In honor of celebrating International Women’s Day, Student Government Association collaborated with Professor Megan Howard, Campus Coordinator for the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. The team put together a movie discussion on the 2023 film “Barbie” at Montgomery College. The discussion took place in SW 301 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on March 12th, 2025.

While listening to Professor Howard’s introduction, it became clear that Barbie dolls have played an important role for young girls since their inception. Regardless of the debate surrounding the film, feminism is a belief that women have the same human capacities as men.

“How many people raise your hand, if you had a Barbie, or if there were Barbies in your house when you were growing up? Barbie has an interesting origin story. Barbie was based on a German comic story character named Bild Lilli who was created in 1952. Bild Lilli was a risqué escort, so the comic was for adult men. Ruth Handler, who is the cofounder of Mattel, was actually on vacation with her daughter, Barbara in Germany. They got stuck with the dolls, so they bought several to bring back to the United States.” – Megan Howard, discussing the story and inspiration behind the infamous Barbie doll.

During the film, there was a scene between Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) that resonated with me, and it was their talk on “looking perfect”.

According to “Weird Barbie”, all Barbies are being played with, though there is often a separation between the girl and the doll.

Throughout most of the movie, I talked to some students and asked for their insight towards the film. A male student named Francis was more than okay with telling me his opinion.

“It is really good. My favorite parts of this movie are how it introduces feminism, and their part of the world. Also, I liked that the discussion was highlighting the historical parts of Barbie, which include the problems, and the film sharing that with the audience.” – Francis

After hearing a male perspective, I asked a female student, Abigail the same question.

“It is kind of interesting to see Barbie is not objectified, and how she is deciding to see the real life.” – Abigail

While gaining their views on the movie, I became well aware of how positive their experiences were.

Though I did not stay for long, the movie discussion was tremendous, seeing how the students, both male and female, enjoyed watching “Barbie”. The event was definitely a moment to remember.