Featured Image Credit: The Simpsons/Fox. Warner Bros.
Topics: News, Film and TV, Barbie, The Simpsons
Charisa Bossinakis
Topics: News, Film and TV, Barbie, The Simpsons
Fans believe The Simpsons predicted the Barbie movie mania currently sweeping the world.
Now that the Barbie press tour has kicked into high gear, I’m sure there’s no shortage of pink consuming your social media feeds.
The film has dropped into cinemas around the world and people can't wait to see what all the fuss is about.
However, many Simpsons fans believe that the long-running animation series made yet another prediction, foreshadowing the Barbie hysteria happening right now.
Advert
Many have noted the similarities between the 1994 episode ‘Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy’ and the hype around the 2023 Greta Gerwig flick.
One scene shows anchor Kent Brockman addressing Lisa Simpson's campaign to make Barbie creators reinvent a Malibu Stacey - AKA Barbie - that is a better role model for young girls that doesn’t set harmful gender stereotypes.
The TV host says: "Thought it was unusual to spend 28 minutes reporting about a doll, this reporter found it impossible to stop talking."
The current Malibu Stacy utters phrases such as ‘Math is hard’ or ‘Don't ask me, I'm just a girl’ when you pull her little string.
Later in the episode, Lisa enlists Stacy Lovell, the doll’s creator, to launch a more feminist-empowering toy called Lisa Lionheart.
The doll is released and is instantly a big hit.
However, the creators of Malibu Stacy see Lisa's doll as a real threat and release a new figurine to bury Lisa Lionheart.
To Lisa and Lovell’s dismal, the new Malibu Stacy - which is just the old one wearing a ‘new hat' as Lisa points out - is wheeled in front of Lisa’s doll display, with little girls opting for Malibu Stacey instead.
Ah, genius.
Many fans have pointed out that art has intimated real life.
One Simpsons fan penned to Twitter: “If Barbie really is a feminist movie, it’s probably gonna be the plot of that one Simpsons episode.”
Another said: “Is the Barbie movie really just a feminist screed? I'd rather just rewatch the Lisa Lionheart episode of The Simpsons.”
While a third shared: “Have The Simpsons potentially predicted another thing? When Mattel releases Margot Robbie Barbie dolls, there's guaranteed to be adult men who will buy them and leave it unopened for their collection.”
Veteran Simpsons' scribes Josh Weinstein and Ben Oakley, who wrote ‘Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy’, recently sat down with Vanity Fair, to which they admitted that female fans often say this episode is their favorite.
And with the Barbie movie reigniting the discussion around how toys impact children, the episode is more relevant than ever, almost three decades on.
“I remember writing this and thinking, If I have a daughter someday, I want her to watch this episode and like it,” said Oakley.