Greta Gerwig’s Barbie - Popular Culture, Cinema, and Gender

By Ōtepoti He Puna Auaha | Dunedin UNESCO City Of Literature | Posted: Wednesday Apr 01, 2026

Edited by Hilary Radner and Rebecca Stringer (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026) - available now for pre-order, launching in May 2026

Includes a chapter by Film and Fashion scholar Pamela Church Gibson (with Alexandre Zamboni),

Read the abstract below:

Plastic Feminism: Fashion and Celebrity Culture in Barbie, the Movie

Pamela Church Gibson and Alexandre Zamboni

Fashion and celebrity culture play a fundamental role in Barbie’s sixty-year history and constitutes a central theme in the cinematic narrative created by Greta Gerwig for Barbie. This chapter traces the phenomenon whereby the movie functioned as the catalyst of a precise marketing operation merging fashion, cinema and celebrity culture––profiting from the manipulation of an old symbol of female submission rebranded as a contemporary icon of emancipation. At the end of the film, Barbie has seemingly exchanged her plastic body for one of flesh and blood. Notably, in line with the avowed feminism of the project, she has replaced her stiletto heels with a pair of Birkenstock sandals, a conclusion that is in keeping with director Greta Gerwig’s sense of irony, offering a world in which a woman’s identity is determined by her footwear.

Pre-order your copy here: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie: Popular Culture, Cinema, and Gender: Hilary Radner: Bloomsbury Academic - Bloomsbury