What was I made for? What Barbie can teach us about self awareness
The Barbie movie is bright, glittery and a whole lotta hot pink, but you don’t have to delve deep to see it’s also a wonderful journey of self-awareness. So what can Barbie teach us about this crucial soft skill?
Barbie has finally hit the big screens and it’s all anyone can talk about. There are laughs, tears, a catchy song or two, and more than a few life lessons – and we’re not just talking about packing neon rollerblades wherever you travel.
Greta Gerwig's Barbie centres on a core theme we know very well here at Maxme: self-awareness.
Self-awareness is a foundational soft skill defined by psychologists Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund as the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards.
In this article, we’ll explore what Barbie can teach us about the all-important soft skill of self-awareness.
Let’s dive in.
What can Barbie teach us about self-awareness?
(If you haven’t seen Barbie yet, proceed with caution – there are mild spoilers ahead.)
1. Self-awareness is a journey
The plot of the movie is pretty simple – Gerwig plunges our heroine into an existential crisis. Barbie (Margot Robbie) sets off from the utopian Barbie Land into the Real World to find out what she means to people and decide on a life for herself.
In other words, she goes on a journey of self-awareness.
Ken, her blond, bland, almost-boyfriend played by Ryan Gosling, insists on coming along for the ride. And he goes on his own journey as he tries to learn who he is.
The beautiful duo both have to face some frightening truths – especially Barbie, who discovers scary aspects of the real world that she was blinded by before.
The lesson here is simple: Becoming more self-aware is a journey, and that can be scary at first.
But once you become more self-aware, it becomes easier to build on what you know and start using it to become exceptional and – most importantly – happy.
2. Self-awareness means aligning your behaviour with your values
If you’re highly self-aware, you can align your behaviour with your values. Barbie has to grapple with this near the end of the movie.
After finding out who she is and how others perceive her, she has a decision to make:
Does she go back to Barbie Land to live life as a plastic doll, knowing that she won’t be fulfilling her potential? Or does she become human in the Real World with all the struggles that can bring?
Her decision comes down to whether she wants to live life by her values – something only self-aware people can do.
3. Becoming self-aware means accepting your flaws
The movie doesn’t just focus on Barbie but also on Mattel, the company behind the doll.
Mattel took some risks with the movie, green-lighting a plot that spotlights the company’s own struggles and flaws, such as failed products (pregnant Barbie, anyone?), outdated thinking and even tax issues.
But rather than hide these flaws, Mattel was incredibly self-aware in letting them be called out in the movie – something you don’t see very often from a big brand. Their honesty strengthens the movie’s impact and even builds our affinity towards the company a little more.
4. When you’re self-aware, you are Kenough
Ken has it pretty tough in Barbie Land. Early in the movie, the narrator tells the audience, “Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.”
In other words, Ken’s sense of self comes only from Barbie’s validation, which proves hard to come by.
But then, in the Real World, Ken realises who he is without Barbie, that he can be anything he wants, and that he is “Kenough”.
He even sings about it with the other Kens:
“I’m just Ken and I’m enough, and I’m great at doing stuff!”
Over to you
When it comes to becoming more self-aware, there’s no right or wrong answer. The best thing you can do is take Barbie’s cue – be proactive and get started on your own journey.
To start developing your human skills today, simply download the Hodie app, or explore Maxme’s menu of human skills programs for organisations or schools.
Prefer to talk through your options? Contact us at any time.
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