Apotheosis Through Blogging

  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...

Barbie: Fairytopia (2005) is the fifth movie in the series of 39+ movies produced by Mattel to promote their Barbie doll line, most of which are set in worlds independent of each other (to learn more about the Barbie Cinematic Universe (BCU), I highly recommend taking the Barbie Bonanza Agora class this spring). Fairytopia is the first movie in a trilogy following Elina the fairy (played by Barbie) as she has adventures and saves her beloved Fairytopia from various threats. In this post, I will examine Barbie: Fairytopia as a hero’s journey. Warning: spoilers! Fairytopia starts with Elina at equilibrium. She is the only fairy  without wings in the Magic Meadow, and keenly wants them. Her call to adventure happens when she hears that an evil fairy named Laverna has kidnapped a fairy guardian and has released a spell that weakens fairies’ ability to fly. Because all her friends are getting sick, Elina sets out to get help, along with her sidekick Bibble, and after a long road of t...