Barbie and the Crisis of Identity
Below are some scattered thoughts on the new Barbie movie (spoiler alert): The movie begins by noting girls used to have to play with baby dolls only until the invention of Barbie. The play thus shifted from play focused on how to care for another to play focused on imagining who one might be and how one might act when they grow up. And while there is good progress in this as a woman’s role on this earth can surely not be reduced to simply mothering, one must note that this change took place in the midst of the larger cultural transformation taking place of thinking of life less in terms of duties to others and thinking of life more in terms of self-actualization. And whereas it is in many ways good to be asking questions of identity, we must nevertheless be cautious of the culture we swim in that more often encourages us to ask, “Who do I want to be?” and less often causes us to ask, “Wh...