The Secret of Raquelle's Heroine's Journey
Warning: Spoilers!! Barbie: A Fairy Secret (2011) is the 20th film in the Barbie Cinematic Universe, and the second movie starring Barbie as herself (not counting the Barbie Diaries). In the Barbie Cinematic Universe canon, at least for the older films, Barbie is an actress, and the fantasy films, such as Barbie: Fairytopia (2005), are movies she’s “acted” in, while this movie follows the real Barbie and her personal life. A key part of Barbie’s personal life is her relationship with long-time frenemy Raquelle. In this movie Raquelle, usually a one-dimensional villain with no life outside of trying to one-up Barbie and steal Barbie’s boyfriend Ken, gets a redemption arc. Barbie’s character in this movie is pretty uninteresting, as always, but Raquelle’s emotional journey almost completely follows Maureen Murdock’s version of the heroine’s journey. In this blog post, I plan to explore how it fits and its implications. Barbie: A Fairy Secret (2011) starts with a monta...