Grief is powerful beyond belief. I have spent sixteen years thinking of my mother as a ghostless figure, nostalgic for a memory I can’t remember. She passed away when I was 3. She had me and what she was shaking hands with: cervical cancer. Levitating through the darkest of times, I figured that I have never really thought about her, or sitting in front of our display of her photos and take a moment of remembering. I think everything about her is the question of the ages.

You are not an Indonesian descendant if you haven’t heard of Malin Kundang. Malin is a young man raised by his single mother. He grows up being a successful skipper of a nobility class. However, he forget about where he comes from, and inevitably his mother. She thunderously curses him into a rock; a road-block to the boats working under his supervision, delivering golds. It is like a Phoenix’s death as it burns to ashes, and only a mother’s tear can tender the magic of love.

Now that I grow up without any slight view of a mother figure, I have a fear that lingers: What if a spot in my heart hardens like a rock as the time goes by?

My name is Syahna. It is a thoughtfully given name by my mother. If you travel through Arhamaic beginnings, it means The Deep Sea. It also means Freedom in Navajo, Beautiful in Yiddish, and The Celestial Red Rose in Mongolia. I have, or had, not spoken any conversation I remember with her. I couldn’t speak a single language when she was there. She was not my home. This name I obtain was the only inheritance at one point. Years pass, and I’ve only known her from stories. I own an unique relationship with my mother where things escalate from different perspectives and I always have had to ponder which is true and which is not.

​A cultural icon far before a name at a theater, the word Barbie has grown to embody far more than just a toy. A personification of societal expectation, the relationship between her and America’s youth has been endlessly scrutinized: a relationship not just explored but masterfully dissected in Margot Robbie’s film: The Barbie Movie. Despite its controversial subject, the movie manages to do what so many attempted feminist films could not: simultaneously entertain and persuade its audience. For all of its glitzy, glamorous visual appeal, this movie embellishes but never once takes its eyes of its purpose: to deliver a strong, almost satirical statement about gender roles and constraints.

This movie succeeds where others failed because of the fact that it achieved its effect so slyly, in a way that neither came off argumentative nor political. Yet somehow, it managed it to be both, prompting a far overdue discussion regarding the concept of the patriarchy. The uniqueness of the approach- perfectionism- could be noted, rightfully so. But more importantly, Barbie captivates its audience throughout its statement, perfectly utilizing the idealized appeal of the doll to hold your attention.. and when Gloria's well known speech begins, you might also hold your breath. While it can (and probably has been) argued that the movie does nothing more than glamorize an already idealized lifestyle, I would argue that the romanticized scenery: the beautiful beach and cheerful dolls, had the opposite effect.

Hear me out. Rather than burden the filmmakers with the baggage of such a controversial past, the writers employed the previous image of Barbie, turning it into a lens through which the myth of the American dream could be viewed. As Barbie ́s character develops, her initial grief at theloss of Barbieland shifts to consciousness about the place she once loved so much. She acknowledges that while the circumstances she enjoyed suited some, it did not dismiss the fact that her goals were unachievable in her  ̈perfect ̈ life. In fact, it could be argued that this was the main conflict of the film. Her impatience grows, with her finally admitting, "I want to be a part of the people that make meaning, not the thing that is made." As the conclusion unfolds, viewers will leave with visible relief, themselves feeling the solace Barbie is shown to find. Despite the rougher edges of the elements, Barbie should be viewed not as the dolls successor but a satirical method of commentary- the irony of which is neither overdone not understated.

Stuti Jain is a student at Forest Park Middle School. She enjoys writing and art.