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Barbie · 2023 — Chapter 13 of 26 · 3'04" · B2

Mattel Execs Try to Box Barbie, Explained: up the wazoo

Barbie visits Mattel and a roomful of male executives try to talk her into a giant box. When she asks whether any women are in charge, the mood flips: it is a company literally made of women, one insists, rattling off excuses that only make the point worse.

What happens

Barbie arrives at Mattel HQ, where a crowd of male executives greet her warmly and propose a simple fix: climb into a giant box and everything returns to normal. She asks to meet Ken and the women running the company, and the room scrambles to explain itself before pushing her into the box anyway.

MeetingsArgumentsExplainingConfrontingStrangersB2fastamericanClean
IMDb ↗

Listen for

up the wazooface-timefreakingJezebel

00:00 / 03:04
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Now
  35. ❝ MonologueThe CEO’s made-of-women speech14 linesPractice page ↗
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Phrase of the scene

up the wazoo

in great excess; everywhere (crude)

An executive brags about having gender-neutral bathrooms up the wazoo.

We had paperwork up the wazoo before the audit.

Also in this scene

  • face-time

    time spent talking face to face

  • freaking

    a mild intensifier; a softened swear

  • Jezebel

    a biblical slur for a shameless, immoral woman

Everything marked in this scene

24 notes across 59 lines

Phrase · B1be used to somethingI’m not used to that having anything in it.
Grammar · B2not used to that having

be used to

I’m not used to that having anything in it.
Soundused to

elision

I’m not used to that having anything in it.
Phrase · B2face-time with someone

time spent talking face to face

Executives claim they've wanted quality face-time with Barbie, dressing up a trap as a meeting.

So, we’ve been very anxious to get some quality face-time with you.
Phrase · C1be agreeable to somethingIf you’re agreeable to it, we would love it if you could just get into that giant box.
Phrase · B2would love it if ...If you’re agreeable to it, we would love it if you could just get into that giant box.
Grammar · B2would love it if you could

would + if

If you’re agreeable to it, we would love it if you could just get into that giant box.
Phrase · A2get into somethingGet into the box and you’ll go back to Barbie Land.
Phrase · B2as it wasAnd everything will be as it was.
Phrase · A2worried about somethingKen isn’t something we’re worried about.
Phrase · B2come all this wayOh. But since I came all this way, could I just meet the woman in charge, your CEO?
Soundcame all this way

liaison

Oh. But since I came all this way, could I just meet the woman in charge, your CEO?
Phrase · B2where are you going with thisListen, I know exactly where you’re going with this, and I have to say I really resent it.
Phrase · C1resent somethingListen, I know exactly where you’re going with this, and I have to say I really resent it.
Grammar · B2literally made of women

past participle phrase

We are a company literally made of women.
Slang · B2freakingWomen are the freaking foundation of this very long phallic building.
Phrase · C1up the wazoo

in great excess; everywhere (crude)

An executive brags about having gender-neutral bathrooms up the wazoo.

We have gender-neutral bathrooms up the wazoo.
Soundup the wazoo

flap

We have gender-neutral bathrooms up the wazoo.
Slang · C1wazooWe have gender-neutral bathrooms up the wazoo.
Phrase · C1some of my best friends are ...Some of my best friends are Jewish.
Phrase · B1what I'm trying to say isWhat I’m trying to say is...
Phrase · B2in agesI haven’t been in a box in ages.
Grammar · B2been in a box in ages

in ages

I haven’t been in a box in ages.
Phrase · B1sell wellRemember Proust Barbie? That did not sell very well. [chuckles]

Mattel Execs Try to Box Barbie, explained

What's really going on

The scene is the film's corporate satire in one room. The executives are friendly right up to the moment they are asked who is actually in charge, and then the defensiveness pours out: "We are a company literally made of women," one of them says, listing mothers and women friends as proof. The joke is that none of them hears how it sounds, and the flattery collapses into an order — get in the box. The comic beat on the other side is the Proust flashback, a memory triggered by a smell, followed by the punchline that the Proust Barbie doll did not sell very well. The scene makes its point by stacking absurd justifications until the room runs out of them.

Theme

PowerA roomful of male executives insists it is a company of women, exposing who really holds the power.
SatireThe excuses pile up and collapse, making the corporate defence of itself the biggest joke in the scene.

Listen for

  • used to — elision
  • came all this way — liaison
  • up the wazoo — flap
If you’re agreeable to it, we would love it if you could just get into that giant box.

The politely worded request that is really an order: cooperate and climb into the box.

Ken isn’t something we’re worried about.

A dismissive line that writes Ken off entirely, hinting at how the company values him.

Listen, I know exactly where you’re going with this, and I have to say I really resent it.

The defensive reaction of someone who can guess the criticism and refuses to hear it.

We are a company literally made of women.

The proud-sounding defence that misses the point: it sells dolls, it is not run by women.

Women are the freaking foundation of this very long phallic building.

A speech that turns absurd, praising women while describing the very tower of male power.

I haven’t been in a box in ages.

A joke that treats climbing into packaging like a spa trip, showing how little this world unsettles her.

Questions about this scene

Why does Mattel want Barbie in the box?

Getting her back into the packaging returns her to Barbie Land and makes everything normal again, which is exactly what the company wants.

What does Barbie ask the executives?

She asks to meet the woman in charge and whether any women run the company, a question the all-male board handles badly.

Who is Proust Barbie?

A doll version of Barbie that the company remembers with a laugh, because it did not sell very well — a joke Barbie triggers by recognising the smell of the packaging.

How does the meeting end?

One executive loses patience, calls her an insulting name, and orders her into the box, which she then climbs into after a last request about her hair.

Barbie · 26 chapters

All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 14Isn't that marvelousBarbie Meets Ruth at Mattel
Chapter 1burst their bubbleBarbie Rewrites the Doll StoryChapter 2the voice of a generationBarbie's Perfect Day in Barbie LandChapter 3beach offKen Beaches Off and Gets HurtChapter 4dying toBarbie Asks About DyingChapter 5fall into disrepairBarbie's Heels Touch the GroundChapter 6be that as it mayBarbie Opens a Portal to RealityChapter 7a figure of speechBarbie Leaves Barbie LandChapter 8hold it against meBarbie and Ken Hit the Real WorldChapter 9man upThe Mattel Men Celebrate ThemselvesChapter 10with all due respectMattel Panics Over Barbie in LAChapter 11the last resortSasha Confronts BarbieChapter 12seek my fortuneKen Tries to Bring Patriarchy HomeWatching · Chapter 13up the wazooMattel Execs Try to Box BarbieChapter 14Isn't that marvelousBarbie Meets Ruth at MattelChapter 15come off itSasha and Her Mom Pick Up BarbieChapter 16dream upBarbie Flees to Barbie LandChapter 17fly off the shelvesBarbie Finds Ken's Casa HouseChapter 18snap out of itKen Takes Over Barbie LandChapter 19make a run for itBarbie Hits Her Lowest PointChapter 20existential crisisIt's Impossible to Be a WomanChapter 21tie herself into knotsGloria's Monologue About WomenChapter 22the old standbyThe Barbies Plot Their ReturnChapter 23take advantage ofThe Kens Build a PatriarchyChapter 24took you for grantedBarbie Apologizes to KenChapter 25hold on toBarbie Tells Ken to Find HimselfChapter 26living in the shadowsBarbie Says Maybe She's Not Barbie
Chapter 13 of 26 · about 50 min to go