Yahoo News America Ferrera responds to claims that her “Barbie” speech oversimplifies feminism
"Assuming that everybody is on the same level of knowing and understanding the experience of womanhood is an oversimplification."
America Ferrera knows her impassioned Barbie speech might be Feminism 101 to some — but she doesn't think that makes it any less crucial.
The 39-year-old actress has responded to critics who claim that her character's monologue about the impossibilities of womanhood oversimplifies feminism, telling The New York Times, "We can know things and still need to hear them out loud."
"It can still be cathartic," Ferrera said. "There are a lot of people who need Feminism 101, whole generations of girls who are just coming up now and who don’t have words for the culture that they’re being raised in. Also, boys and men who may have never spent any time thinking about feminist theory."
She added that her character Gloria's remarks "might seem like an oversimplification" for some audiences but went on to note that "entire countries" banned the movie "for a reason."
"To say that something that is maybe foundational, or, in some people’s view, basic feminism isn’t needed is an oversimplification," Ferrera said. "Assuming that everybody is on the same level of knowing and understanding the experience of womanhood is an oversimplification."
In the Greta Gerwig blockbuster, Gloria delivers the big speech to Margot Robbie's dejected "stereotypical" Barbie after Barbie Land is overtaken by the Kens and patriarchy, detailing all of the "impossible" standards imposed on women.
"We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong," Gloria says. "You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean."
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America Ferrera as Gloria in 'Barbie'Ferrera told EW last year that there was a lot of pressure to deliver the monologue in a compelling way, saying she "mostly tried to forget about it 'till I had to do it."
She added, "Greta didn't make it easy. [She said] 'There's a monologue. Meryl Streep says she would like to do this monologue.' I was like, 'Cool, no pressure!' I obviously didn't wanna eff it up. I wanted to do it justice. There's no woman in my life that this isn't true for."
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