Haven’t you heard? Barbie is everything.
The movie and character posters for Greta Gerwig’s highly-anticipated Barbie dropped this morning (April 4), sending certain corners of the internet into a frenzy. Gerwig-heads and Barbie lovers alike were quick to post their reactions.
The 24 character posters feature all the hottest stars and many different versions of Barbies and Kens — including Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling — each with an informative tagline. “This Barbie has a Nobel Prize in Physics,” says Emma Mackey’s poster. “This Barbie is president,” announces Issa Rae’s. Robbie’s poster reads, “Barbie is everything.” Meanwhile, Gosling’s Ken’s poster states, “He’s just Ken.” The other Kens have similarly lackluster descriptions.
Fans immediately clocked the contrast between Barbie and Ken’s descriptions and ran to Twitter to praise Gerwig’s genius.
The marvelous posters instantaneously became fodder for memes. Photoshop wizards speedily ripped off the poster design, inserting fictional characters and celebrities into Gerwig’s bright pink universe. For example, fans of Succession‘s Kendall Roy took the “He’s just Ken” line and ran with it.
Barbie appears to have anticipated the character poster meme-ing. A Barbie selfie generator website launched this morning, which allows you to upload a photo and produce a custom poster with it, complete with a randomly-assigned tagline. You can make your own here.
Fans also reprised the “Tickets to Barbie please” meme, where they post a photo of an unlikely group of fictional characters with, you guessed it, the caption “X number of tickets to Barbie please.” According to “Know Your Meme,” this meme format has been kicking since last summer and likely won’t slow down until after the movie’s release.
The ticket meme is just one way users are expressing their excitement for Barbie. Others are getting creative. One such tweet reads, “I’m sorry for the person I will become when the Barbie movie comes out.” Personally, I am looking forward to everyone referring to themselves as “this Barbie” until further notice, or at least until the film comes out on July 21.
