Sometimes the most pervasive hegemony can come from the most unlikely places. While the popular Barbie films of the early to mid 2000s are critically acclaimed and widely accepted as some of the purest cinema ever made, they are also vehicles for themes that can both work against the status quo, and confirm and support it. To highlight this, we can examine a few of the characters and how their relationship with poverty reflects these themes. To start, we look at the villain of the film, Preminger.
Raised by low class "peasant" parents, he is employed as the Queen's advisor but seeks to usurp her throne by means of crime. Throughout the film, he makes remarks about how far he has come and how he plans to be king, such as "This peasant's son won't turn and run because some reckless royal chose another beau". He is portrayed in the film as being greedy, undermining, and skeezy. He is also fabulous but that is besides the point. By the films end, he is thwarted by the princess (true royalty) and he is arrested. I think in some ways, this confirms that though he may try, he came from poverty and can never truly be a part of the ruling class.
Conversely, the film has a second rag to riches story, but this one with a different ending. Erica, an indentured servant working as a seamstress at a dress shop outside the palace, aids the royal family by secretly filling in for the princess during her disappearance. She gets to see the vast disparity between her life of poverty and the princess's life of excess and refinement. Near the end of the film, the ruse is discovered and she is thrown into prison when it is revealed that she does not have the royal birthmark (a crown on her shoulder).
This could be a reference to the idea that those in power are born to it, and that a pauper could never truly be a part of the ruling class. However, Erica is busted out of prison by a hot king who loves her for her, and at the movie's end he proposes to her and she is freed from the oppression of debt and poverty.
So is the movie wanting us to know that the poor deserve to be ruled over, or that with hard work and a little luck anyone can turn their situation around? What do you think?
First off love the movie that you chose! Secondly I think this movie is a perfect movie to showcase Neo-Marxism. I think that you are right in the Pauper does become a princess and in a sense the hero. I also wonder what the message is for us as we watch the movie is does this mean all people have the opportunity to become something more or that the do poor people should be ruled over. For a children's movie there is some deep thought. I think and hope the latter that a hard works lead to good things.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I love the movie you chose to analyze! The rag to riches storyline is a common plot in movies, but very interesting to see highlighted in a children's movie. Marxism critiques the idea of social mobility within capitalist systems, and this movie illustrates this perfectly with their royal hierarchy. Similar to Disney’s Model Behavior, these girls in different social classes can temporarily "switch places," but their true identities are ultimately unalterable due to the structure of society. I do think that with they way this story ends, they may be trying to prove that anyone can be successful with a little hard work and beauty.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great blog post! First, I would like to say that I have never seen this movie, but as I was reading the breakdown you were giving, and it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite movies, Aladdin. The main villain of that movie, Jafar had also came from poverty and worked his way up to power, hoping to usurp the king. The main reason I wanted to bring up Aladdin was because the protagonist in that movie was also poor and proves by the end and in future movies that the poor aren't meant to be "ruled over." In my opinion, with hard work and a little luck, most people are able to turn their luck around.
ReplyDeleteI have to chime in here and piggy back off Thomas and his admiration for Aladdin. Note only is the rags-to-riches storyline told in this Disney film, the protagonist was male versus the typical female role that is borderline standard in Disney movies. Cinderella wants to escape from being the step-child that acts as a servant to the pinnacle princess. Belle in Beauty and the Beast is a nerdy little girl that has a nose in a book so often that she doesn't realize how much she enjoys the beautiful life of being married to a prince until it happens. Great post, Liz. Thanks for bring out the kid in all of us!
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