Warning: Barbie spoilers ahead. Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie movie, was released on July 21, 2023. After spending hours analyzing the trailers and shopping for the perfect hot pink outfits, millions of people attended screenings of Barbie during its opening weekend. Everyone expected a fun time, but many were not prepared for the emotional roller coaster the film takes the audience on. There was plenty of laughter in the theaters, but a good amount of tears as well.
One of the film’s final scenes was one tearjerker moment: A montage where Barbie sees the lives of real women as she decides whether she should leave Barbieland and become a human woman. The montage shows clips of women of all ages and in different walks of life, and ultimately leads to Barbie leaving Barbieland behind and becoming human. The scene is already emotional, but Greta Gerwig recently revealed another reason why it is so powerful: Rhe clips in the montage are from actual home videos of people who worked on the movie.
In an interview with Andrew Freund, Gerwig stated, “And we got the most beautiful moments from people’s lives. It was people’s friends, aunts, mothers, daughters, sisters. It was just extraordinary.”
Gerwig added that she wanted the Barbie montage to be a personal, human touch in a movie that is ultimately about a plastic doll. “With something like Barbie, that’s such a behemoth of an international brand and it can be something that feels so kind of impersonal,” Gerwig shared. Gerwig wanted to highlight the crew who worked tirelessly on Barbie, and this was a way she was able to give credit and show appreciation.
Including such deeply personal moments during the film’s emotional crux had a powerful impact on the audience. Many fans took to social media to share their thoughts on how surprisingly touching the film was. One fan even shared a meme comparing how they expected to feel about Barbie versus their true reaction after the movie.
Knowing that Barbie’s visions of womanhood represent real women’s lives makes the ending of the film even more remarkable. Barbie has moments that will make you laugh and cry, showing how special a movie like this can be.