Gen X Women: The Forgotten Barbie Movie Audience

As usual, folks underestimate women in their 40s. It's OK; Gen X-ers are used to being overlooked.

We’ve all seen it by now, right? You guys are my people, and I feel confident that the majority of you have been to Barbie at least once. As for me, I went twice in one week and am plotting to go again with anyone who will have me (any takers?). Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve no doubt seen memes and social media posts featuring America Ferrera’s killer speech, the new rallying cry for feminists everywhere. If you haven’t gone, oh, please do. You won’t be sorry.

Most of the media buzz I’ve seen about Barbie has focused on Gen Z and Millennials as the movie’s target demographic, and it’s no surprise why—they represented the majority of the moviegoers. I was surprised by this. Maybe it’s because I sort of forget how old I actually am, can’t seem to correctly identify anyone’s actual ages, or maybe it’s a myopic “Everyone is just like ME!” mentality, but I expected there would be more women my age at the movie. I mean, sure, I only learned of it because my teenage daughter told me we HAD to see it, and I was all, “I’m sorry, ew, what, a Barbie movie?” and then we saw the preview and what can I say, they had me at, “Nobody’s gonna beach anyone off!”

My badass teenage daughter

I digress. Back to the movie’s target demographic. True to form, Gen X is the “forgotten generation,” as Box Office Pro reported that 81% of the attendees were under 35, and Reddit predicted Gen X and Millennials as the primary targets for the movie, with Gen X given an abysmal prediction of 13%. After watching my peers’ reactions roll in on social media, the impact of this movie on Gen X women at midlife— particularly those of us in our 40s—was undeniably significant, and not just because many of us are mothers of tweens/teens. 

In the opening week, I attended Barbie twice, once with my 40-something friend, and once with my tween and teen daughters. Both times, the crowd consisted mainly of teenagers and younger Millennials. My fellow midlife friend and I—both clad in understated pink in more of a "work Barbie" aesthetic—were genuinely surprised to see how young the crowd was. 

And yet, we laughed the loudest (during moments when the theater was actually quiet, akin to parents laughing at the racy jokes snuck into children's films as a consolation); we also gripped hands and quietly sobbed at the poignant parts of the film. 

Perhaps it's actually that niche micro-Generation of women born between 1977-1981 (Xennials, I believe?) who are the true target audience of this film. We are the ones who gasped and cheered when recognizing the opening strains of Closer to Fine; we are the ones who literally endured men in dorm rooms serenading us with "Push" on their acoustic guitars (no, really, that legitimately happened). We were the ones riveted to Kate McKinnon's weird Barbie, eyes wide with a mixture of delight and reverence.

We are the ones who are old enough to have tween and teen daughters, the ones suffering midlife identity crises and doubting our own value and accomplishments. We are the ones swallowing impossible lumps in our throat during Ferrera's impassioned speech, because we have fought longer than the younger generations. We have been mired in this for decades, and as the first "therapy generation," are only now beginning to emerge (if we are lucky) from the damaging programming; many of us have made it a priority to raise our daughters with entirely different values than our culture provided when we were growing up. 

The snorting belly laughs and audible sobbing came mainly from women my age scattered around the theater, and the tender and painful scenes between Gloria and her daughter, Sasha, reverberated in all our midlife mom hearts like an ache deep in our bones. The Barbie movie broke us wide open, and I for one was not expecting it. It was like a decade’s worth of therapy rolled up in 1980s/90’s nostalgia and then wrapped in all the hopes, dreams, and wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night fears we have for our daughters. It was everything. And we’ve been around long enough to remember.

Many of my young tween/teen voice students have seen the movie and loved it, though one twelve-year-old summed it up perfectly: “I went with my best friend, and her mom and grandma came and laughed at stuff that wasn’t really very funny. It was kind of embarrassing.” I rest my case.

XOXO,
Steph ❤️

P.S. Did you catch my recent posts about my trips to the Midwest as part of my Breadcrumbs memoir project? Check them out here!

Part I: Milwaukee
Part II: Iowa

You can also listen to me read about my experience on the podcast here. No pictures, but it’s a short 12-minute listen, and oh, I cry like ten times. Not to be missed! 😉

Listen here:

We also share the HUGE news that our first ever in-person Mother Plus event is happening! Join us September 23rd for a totally delicious four-hour mini retreat. Details here.

Now go watch Barbie again!