Barbie and the Great American Identity Crisis: The Unfortunate Reality of a Nation Plagued by Racism, Patriarchy, and Stark Hypocrisy

By Dr. Karyne Messina

It’s Barbie’s world, and I wanted to write about it. Consider that, as of March 2024, Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster comedy Barbie earned more than 636 million at the North American box office, with a total of 1.45 billion earned worldwide. It now enjoys bragging rights as Warner Bros’s top-earning movie ever, surpassing the hugely lucrative final installment in the Harry Potter series.

I saw the movie almost as soon as it hit the theaters. Then I watched it again. And again. Barbie’s identity crisis transfixed me. Flat feet, cellulite, and thoughts of death lead to larger questions about the meaning of existence. Did it really matter if Barbie had an identity or
not? And did her lack of self-understanding reflect anything about Americans today? The answer, to me, was yes. It reminded me of what I’ve been noticing among my patients and what I’ve been observing in American society. This movie is a fanciful representation of what many Americans are experiencing now—a full-on identity crisis. I wondered whether there would be value in exploring American identity via Barbie. I began drafting, but I hadn’t yet found the lynchpin that would tie each essay to the next.

I needed to reflect more on how I thought Barbie might make an interesting story in the first place, and it came down to self-confidence nurtured during childhood. I looked to my own upbringing for inspiration. I’ve spent most of my professional life as a psychologist and psychoanalyst, and now, as an author and podcast host. In each, I speak with people to help them better understand themselves, their inner worlds, and what they want to achieve and accomplish. I’ve learned about those I have encountered, as well as myself, solidifying my understanding of the concept of a personal “identity,” an essential achievement for people to thrive.

My identity as a strong and confident woman emerged because I grew up in a safe world in the Florida Keys with parents who loved me unconditionally. In the Keys, I could explore what intrigued me, including people who found their way to my parents restaurant en route
to finding their pot of gold or starting fresh in Florida.

I was fascinated with creatures from the sea that I discovered as I studied the canals, marshes, and shorelines of my home. Seashells taught me about one of nature’s most impressive examples of circular objects infused with brilliant color. Reefs were kaleidoscopes of form and pigment. Here, in my aquatic nursery, I began to think about people in search of a new life, as well as the beauty of color and form and the interplay each has with the other.

Many years later, I learned to blow glass, which reminded me again of my Keys upbringing. Working with another person—essential in this art form—is a kind of fiery tango wherein pieces evolve as the artist and assistant work with each unique gathering. Much like my work
with patients wherein two people come to understand the meaning of an individual’s life, glassblowing, psychoanalysis, and writing evolve as representations of one’s life with the help from another. These facets of life also reflect what it takes to form a strong sense of Identity.

Later, I learned about Eric Erikson’s stages of development or tasks that must be mastered to have a fulfilling life. If tasks associated with this phase of development as mastered, a person is well on the way to a meaningful life, if not, life can be bleak. Lost or stolen identity
can lead to an unfulfilling, disappointing life.

I was reminded of identity and Barbie again during a train trip to New Jersey in January 2024 when I was heading to a funeral. The last time I was on this route, I was five years old, blissfully romping around and having fun with my mother and the friendly people in the dining car. In my secure world, life was filled with adventure around every bend in the tracks. I was living at a time when I felt safe.

America is a different place now. But as we traveled up the East Coast, I wondered how we changed so much since my childhood days. Why is our country so divided? Part of the answer lies in our lost identity. We can no longer answer questions about our country we thought we knew so well in the past: Who are Americans? What do we stand for? Is truth still important? I am not trying to sound nostalgic—these are questions rooted in psychoanalytic thought. A loss of identity has much greater implications than a yearning for times gone by; it can destabilize an entire nation. And yes, Barbie had a role in that identity crisis and, I believe, can help forge a better future.

Social media as a technological tool is exacerbating what I consider to be a nationwide crisis because of the negative ways in which information is shared and consumed, a phenomenon that is (negatively) determining who we like, what we wear, and how we think
about the world.Identity shapes our beliefs, values, and behaviors. People enduring identity crises may become defensive and resistant to change. It’s hard to build consensus on how to address anything, such as the climate emergency or rampant community violence.

Many Americans feel unmotivated to do anything because they don’t know who they are. Armed with this knowledge, I returned to my drafts—how could I weave Barbie into this narrative to make these concepts more approachable and understandable? The movie was an obvious starting point, but what about Barbie the doll, with hundreds sold nearly every minute someplace around the globe? Barbie did not emerge fully formed from the imagination of Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler.

Barbie started out as a sassy, German, blonde comic strip character, Lilli. Handler discovered Lilli while on vacation in Switzerland, where she bought up numerous dolls and brought them home where she tinkered with them (not much—a Barbie and a Lilli side-by-side are remarkably similar) and relaunched the sexy German Lilli as the all-American, wholesome Barbie. Now, I had my connective tissue—Barbie’s own identity had been stolen—and Mattel used her likeness to sell
a certain kind of identity to generations of American girls.

Of course, Barbie is not the sole cause of the psychological crisis of identity afflicting Americans. Still, she symbolizes the cultural forces that have contributed to this crisis. By critically examining Barbie and her place in society, we can understand the roots of this crisis and take steps to address it.

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Barbie and the Great American Identity Crisis: The Unfortunate Reality of a Nation Plagued by Racism, Patriarchy, and Stark Hypocrisy 

Barbie and the Great American Identity Crisis is not merely a book but a call to action-a rallying cry for societal introspection and transformation. With meticulous research and unflinching honesty, Dr. Karyne E. Messina offers a roadmap for reclaiming our integrity and forging a more just and equitable future. Engaging, insightful, and indispensable, this book is essential reading for anyone invested in the fate of our nation and the preservation of our collective identity. In Barbie and the Great American Identity Crisis, Dr. Messina ingeniously uses Barbie to symbolize the multifaceted identity crisis gripping America. Barbie’s transformation from Lilli reflects the complexities of stolen identity and cultural appropriation, mirroring the broader societal struggle with individual and national identity.

Just as Mattel co-opted Barbie’s identity from a German toymaker, America grapples with a loss of authenticity and integrity in its own narrative. Dr. Messina’s exploration of Barbie’s evolution serves as a poignant allegory for the broader issues at play, inviting readers to contemplate the profound implications of identity theft and cultural commodification. In essence, Barbie is our metaphorical lodestar, guiding readers through the labyrinthine complexities of America’s identity crisis.

Through Barbie’s lens, Dr. Messina illuminates the interconnectedness of personal and collective identity formation, shedding light on how societal pressures and external influences shape our sense of self and continue to perpetuate racism and patriarchal structures-that can hamper our ability to build an authentic sense of community free of tribal isolationism.

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Dr. Karyne Messina is a licensed psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and on the medical staff of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. She also maintains a full-time private practice in Chevy Chase, Maryland. After completing her undergraduate studies at Florida Atlantic University, she earned a master’s and a doctoral degree from George Washington University. She completed her post-doctoral training at the Washington School of Psychiatry and the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.

She is currently on the medical staff of Suburban Hospital, which is part of Johns Hopkins Medicine. In her private practice she treats patients with a variety of mental diagnoses and conducts psychotherapy and psychoanalysis for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. In 2011, she served as the interim Executive Director of the Washington School of Psychiatry, a nonprofit mental health organization, and was also the director of the Eugene Meyer Treatment Center, also at the Washington School of Psychiatry. She maintains active memberships with the American Psychological Association, the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Washington School of Psychiatry, the American Board of Psychoanalysis, The Psychohistory Forum, The Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture, Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology-Division 39 of the American Psychological Association and Society and the International Psychoanalytical Association. Her books include Misogyny, Projective Identification and Mentalization, Psychoanalytic, Social and Institutional Manifestations, London: Routledge, 2019. Aftermath: Healing from the Trump Presidency, Washington, DC, IPI Press, 2020. Resurgence of Global Populism: A Psychoanalytic Study of Blame-Shifting and the Corruption of Democracy. London: Routledge, 2022, It’s Not Me, It’s You!: How Narcissists Get What They Want and How to Stop Them, Cascade Books, 2023. Her forthcoming book, A Psychoanalytic Study of Political Leadership in the United States and Russia will be published by Routledge this May 2024.

 

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