The Auteur Barbie: A Metamodern Analysis of Greta Gerwig’s Films

Abstract

The unprecedented success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie marks a significant moment in contemporary cinema, reflecting a shift in art towards metamodernist optimistic themes that resonate with today’s audiences. This study aims to explore metamodernism in the films directed by Greta Gerwig to understand the metamodern elements in her body of work and how she employs metamodern methods to convey her message of women’s empowerment which ultimately solidifies her place as an auteur. It derives its theoretical basis for the analysis of her three films, Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2019), and Barbie (2023), from Greg Dember’s methods of making metamodern art. This framework is situated within the broader episteme of metamodernism pioneered by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker. The thesis employs Alan Mckee’s method of textual analysis to interpret the movies. The in-depth study reveals that Gerwig relies mainly on double framing, empathic reflexivity, oscillation, pastiche, normcore, and meta-cute to create flawed but likable quirky humans on-screen and conveys a message of empowerment that is built around women supporting women, and in doing so, establishes an auteurial signature style. The study’s contribution lies in understanding Gerwig’s oeuvre through a metamodern analysis, which illustrates how she intertwines her playfulness with critical commentaries on gender, identity, sisterhood, love, and womanhood to deliver her message of women’s empowerment.