If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.” Like the Barbie doll, women’s sports deal with deeply invested fans and viciously critical haters. As the official trailer spelled out in big pink letters, “If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. The “Barbie” movie built its success on a potent combination of defying expectations, creating viral marketing moments, and acknowledging divided views of the doll. Women’s sports want four quadrants, too, right alongside a prominent place in the cultural conversation.
And as I watched, connections to women’s sports came to mind.Ībove all, one question lingered: Can women’s sports learn something from the storytelling in the movie and the marketing behind it? Given the way the movie translated a toy designed for young girls into a four-quadrant success that appealed to women, men, young (under 25) and old (over 25), including the previously Barbie indifferent, “yes” was an easy, obvious answer. Friends insisted I see “Barbie.” I did and enjoyed it. That lack of interest remained until the “Barbie” movie took over the cultural conversation, earned more than $1 billion at the summer box office, and became the highest grossing live-action film ever by a female director, that being Greta Gerwig. Just no interest (and maybe a few feminist concerns on my mother’s part). Growing up, my sister and I didn’t own Barbie dolls.
