第176章 芭比是一面绝佳的镜子

Barbie Has Never Been a Great Symbol， but She's an Excellent Mirror

芭比从来就不是一个伟大的象征，但却是一面绝佳的镜子

By Andi Zeisler

The “Barbie“ movie arrives today as the culmination of a nearly 15-year process that started when Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the character. But Barbie's film debut also comes in the context of a much longer and more tortuous journey with an existential question at its core: After all these years， does Barbie still matter? And if she does， then… why?

电影《芭比》终于上映了，如今距离环球影业获得芭比版权已过去近15年。但其实，这部电影上映的背后，是一段更漫长也更曲折的旅程，决定它存亡与否的核心问题在于：这么多年过去了，芭比还重要吗？如果重要的话，是为什么？

Barbie looms as simultaneously an unrealistically proportioned airhead and a striving Everywoman. The trailer's tagline (“If you love Barbie， this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie， this movie is for you.“) is confirmation that Barbie is， in the most literal way， everyone's business.

芭比以一个身材离谱、大脑空空的形象问世，同时又代表了努力奋斗的普通女性。正如预告片中的宣传语所言（“如果你喜爱芭比，这部电影适合你。如果你讨厌芭比，这部电影也适合你。”），以最直白的方式表明，芭比和每个人都有关。

The “Barbie“ movie is about becoming your own hero or at least taking a hero's journey— one that leads Barbie into a real world that， for the most part， finds her either dangerous or irrelevant. It's a fitting approach， since the most interesting thing about Barbie has always been our reactions to her.

《芭比》这部电影讲述的是如何成为自己的英雄，或者至少踏上一段英雄之旅的故事——旅程中芭比来到现实世界，发现自己在多数时候，要么身陷险境，要么无足轻重。这一情节设计得恰如其分，因为芭比最有意思的点一直在于我们如何看待她。

She never had to be a zero-sum figure， a thing you were either with or against. Many of us definitely saw her that way. That we did speaks only to the continuing challenges of a world that， even now， isn't sure whether women can be free of stereotypes or expectations and be allowed to simply exist.

芭比从来就不必是一个非黑即白的形象，一个你只能支持或抵制的形象。尽管我们中很多人就是这样看待她的。这种做法只能说明，即使到了现在，这个世界仍然面临重重挑战，即我们仍然无法确定，女性能否摆脱外界的刻板印象或种种期待，能否被允许不被桎梏地简单存在。