America Ferrera responds to criticism that ‘Barbie’ oversimplifies feminism

If you still haven’t seen the “Barbie” movie, what are you waiting for?! If you have, you know that an emotional high point is America Ferrera’s three-minute monologue railing against the double standards that women face in society. It’s a moment that had women literally cheering in theaters — but it’s also garnered criticism from some who say it “oversimplified” feminism. During a recent interview with the New York Times, Ferrera hit back at those kinds of claims.

“We can know things and still need to hear them out loud. It can still be a cathartic,” she said. “There are a lot of people who need Feminism 101, whole generations of girls who are just coming up now and who don’t have words for the culture that they’re being raised in. Also, boys and men who may have never spent any time thinking about feminist theory. If you are well-versed in feminism, then it might seem like an oversimplification, but there are entire countries that banned this film for a reason.”

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She continued, “To say that something that is maybe foundational, or, in some people’s view, basic feminism isn’t needed is an oversimplification. Assuming that everybody is on the same level of knowing and understanding the experience of womanhood is an oversimplification.”

Of course Ferrera just casually dropped the mic again. We expect no less of her. Now BRB, we’re going to go watch her inspiring “Barbie” speech for the 1,000th time (because it’s streaming on HBO Max now, in case you didn’t know). 

In her interview, Ferrera also revealed that “Barbie” writer/director Greta Gerwig gave her the chance to tweak the monologue to include her own point of view.

“The text evolved a little bit,” she said. “Greta asked me, ‘Why don’t you just tell me what you would say? Write it in your own words. What would you add?’ Not every director starts out by inviting actors to rewrite their work.”

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Ferrera continued, “Some of what we talked about made it into the script. The line, ‘Always be grateful’ came out of that conversation with Greta. She expounded on it adding, ‘But never forget that the system is rigged.’ There were many versions that we did. We ended in tears. It ended in laughter, it got big, it got small, and I was able to do that because I really trusted Greta to know what would be right for the film.”

If you ask us, they got it just right.