Abstract
Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film Barbie highlights both the empowerment and drawbacks of one of Mattel’s most famous toys. Although Barbie’s feminist messages have taken center stage, the film also has several theological dimensions and touches upon what it means to live a meaningful life. I will argue that Barbie can be interpreted as a defense of the free will theodicy in response to both the logical and evidential versions of the problem of evil. One common challenge to the theodicy is that even granting that free will is a great good, it is not so good as to be worth intense suffering. Barbie, however, provides a possible answer to this challenge: free will is an essential component of living a flourishing, meaningful human life.
Recommended Citation
Manninen, Bertha A. Ph.D.
(2026)
"Making Meaning: Free Will and The Meaning of Life in Barbie,"
Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 30:
Iss.
2, Article 9.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol30/iss2/9
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
VolNum
30