Greta Gerwig’s feminist blockbuster Barbie is undoubtedly the film of 2023, breaking box office records, prompting the Kenergy movement and resurging the Barbiecore fashion trend.
Despite the film being released just a week ago, Barbie already has legions of super fans, with TikTokers and Instagrammers dissecting the very many easter eggs and cultural references that Gerwig has hidden in the already-iconic movie.
Yes, from old school film references and surprise cameos to sweet nods to the close-knit cast and crew, there’s a lot to unpick.
Here we break down 17 hidden Barbie easter eggs that you still might not have found.
1. The Bratz dolls
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The most popular fan theory in Barbie surrounds the character of Sasha and her three school friends, who tell Barbie that no one plays with Barbie dolls anymore.
These four girls are thought to be a nod to the Bratz, the doll brand that rivalled Mattel’s Barbie. And if you want proof, the four main Bratz dolls are called Yasmin, Cloe, Jade and (yes, you guessed it) Sasha.
2. El Esposo di Gloria
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Gloria’s husband in Barbie is played by America Ferrera’s real-life husband Ryan Piers Williams. His character, who has two cameos in the film, hasn’t been given a name however – credited simply as “El Esposo de Gloria” (Gloria’s husband).
3. Barbie’s odometer
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The odometer in Barbie’s pink convertible even contains an easter egg – with the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod going undetected by most of us. A fan theory clued us in however, revealing that the odometer in her iconic car is actually a nod to the creation date of the Barbie doll. Barbie was launched on 9 March 1959, which certainly adds meaning to her odometer reading of “030959”.
4. The Creation of Adam
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A key character in the film is Ruth Handler, the woman who created the Barbie doll, played by Rhea Perlman (yes, she played Matilda’s mum). According to cinephiles, the scene where Barbie meets Ruth while running from the heads of Mattel contains a hidden reference – a mirroring of Michelangelo’s painting, “The Creation of Adam”.
“Our hands touch like ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michelangelo, imitating the moment when God gives life to the first man,” Margot Robbie explained to Variety. “Greta snuck that in there.”
5. The Clueless wardrobe
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Barbie’s wardrobe is one of the most iconic features of her dreamhouse, borrowing inspiration from Cher’s smart wardrobe in 1995’s Clueless. Instead of putting her outfit together on a computer screen however, Barbie’s wardrobe is magical – with her next outfit appearing in its case as soon as she gets changed.
“We were saying that the wardrobe in Clueless, like, the bar was set so high, and we would really like to do something that is as cool as that,” Margot Robbie told Architectural Digest in her dreamhouse tour. Mission accomplished.
6. Proust Barbie
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Proust Barbie is one of the only dolls who doesn’t get a line in the film, with her scene cut from the final edit. But if you look closely, you can spot the character played by A-list actress Lucy Boynton in Weird Barbie’s House. The CEO of Mattel, played by Will Ferrell, even makes a reference to the fictional doll, saying: “Remember Proust Barbie? That did not sell well.”
7. The millennial Matrix
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One of the film’s most recognisable cinematic references is a nod to The Matrix (1999), but with a millennial spin. When Stereotypical Barbie starts to malfunction, she is given two options by Weird Barbie. In a recreation of The Matrix‘s iconic “red pill or blue pill” scene with each offering Neo (Keanu Reeves) a different view on life, Barbie is offered a pink high heel or a Birkenstock sandal – either returning to Barbie world as she knows it or seeing the real world.
8. Ann Roth
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A particularly moving scene sees Barbie meet an elderly woman on a bench, and tell her that she is beautiful. This woman – Ann Roth, is not actually an actress, but a world renowned costume designer who Greta Gerwig wanted to recognise in this scene. Roth has won two Academy Awards for her work on The English Patient (1996) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), and she has been nominated for five Oscars in total.
“I love that scene so much,” Greta Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.’
9. The Barbie x Chanel collab
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From statement skirt suits and necklaces to iconic handbags, Margot Robbie wore multiple Chanel looks throughout the film – something that it turns out was no coincidence. In fact, Chanel revealed that it had actually collaborated with Barbie on the film to provide five of the looks seen on screen. Of course, given that Margot Robbie is a global ambassador for the brand, the collaboration feels like a natural extension of her partnership with Chanel.
“The Barbie legacy is so intrinsically tied with fashion brands throughout history and wearing high fashion definitely feels right for the character,” Margot Robbie explained of the collaboration. “There were some incredible outfits that I actually got to wear that Claudia Schiffer herself (who is kind of like a real-life Barbie) wore.”
10. The Wizard of Oz
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Barbie contains multiple references to the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz, particularly in the scene sequences in Barbie Land. In the opening scene when Barbie is driving in her pink convertible, she passes by a cinema where The Wizard of Oz is being screened, and if you look closely there are even posters of Judy Garland as Dorothy outside. Then as Barbie makes her Wizard of Oz style journey from Barbie Land to the real world, Greta Gerwig makes a few other subtle nods – a pink brick road to mirror Dorothy’s one in yellow, a tulip field backdrop that features in both journeys and of course, Barbie’s pink gingham dress – an homage to Dorothy’s in blue.
11. A Love Island cameo
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A cameo that only reality TV fans will have spotted is that of Chris Taylor, former Love Island contestant. The reality star can be seen briefly handing out Nobel Prizes to Ken dolls when they are taking over Barbie Land – a request that was reportedly made by Margot Robbie herself.
Robbie, a self-proclaimed Love Island superfan reportedly met Chris Taylor at the London Premiere of her film Birds of Prey, inviting him to the after-party. According to Taylor, he then got a call two years later that she wanted him to have a Barbie cameo. “I will not stop talking about Love Island,” Margot Robbie has said of the reality show. “There’s so much I have to say about it.”
12. An ode to Gavin & Stacey
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Another surprise Barbie cameo that you might have missed featured Gavin & Stacey‘s Rob Brydon, who appears briefly at Weird Barbie’s House as the character, Sugar Daddy Barbie.
“I’m a huge fan of Gavin & Stacey so Rob Brydon being in it was an enormous priority for me,” Margot Robbie explained of the cameo, via Cosmopolitan. As did Rob Brydon himself, who recalled to Virgin Radio that there was a special reason behind his appearance in the film.
“I had a message a few years ago that Margot Robbie was a big Uncle Bryn fan and would I record a message for her birthday,” Rob Brydon recalled. “I think maybe this part is her way of saying thank you.”
13. Space Odyssey
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Perhaps the most obvious cinematic reference in Barbie is the opening scene – a clear homage to the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The clever parody that has been praised by cinephiles features the same rocky setting as the original scene and of course the iconic soundtrack of “Also sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss.
14. Ken’s book
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When the Barbies are trying to convert Kendom back into Barbie Land, Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) surprises Stereotypical Ken (Ryan Gosling) at his Mojo Dojo Casa House. When she arrives, he pretends that she’s caught him reading and holds up a big book about horses. This it turns out was actually a gift from Robbie to Gosling, with the actress giving her co-star a pink present every day of shooting.
“She left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming,” Gosling explained before the film’s release. “They were all beach-related. Like puka shells, or a sign that says ‘Pray for surf.’ Because Ken’s job is just beach. I’ve never quite figured out what that means. But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving.”
15. The Ken dance inspiration
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One of the most iconic scenes of 2023’s Barbie is the Ken dolls’ music video to I’m Just Ken – a song recorded by Ryan Gosling. But according to cinephiles, the Ken group dance number is more than just hilarious – it’s also peppered with cinematic references. The dream ballet sequence featuring 44 Kens is supposedly inspired by musicals, Oklahoma! and Singin’ in the Rain – something that can be spotted in the routine as well as the costumes. The Kens wear black trousers and t-shirts teamed with Barbie pink socks – a direct reference to the 1952 classic Singin’ in the Rain ballet sequence.
16. “Si se puede”
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At the end of the film when Barbie is living in the real world with Gloria’s family, she is given words of encouragement by the trio before she exits the car for her doctor’s appointment. Gloria’s husband (played as we now know by her IRL husband) tells Barbie, “Si se puede” – a Spanish rally cry meaning “anything is possible”, coined in the 1970s by activist Dolores Huerta. But on closer inspection, this quote is actually a personal nod to America Ferrera, being a reference to her starring role in Disney Channel’s, Gotta Kick It Up, in 2002, where it is a direct quote.
17. Barbie’s Birkenstocks
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In the film’s final scene, we see Barbie living in the real world, on her way to her gynaecologist appointment. And as eagle-eyed viewers have spotted, she is sporting a pair or pink Birkenstock sandals – a nod to the Matrix-style scene at the beginning where the shoe was used to symbolise the “real world”.
We will continue to update this story.