Famous Women: Barbie and Mary
August 13, 2023 + Mary, Mother of Our Lord +Pr. Craig Mueller
She’s the talk of the town. There’s a buzz about Barbie, the movie. I could have never imagined going to such a film, and admitting it, but several people told me I had to go. And how fascinating in a time when most of choose to watch streaming shows or movies on our own timetable and in our own homes, we’re going to theaters and talking to each other about our reaction to, of all things, Barbie.
And I couldn’t help but wonder about possible connections between Barbie and Mary, Mother of Our Lord. How can the movie and today’s feast inform our conversations about being a woman, a man, or gender in general? Since Barbie has an existential crisis and leaves the plastic perfect Barbie Land for the Real World, what does it mean to be human in our time?
Barbie may be one of the most famous women—if you can call a doll that—of the past sixty plus years.
But Mary is the most famous woman in the world, not only now but in the past two thousand years. In today’s gospel Elizabeth declares Mary “blessed among women,” a phrase that has echoed through the centuries. Mary has been portrayed in art and music more than any other woman in history. She has been a source of inspiration. For the people of Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe is their body and soul, and is a story of liberation. And I was surprised to read a column about Our Lady of Wheaton, after an art history professor at Wheaton College offered a class on Mary that overflowed with curious students.
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, when speaking near the end of her life amid all the tragedies she had endured, said that she had constantly found encouragement and consolation in the Blessed Mother. For when Mary’s son was reviled and crucified, Mary never lost faith in God. 1
Hail Mary, full of grace, is greeting the Angel Gabriel brings. And in one of the most tender scenes of sisterhood in the Bible, young, unwed Mary visits her relative, Elizabeth, old and barren—now both of them with child.
Some feminist scholars have stated there is little in the way Mary is portrayed in the Bible that is helpful for women today. Others have concluded that her subservience is a detriment to a greater role for woman in the Catholic church.
At the same time, I have found that within Lutheranism Mary provides a positive symbol of receptive openness to the divine. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, provides inspiration in our work for justice. And Mary provides a strong and tender balance to the patriarchy so prevalent in our scriptures.
But what about Barbie? The movie portrays a contrast between Barbie Land which is perfect bliss where no one ages and the Real World with its struggles, anxieties, and grief. Some notice the deep spiritual and religious themes in the movie. Yet whatever your reaction, it does make you think, makes you wonder, and surprisingly, touches you.
The soundtrack ballad, “What Was I Made For” is the ultimate question of meaning. There is moving speech by one of the characters that expresses what many feel is the paradox of being a woman today.
It is literally impossible to be a woman. You have to be thin, but not too thin. . . You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.
You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you!
When that scene was being filmed, everyone on the set was crying. It struck a chord. The women, but the men, too. For the speeches they can’t ever give. And the challenge and pressures of living up to the gender stereotypes placed on many of us. And the fact that we live in the Real World. Which is complicated and challenging. And includes suffering and loss.
Through the centuries people have turned to Mary as a source of comfort in such times. Mary who stood by the cross. Mary whose heart was broken as she watched her son suffer. Mary who is called the Mother of sorrows.
Blessed are you among women.
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, icons point to the incarnation, God among us in our frail, human flesh. Icons of Mary and Jesus reveal that God is present in our questions, our struggles, our doubts, our heartache, our grief, our longings, and our hopes. All that it means to be human in the Real World.
In preparation for our journey to Cyprus and the Holy Land, I have learned of an icon called the Virgin of the Passion. Following the Crusades, when Cyprus was invaded and conquered by Latin Christians, an Orthodox artist began creating icons of Mary and Jesus, flanked by angels with symbols of the passion, lance and spears. No longer was Mary a symbol of military power, but the new icon revealed that even in defeat, the Mother of God provided an even stronger presence and comfort. This icon later became known all over the Western world as Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Even as Mary is blessed among women, we seek the blessing of grace—knowing that are loved for who we are.
Greta Gerwig, the director of Barbie, wanted people watching the movie to feel like she did at Shabbat dinners. Gerwig didn’t grow up Jewish, but would often be present for Shabbat dinners of close family and friends.
Her friend’s dad would tell her: “Whatever your wins and losses were for the week, whatever you did or didn’t do, when you come to this table, your value has nothing to do with that. You are a child of God. I put my hand over you, and I bless you as a child of God at this table. And that’s your value”.2
That is the blessing we receive at this table and in our lives. A God who is with us and showers us with grace. Love. Acceptance. Forgiveness. Mercy.
Mary, blessed are you among women. May you show us, how to be bearers of Christ to the world. May you give us comfort and hope to live in the Real World, open to whatever life may bring. And may you remind us that we, too, in baptism, are indeed blessed. Amen.
1Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture, p. 2.
2 https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/all/i-want-barbie-movie-to-feel-like-shabbat-dinner-says-director-greta-gerwig-6OBMmwWsSSr2jpAXFc0VnM
