Barbie Girl Song Missing In Film's Trailer: Why Is It A Necessary Omission?

The trailer for the new Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was released earlier this week. The trailer is visibly inclusive and divergent in terms of casting. It is breaking the notion that "Barbie" and "Ken" don’t necessarily have to be fair, tall, slim, and have the so-called perfect features. The cast of the new Barbie, consisting of people of different shapes, sizes, colours, and ethnicities, is a beautiful sight.

As a 90s-born millennial, I was someone who spent a substantial part of my childhood obsessed with Barbie dolls. I admit that the younger me used to vibe to the 1997 song 'Barbie Girl' all the time! It was infectious, fun, and harmless at that time. Only when I was in college did I realise that the song was sexualising and objectifying Barbie.

Over 20 years later, it is refreshing to see that the new ">Barbie movie doesn’t have the song. But then, apparently, not all of us seem to be happy with the omission of the song 'Barbie Girl' in Margot Robbie’s film. Some Barbie fans seem to be outraged that Warner Brothers new Barbie has failed to include the infamous Aqua’s Barbie Girl track. "If Aqua’s song Barbie Girl isn’t played at least once in the movie, I will have a mental breakdown," wrote a Twitter user.

Barbie Girl Song Missing In Trailer

Well, it’s understandable that most 90s-born girls would have a special connection to Barbie and might have vibed to the song. However, the song was purely anti-feministic. Nothing about it supported women’s agency, bodily autonomy, independence, or empowerment, and we were too naive to notice it. But now that we’re all adults, we know that the lyrics are nothing but the objectification of women. So, shouldn’t we be glad that it’s been omitted for good?

Basically, the 1997 Barbie Girl ">song has Ken treating Barbie as an object of sex, which she consents to. The song is problematic from the very beginning, where Ken invites Barbie for a ride." Of course, now we all know he’s not referring to the car ride.

I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world, Life in plastic, it’s fantastic"; "You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere." This is just Barbie announcing how happy she is playing doll to a man. She is a woman with no emotions, desires, rights, agency, autonomy, or independence. Then we have Barbie, gladly calling herself a Bimbo: "I’m a blond bimbo girl in a fantasy world"; Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly.

Then Ken goes like, "You’re my doll, rock n'' roll, feel the glamour in pink; Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky." It’s extremely uncomfortable to hear Barbie giving Ken the liberty to do whatever he wants with her.

"You can touch, you can play, if you say I’m always yours," sings Barbie—straight up objectifying herself! "Make me walk, Make me talk, Do whatever you please, I can act, I can beg on my knees." Truth be told, as a kid, I thought these lyrics were about pretend play with Barbie. As an adult, realising that it was about Barbie being ready to perform oral sex to please Ken makes me nauseous!

Just because Barbie is fictional, and a toy doesn’t mean she can be objectified. It’s just setting the wrong example for the children. We definitely don’t want to grow another generation of men who trivialise women as objects of sex, do we? The damage has already been done for centuries, and here we are trying to redress it—and it’s really taxing! It’s good that the makers might have realised that including the song in today’s time would be highly controversial and chose to forgo the song. So, can people who are whining about the song’s exclusion just stop it, please?

Suggested Reading: Barbie Trailer: The Satirical Comedy You Didn’t Know You Wanted 

Views expressed by the author are their own