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“Barbie” has dominated social media since its wide release on Friday, but one moment in particular has become a rallying call for the women who’ve seen the film.
The text of a speech given by America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, about the expectations women are held to has been shared across social media by women of all ages, many of them saying they feel the monologue outlines the challenges women face under the patriarchy.
The speech has especially resonated with Latina women, who appreciate that Ferrera was the messenger of this resonant movie moment.
In “Barbie,” after the titular Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, returns to Barbieland with Gloria and her daughter Sasha, played by Ariana Greenblatt, she’s devastated to find the Kens have taken over and brainwashed the rest of the Barbies.
Barbie sobs, telling Gloria that she feels she’ll never be good enough, which is when Gloria launches into a monologue about the contradictions of womanhood.
“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough,” Gloria tells Barbie. “Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.”
She then goes on to talk about how women are expected to “be thin, but not too thin,” and to “have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass,” and to be “a boss, but you can’t be mean.”
Gloria runs through the series of contradictions and expectations, finally concluding that she is tired of watching herself “and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.”
“And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know,” she finishes.
The scene felt like a truth Ferrera had always known.
“There’s no woman in my life who those words aren’t true for,” Ferrera told the Times. “Not a single one. And when we hear the truth, it hits in a certain way, and you can’t unhear it, right?”
Director Greta Gerwig said Ferrera was the right person to deliver the remarks in the film because, “America’s us.”
