They were able to straighten it out, keep it under wraps, but this is serious.Barbie · 2023 — Chapter 10 of 26 · 3'50" · B2
Mattel Panics Over Barbie in LA, Explained: with all due respect
The Mattel executives are mid-meeting when Aaron Dinkins bursts in with news: a life-size Barbie is loose in the real world. He is told it is old news, and the room turns when he corrects them: "We've got a definite situation on our hands." Meanwhile Barbie, out on the street, is discovering feelings nothing in Barbie Land prepared her for.
What happens
At Mattel, executives are in a brainstorming session when Aaron Dinkins interrupts with alarming news: a life-size Barbie has left Barbie Land for Los Angeles. The room panics, and the executives insist no one rests until the doll is back in a box. In the Real World, Barbie has begun to feel things Barbie Land never explained, and she calls them weirdo feelings.
Listen for
with all due respecttop brasstake it out onsesh
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Phrase of the scene
with all due respect
a polite formula before disagreeing
Aaron cushions his pushback to the bosses with a polite with all due respect.
With all due respect, the data tells a different story.
Also in this scene
- top brass
the senior leaders of an organization
- take it out on
to vent your anger on someone uninvolved
- sesh
a session or get-together (casual)
Everything marked in this scene
25 notes across 81 lines
They were able to straighten it out, keep it under wraps, but this is serious.- I’m going all the way up. - No one goes all the way up.no one
- I’m going all the way up. - No one goes all the way up.Okay. Listen, I have to speak to the top brass.Aaron, they’re in a big corporate idea sesh. No one is to be admitted.Aaron, they’re in a big corporate idea sesh. No one is to be admitted.We’re in the middle of a major sit-down here, Aaron Dinkins.We’re in the middle of a major sit-down here, Aaron Dinkins.in the middle of
We’re in the middle of a major sit-down here, Aaron Dinkins.Can you just e-mail it? And you can send it to me EOD.liaison
Can you just e-mail it? And you can send it to me EOD.Can you just e-mail it? And you can send it to me EOD.It’s a repeat of Skipper in Key West.a polite formula before disagreeing
Aaron cushions his pushback to the bosses with a polite with all due respect.
And with all due respect, that was Skipper, sir.If this got out that our dolls were coming to Los Angeles from Barbie Landflap
If this got out that our dolls were coming to Los Angeles from Barbie LandWe’ve got a definite situation on our hands.I can’t stress that enough! - What?Think of it as a town in Sweden, Aaron Dinkins.until-clause
No one rests until this doll is back in a box.I’m just gonna pop into the library and see if I can find any books on trucks. [chuckles]see if
I’m just gonna pop into the library and see if I can find any books on trucks. [chuckles]liaison
I’m just gonna pop into the library and see if I can find any books on trucks. [chuckles]Okay, just don’t get in trouble.Mattel Panics Over Barbie in LA, explained
What's really going on
The scene splits the film's two worlds and lets them talk past each other. At Mattel, the panic is corporate, about image and control: the executives treat a doll on the loose as a brand crisis and bark that no one rests until she is back in a box. Aaron Dinkins, the one person with real information, has to fight for a hearing and correct the assumption that this is just another Skipper incident. Meanwhile the other half of the scene is gentler and stranger: Barbie's body has started reporting feelings her world has no name for, and she describes them with perfect literalism, "I have fear with no specific object." The answer she gets is the plainest line in the film: it's anxiety. In Barbie Land there are no such feelings, and that absence is exactly what the story is about.
Theme
IdentityA company guards a brand while a doll discovers feelings its world was built to exclude.
SatireMattel panics about image, not about the doll, turning a person into a public-relations problem.
Listen for
- send it to me — liaison
- got out — flap
- pop into — liaison
They were able to straighten it out, keep it under wraps, but this is serious.The corporate voice on a past scandal: the first incident was quietly contained, so this one is treated as a threat to be managed.
I get excited. I’m passionate.A pitch-room line about enthusiasm, mocking the way executives turn ordinary feelings into selling points.
And with all due respect, that was Skipper, sir.A polite correction that undercuts the boss: this is not the same old case, and the doll in question is far bigger.
We’ve got a definite situation on our hands.The moment the room stops deflecting: a real problem, admitted in corporate language that makes it sound manageable.
I’ve started to get all these weirdo feelings.Barbie reporting the first genuine emotions of her life, and having no vocabulary for them.
Like, I have fear with no specific object.A precise description of anxiety from someone who has never felt it, stated as plainly as if it were a symptom.
Questions about this scene
Why do the Mattel executives panic?
A life-size Barbie has left Barbie Land and shown up in the real world. They fear the publicity and the damage to the brand, and they want her back in a box.
What does Aaron Dinkins tell the executives?
He interrupts their meeting to report the Barbie situation. When they assume it is another Skipper incident, he corrects them: this time it is Barbie herself.
What is happening to Barbie in the Real World?
She is feeling emotions Barbie Land never gave her words for. She describes fear with no specific object, and is told plainly that what she has is anxiety.
Why doesn't Ken feel the same way?
He is untroubled, and the film plays his easy confidence against Barbie's unease. It is part of the joke that the same world affects the two of them very differently.
Barbie · 26 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 11the last resortSasha Confronts Barbie
Chapter 1burst their bubbleBarbie Rewrites the Doll Story
Chapter 2the voice of a generationBarbie's Perfect Day in Barbie Land
Chapter 3beach offKen Beaches Off and Gets Hurt
Chapter 4dying toBarbie Asks About Dying
Chapter 5fall into disrepairBarbie's Heels Touch the Ground
Chapter 6be that as it mayBarbie Opens a Portal to Reality
Chapter 7a figure of speechBarbie Leaves Barbie Land
Chapter 8hold it against meBarbie and Ken Hit the Real World
Chapter 9man upThe Mattel Men Celebrate Themselves
Watching · Chapter 10with all due respectMattel Panics Over Barbie in LA
Chapter 11the last resortSasha Confronts Barbie
Chapter 12seek my fortuneKen Tries to Bring Patriarchy Home
Chapter 13up the wazooMattel Execs Try to Box Barbie
Chapter 14Isn't that marvelousBarbie Meets Ruth at Mattel
Chapter 15come off itSasha and Her Mom Pick Up Barbie
Chapter 16dream upBarbie Flees to Barbie Land
Chapter 17fly off the shelvesBarbie Finds Ken's Casa House
Chapter 18snap out of itKen Takes Over Barbie Land
Chapter 19make a run for itBarbie Hits Her Lowest Point
Chapter 20existential crisisIt's Impossible to Be a Woman
Chapter 21tie herself into knotsGloria's Monologue About Women
Chapter 22the old standbyThe Barbies Plot Their Return
Chapter 23take advantage ofThe Kens Build a Patriarchy
Chapter 24took you for grantedBarbie Apologizes to Ken
Chapter 25hold on toBarbie Tells Ken to Find Himself
Chapter 26living in the shadowsBarbie Says Maybe She's Not BarbieChapter 10 of 26 · about 59 min to go