Her breakthrough role as the achingly seductive Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) instantly propelled her to sex-symbol status, cemented by her role as the midriff-baring Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016), and literal blonde bombshell Kayla Pospisil in Bombshell (2019).
Despite powerful roles in I, Tonya and Mary Queen of Scots – in which her characters’ appearance exists outside of the male gaze – Margot still always appealed to the straight, male imagination. And then Barbie came along. You know who likes Barbie? Women and girls – lots of them.
“Margot’s Barbie challenges the idea that the male gaze is the ultimate arbiter of female beauty. No wonder men are pissed.”
The Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and produced by Margot Robbie, is unapologetically marketed towards women, promising a feminist take on a doll that had a formative impact (for better or worse) on millions of young girls. The advertising campaign has been a masterclass in feminist marketing: while girls can see themselves represented through Barbie as a President, lawyer, diplomat, doctor, Supreme Court Justice, or even a mermaid, the boys are lumped with Ken – and he’s just Ken.
There’s also a suggestion – such as when Margot’s Barbie is shocked to discover cellulite on her legs – that Greta Gerwig’s film will explore the unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by Mattel’s earlier editions of the doll, challenging the idea that the male gaze is the ultimate arbiter of female beauty. No wonder some men are pissed.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Finally, the suggestion that Margot Robbie – again, one of the most traditionally beautiful women in the world – is “mid” serves as a reminder for all women to remember our place; to not get carried away by the potential empowerment that Barbie offers; to keep us in a place of self-comparison and shame; and to look at ourselves, always, through the imagined male gaze.
As Margot’s Barbie says when she enters the real world, “What’s going on? Why are these men looking at me?”
For more from Glamour UK’s Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.