America Ferrera Stole The Barbie Movie With 1 Unforgettable Monologue
Still thinking about this.
It feels like no modern movie has been more hyped than Barbie. From Margot Robbie’s dolled-up fashions to Ryan Gosling’s infectious Ken-ergy, pretty much everyone was pumped to dive into the fluorescent pink world. But while movie fans were distracted by Barbieland, they didn’t see the real scene-stealer of Barbie coming. Turns out, it wasn’t a doll at all who grabbed audiences by the heart — it was America Ferrera as the stressed-out mom Gloria. At the climax of the movie, Gloria delivers a speech that changes everything, both for the Barbies and for everyone in the movie theater watching. It’s so moving that memes about America Ferrera’s Barbie monologue have taken over social media, as moviegoers try to deal with their emotions.
Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for Barbie. Gloria’s big moment comes at the height of the movie’s action, when she arrives in Barbie Land with Barbie and her daughter Sasha to discover that Ken has poisoned it with patriarchy. Once they realize all the other Barbies have basically been brainwashed to serve the Kens, Gloria unleashes her pent-up frustration in a passionate rant about all the contradictory expectations placed on women in modern society.
“It is literally impossible to be a woman,” she begins. “You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin! You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money, because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about you kids all the damn time.”
After listing several more impossible demands, Gloria ends her speech in angered exhaustion. “I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie ourselves into knots so that people will like us,” she says. The plea is so powerful that it actually breaks through to the brainwashed Barbies, returning them to their pre-patriarchy selves. And it also had a huge effect on moviegoers. After Barbie premiered, tons of fans shared how deeply Gloria’s monologue resonated with them on social media.
While Barbie and Ken were a ton of fun, it’s clear the true star of Barbie wasn’t made of plastic at all.
