CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

America Ferrera Details Barbie Monologue Research

www.thewrap.com: America Ferrera revealed that her research to prep for her monologue in “the film”Barbie” yielded some galvanizing results. Her singular scene in “Barbie” about the tensions of being a woman has connected with women of all ages and drawn references such as Kevin Costner’s recitation of the speech at the Golden Globes.

4 comments:

Ella McCullough said...

The monologue being discussed in this article is the reason I fell in love with the barbie movie. I saw it on social media before I had watched the movie and I fell in love with it. It is such a powerful monologue and the way it was performed made it more impactful. I never thought about how many of the big famous monologues are performed by men. I guess I just have strong memories of the few powerful monologues that I have heard women perform because they have a stronger impact on me. I think that every woman that heard the barbie monologue will remember it and I know it probably had a strong impact on them. It was so beautifully written and perfectly described how it feels to be a woman and it does it in a way that is simple and easy to understand yet still impactful.

Marion Mongello said...

It was really interesting reading about America Ferrera's research on the Barbie monologue, however I seem to be in the group of people that honestly did not enjoy the monologue as much as others. Although Barbie was a captivating movie that told stories of girlhood and how Barbie has shaped us, I thought that America's character was kind of annoying. I felt like she was hitting all of the stereotypes and the monologue seemed ingenuine. That being said, I still think that she's a brilliant actor and trailblazer in the industry, and it was just a poorly written text in this instance. Reading about her experience working with Greta and Noah was very interesting and how a thoughtful director can make the world of a difference on a project. “As a director, I take that as my job, to create a creative space and environment where beautiful work can come through and be done.”

Delaney Price said...

The Barbie movie is one I have so many thoughts about. As an audience member, it was entertaining, visually appealing, had a phenomenal soundtrack, and so many great moments. However, where my apprehension lies is in the way society has constructed it to be some pinnacle of feminism. It was revolutionary in the way these thoughts were explored in the mainstream for a “box office boom”, however, I wanted so much more. I wanted nuance on sexuality, sensuality, intersectionality. There is a tricky back and forth to it. If it would have gone on longer or been more complex, the point would have been lost. The relatibility that existed in this monologue is what made it powerful, however, I find it simplistic to generalize these statements for all women. I somehow feel phenomenally pretentious writing this; perhaps that’s what the monologue is getting at it the first place. I’m studying the Barbie movie further in my gender studies class and hope to have more conclusive thoughts about this.

Luna said...

I definitely enjoyed the Barbie movie, so I was intrigued by this article. Even though I do not know much about America Ferrera, I saw her in the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants when I was younger and automatically loved her character because she is Latina like me. I know a lot of people really loved the Barbie movie and thought it was really incredible, but I can not say that I fully agree. I definitely loved all of the production design and the acting as well, but it was the story that did not quite sell it for me. It definitely was a powerful feminist story, but it felt kind of superficial to me. It was good, but I think it could have gone a lot deeper. America Ferrera’s monologue was one of those instances for me. She touched upon a slew of ways that women are treated unfairly in the workforce and life in general. It also highlighted double standards that women deal with constantly. However, I did not go into much intersectionality with other minorities. For example, Latina women get paid the worse with the gender pay gap and women of other minorities face additional challenges as well.