Why is the ‘Barbie’ movie bombing in Japanese theaters?

I loved playing with Barbie dolls. As a little girl in Michigan, I spent hours putting my dolls through dramas, creating stories alone in my room or in tandem with my best friend who lived next door.

Although I have no memory of wanting to look like a Barbie doll — or like any other of my dolls which had thicker waists and flatter feet — I gradually absorbed the culturally prevalent idea that little girls should have dolls that looked like them.

With this in mind, I grew up and came to Japan to teach English. One day, at a kindergarten, I was surprised to see that there were no dolls with Japanese features. Aside from the exquisite dolls-in-kimono displayed in glass cases only at the end of winter, none of the dolls in Japan looked Asian. Barbie wasn’t popular. She was probably too sexy for Japan.

After I married a Japanese high school teacher and had a daughter of my own, I bought dolls for her. Although Barbie dolls were not sold in the local toy stores, she amassed a collection of them during trips to see my family in South Carolina. Because my daughter is deaf, I made sure she got a Sign Language Barbie. Because she has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, I ordered a Barbie with a wheelchair online for her. I also made sure she had dolls with Asian features. She played with the Barbies, but she also practiced developing her fine motor skills in occupational therapy sessions through dressing and undressing Barbie dolls.

Now, my daughter is grown and living apart from her father and me. She came home for the summer Bon holidays. I suggested that we go watch “Barbie,” which debuted in Japan on Aug. 11. I had kept up with the hype online and I was looking forward to a girlie, nostalgic experience, which I wanted to share with her.

I also wanted her to imbibe the movie’s message of female empowerment. In Barbie Land, women are capable and in control. The movie features a Barbie president, who is Black, as well as physicist Barbie and doctor Barbie (portrayed by transgender actress Hari Nef). A Barbie who uses a wheelchair also rolls on screen, as well as characters of many different ethnicities and body types. Unlike most films aimed at a female audience, in “Barbie,” romance is not a key plot point.

In spite of Japan’s wealth, health and the opportunities available, Japanese women consistently rank low in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Annual Report, which tracks gender parity in education, health, politics and economic participation. In 2023, Japanese women were ranked 125 out of 146, slightly worse than Myanmar at 123, and lagging far behind other Asian countries such as the Philippines, which came in at 16, Singapore at 49 and Thailand at 74. The U.S., for the record, came in at 43.

In spite of various government programs and incentives, Japanese women seem hesitant to pursue high-level careers in business and politics. Many of the young Japanese women that I teach at a small university in Tokushima believe that there is no gender disparity in Japan.

The “Barbie” movie could start a conversation in this country, I thought. Or it might at least inspire my daughter.

When I mentioned the film, my daughter made a face. She had seen a “Barbenheimer” graphic online — an image of Barbie and Ken backed by a mushroom cloud in the distance. Just days before, the nation had observed the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The joint promotion of the “Barbie” movie and “Oppenheimer,” which has not been released in Japan, was regarded in poor taste and did not go over well here.

Nevertheless, I convinced her to go to the movie, explaining that it had nothing to do with the creator of the atomic bomb. Dressed in pink, we made our way to the theater where there wasn’t a single Barbie poster on display in the lobby. A dubbed version was scheduled for three showings a day, the first at the unlikely and inconvenient hour of 8 a.m.

As of this writing, according to eiga.com, “Barbie” is ranked 16th, while “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” considered a box office disappointment in other markets, comes in at third.

While a recent Reuters article reported that “fans flocked to the theatrical release,” when we entered the theater at 6 p.m. on a Friday — opening day — for the English-language version, only about 10 other people were in the screening room. American and Canadian friends in Kyoto and Fukuoka also reported seeing the film in nearly empty theaters. Some American friends had no idea that the film was even showing in Japan. I only knew because I did a web search.

Ultimately, the opening day of the “Barbie” movie was a nonevent, at least in rural Japan there was no pink box for photos, no other viewers dressed in pink.

It’s possible that potential theater-goers are staying away due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19. Others in my Facebook feed have mentioned that the humor in the movie is very “American” and that Japanese people tend not to understand irony.

However, the film, which is reportedly striking a chord in China, features A-list actors, a visually attractive pink set and chart-topping songs. Its storyline, about the intrusion of reality into Barbie Land, borders on silly, but it’s fun, has a feel-good vibe and is not difficult to understand.

I believe that the movie’s failure to catch on has more to do with that “Barbenheimer” meme. At least one Japanese woman has confided to me that she stayed away for that reason.

Still, I was happy to share this bit of my culture and this throwback to my childhood with my daughter. She perked up whenever a Barbie in a wheelchair appeared onscreen. And later, she posted on Instagram that the film had brought back memories of playing with her dolls.

But for the most part, it looks as if the “Barbie” movie’s celebration of diversity and the message of female empowerment will be overpowered by its association with the atomic bomb — and that the movie won’t have a positive, lasting impact in Japan. What a shame.