to feel "some sort of euphoric, collective catharsis of the glorious absurdity of being human. And that, in itself, it is worth celebrating" (via IndieWire). It's endearing to see Barbie in awe of something that fills most with anxiety and dread. Her doll-to-human transformation reminds us that life is a gift and we need to make the most of it; from the joyous to the mundane, it's all amazing — yes, even going to the gynecologist.