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

"In the summer of 2023, a tsunami of enormous proportions shook the global film industry. The premiere of BarbieThe film by American filmmaker Greta Gerwig, which arrived preceded by a massive marketing campaign, broke all kinds of records: it was, by far, the most profitable film of the year, and also the first blockbuster of such magnitude directed by a woman. Beyond the numbers, it became a mass phenomenon that provoked—and this time the cliché is more apt 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 timeFrom intellectual debate to its social impact; from the cultural reinterpretation of the doll and the concept of blockbuster, to the role of feminism in pop narratives and the film industry; and to capitalism's ability to reinvent itself and capitalize on any idea. Not having seen Barbie —and not having an opinion— meant being left out of the game. In a society structured by polarization, the film generated opposing positions and reached the realm of cultural geopolitics, while Mattel and Warner Bros. took note: a budget of $145 million and, in just four months, more than $1.3 billion in revenue.

This volume brings together six critical articles about the film and its various cultural interpretations, with a clear intention: to land a phenomenon which 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 reinterpretation of Barbie in 2023 and its social impact.

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 Valencia Film Archive (2000–2005). He is the author of some twenty books on the subject. musicFilm and popular culture. He has worked as a programmer at various international festivals. Between 2018 and 2024, he was Artistic Director of Mostra de València – Cinema del Mediterrani.

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

Jara Yáñez She is the editor of the magazine Caiman Film NotebooksProfessor in the Master's Program in Film Criticism and regular contributor to the program "History of Our Cinema" (TVE). She holds a degree in Art History from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a doctorate in Film History. She is the author of books on production, exhibition in original version with subtitles, and Spanish short films, as well as texts dedicated to industry studies and works by authors such as Isabel Coixet, Pilar Miró, and Elías León Siminiani, among others.

Aaron Rodriguez Serrano He is a Professor of Audiovisual Communication at the Universitat Jaume I. Author of more than a dozen books, including Mirrors in Auschwitz: Notes on Cinema and the Holocaust (Shangrila, 2015), Nanni Moretti (Chair, 2018) and Returning to cinema: Thinking, writing and analyzing films (Solaris, 2024). He collaborates as a critic in various publications and makes 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 contributed to Time, Grandstand, Interview, Panorama (disappeared), The World, The Catalan Newspaper and The Independent (defunct), as well as at the Servimedia news agency. He has also written in Beyond Science and Next MillenniumHe has traveled extensively throughout the world and interviewed leading figures in politics, finance, culture, and science. He is the author of, among other works, Franco's secret papers, with notable critical and commercial success.

Maria Noise She is a visual artist, filmmaker, researcher, and teacher. She is a professor in the Image Department of the University of BarcelonaAmong his productions, the documentary essays stand out. The inner memory (2002), Real time (2003), Amphibious fictions (2005), L'oeil impératif (2015), Most High Mother (2017), State of discomfort (2019) and the conference-performance The rules of the game (2022). She has participated in numerous state and international exhibition projects. Her works are part of the permanent collections of the MNCARS, MACBA, CA2MCGAC and the UFO Archive.