Come on Barbie, let’s go study! Student gets degree thanks to Barbie

By Kate Pounds

A university student landed a top degree after writing a 10,000-word dissertation on Barbie.

Charlie Dowey, 21, watched clips from the Barbie movie over 40 times to analyze how women featured in the film's soundtrack were represented.

He explored costumes, choreography and lyrics to analyse whether stereotypical gender representations of women were reinforced or challenged in the movie.

And Charlie was delighted when he got 70% for the 10,000-word thesis as part of his degree in English language with journalism at De Montfort University, Leicestershire.

Charlie, who is looking for a job in PR, from Corby, Northamptonshire, said: "My parents were pretty shocked initially as I've never been into Barbie and it's not their thing, but my friends all thought it was a really cool choice of topic.

"I had no experience of Barbie before the movie, but I loved the film from start to finish.

"It was such a huge cultural moment in my life, and the messages in the film really stayed with me.

"Watching the film, and also visiting a Barbie exhibition for my research, really showed me how objectified women feel and how hard they have to work to get the same opportunities as men.

"They [the film] have totally rebranded Barbie as a symbol of female empowerment and made dolls cool again.

"I think the career dolls will change girls' expectations of what their lives can look like."

The title of Charlie's work was - 'Ah Barbie you're so fine': Examining representations of women across the Barbie movie soundtrack - a multimodal critical discourse analysis.

Charlie picked his four favourite music videos from the film - Dua Lipa's 'Dance the Night', Charli XCX 'Speed Drive', Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj's 'Barbie World', and Billie Eilish's 'What was I made for'.

He analyzed how the visuals, sound effects and lyrics combined to tell a meaningful story and the impact of the movie on Barbie as a lifestyle icon for women.

Charlie worked on the project for eight months, finally handing it in on April 30.

He doesn't have all the marks for his final exams yet, but discovered on June 6 that he got a first for his work on Barbie.

Charlie believes an influx of Barbie career dolls - such as doctor Barbie and policewoman Barbie - and the film are replacing 'bimbo' Barbie, which promoted the idea women only cared about clothes, cars, and unrealistic looks, he said.

Charlie concluded that women in the videos were depicted as autonomous, bold, fearless and in control, that the film challenged traditional gender stereotypes of women, and that it can be read as a text that empowers women.

After his work was marked, a comment read: "An excellent, well-researched piece of work with original focus it was easy to follow and a pleasure to read."