Six articles to understand the global phenomenon of Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023) and its cultural readings.

«In the summer of 2023, a tsunami of enormous proportions shook the global film industry. The premiere of Barbie, by American filmmaker Greta Gerwig, which arrived preceded by a gigantic marketing campaign, broke records of all kinds: it was, by far, the most profitable film of the year, and also the first box office hit of such magnitude directed by a woman. Beyond the figures, it became a mass phenomenon that provoked—and this time the cliché is more pertinent than ever—veritable rivers of ink. Nobody wanted to be left out. It's clear that something happened with Barbie.»

Whether we like it or not, Barbie It is already part of a defining sense of our time: from intellectual debate to its social impact; from the cultural redefinition of the doll and the concept of blockbuster, the role of feminism in pop narratives and the film industry; and capitalism's ability to reinvent itself and capitalize on any idea. Not having seen Barbie —and not having an opinion—meant being out of the game. In a society articulated by polarization, the film generated conflicting opinions and touched on cultural geopolitics, while Mattel and Warner Bros. took note: a budget of $145 million and, in just four months, over $1.3 billion in box office receipts.

This volume brings together six critical articles about the film and its various cultural readings, with a clear intention: land a phenomenon that far transcends the doll that inspires it.

What you will find

• Six critical and complementary perspectives.

• Context on marketing, box office and reception.

• Debates on pop feminism, blockbuster and mass culture.

• The resignification of Barbie in 2023 and its social echo.

About the authors

Eduardo Guillot He has been a cultural journalist since the late 1980s. He was a member of the programming team at the Filmoteca de Valencia (2000–2005). He is the author of around twenty books on music, film, and popular culture. He has worked as a programmer at various international festivals. From 2018 to 2024, he was the Artistic Director of Mostra de València – Cinema del Mediterrani.

Eulalia Iglesias She is a journalist specializing in film and audiovisuals. She collaborates in Caiman Film Notebooks, Frames, Now, Filmtopia and RockdeluxProfessor of Film and Television Theory and Analysis, and Audiovisual History at the Rovira i Virgili University. She is a member of the selection committee for Seminci (Valladolid International Film Week) and the D'A Festival Cinema Barcelona.

Jara Yáñez She is the director of the magazine Caiman Film NotebooksProfessor of Film Criticism and a regular contributor to the program "Historia de nuestro cine" (TVE). She holds a degree in Art History from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a PhD in Film History. She is the author of books on production, subtitled original language exhibition, and Spanish short films, as well as texts devoted to industry studies and authors such as Isabel Coixet, Pilar Miró, and Elías León Siminiani, among others.

Aaron Rodriguez Serrano He is Professor of Audiovisual Communication at the Universitat Jaume I. Author of more than a dozen books, including Mirrors at Auschwitz: Notes on Cinema and the Holocaust (Shangrila, 2015), Nanni Moretti (Chair, 2018) and Back to the cinema: Thinking, writing and analyzing films (Solaris, 2024). He collaborates as a critic in various publications and creates video essays on the relationship between cinema and philosophy.

Jesus Palacios He is a journalist and writer, born in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. He belongs to the third graduating class of Journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid. With more than two decades of experience, he has worked in print, radio, and television. He has collaborated on Time, Grandstand, Interview, Panorama (missing), The World, The Newspaper of Catalonia and The Independent (extinct), as well as at the Servimedia agency. He has also written for Beyond Science and Next MillenniumHe has traveled much of the world and interviewed prominent figures in politics, finance, culture, and science. He is the author of, among others, Franco's secret papers, with notable critical and commercial success.

Maria Ruido She is a visual artist, filmmaker, researcher and teacher. Professor in the Image Department of the University of BarcelonaAmong his productions, the documentary essays stand out, among others. The inner memory (2002), Real time (2003), Amphibian fictions (2005), L'oeil impératif (2015), Most Beloved Mother (2017), State of malaise (2019) and the conference-performance The rules of the game (2022). He has participated in numerous national and international exhibition projects. His works are part of the permanent collections of the MNCARS, MACBA, CA2M, CGAC and the UFO Archive.