Existentialism: Barbie’s Philosophical World
Sunday November 17 at 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm EST
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Want to better appreciate Greta Gerwig’s highbrow screenwriting, or been wanting to read some philosophy but need a bubblegum pink excuse? Join philosopher Ryan Miller for eleven weeks as we read and discuss classic philosophical texts in conjunction with brief scenes from Barbie.
But you’re the creator. Don’t you control me?
At the end of the movie, Barbie decides to take Nietsche’s advice and live toward death, rather than embracing the characteristics her creator Ruth Handler saw as essential. Feminist existentialist Simone de Beauvoir traces out this approach to life in the first chapter of her book The Ethics of Ambiguity.
- Are our choices bound by our natures?
- Without human nature, can we have meaningful ethics?
- What does death have to do with it?
Before the session, please check out the following:
- Pages 102-114 of the Barbie screenplay and/or this clip of Barbie talking to Ruth Handler and becoming human.
- Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, chapter 1.
