‘Barbie’ visits the Yvonne Theater 

By Sarah F. Griffin 

On Nov. 11, the Office of Campus Life showcased the blockbuster movie “Barbie” in the Yvonne Theater. 

Wearing pink from head to toe, students grabbed pink-dyed popcorn and heart-shaped sunglasses as they waited in anticipation for the film to start. 

Even though the theater was only filled to a quarter of its capacity, the energy was electric, particularly when Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu and the rest of the “Kens” sang “I’m Just Ken.” 

The theater was deeply moved by America Ferrera’s mid-movie speech about the struggles of being a woman and all of society’s expectations for them, which was evident from the audible, heavy sighs from the audience. 

“I feel like everyone would say that their favorite character is Ken,” said Christiana Yerinides, a sophomore graphic design major. “But Ryan Gosling was so good as Ken.” 

Yerinides says she was excited to dress up for the movie night because she “didn’t go anywhere for Halloween.” 

She noted that the movie is about how patriarchy can affect both men and women and how harmful the stereotypes that society perpetuates for both groups can be. 

“It’s a deep movie, it’s not a simple movie,” said Yerinides. There are so many random rules that we don’t even notice that society puts on us. This movie does a good job of pointing some of them out.” 

Joe Giambelluca, a junior English major, said he attended the movie night to “just have fun and get my mind off of stress.” 

Giambelluca, who saw the film two times before the Nov. 11 showing, dressed up for the occasion because getting all dolled up “is a good way to express yourself and just have a good time.” 

“I took away a lot from the movie … Everyone is empowering in their own way,” Giambelluca said. 

Giambelluca said it “sounded appealing” that Rider would host more movie nights and social events in the future. 

First-year graduate student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Dance Movement Therapy Program Marayah Vigo said that she felt as though everything the university has “been doing this semester has been really fun.” Vigo found she particularly enjoyed Rider’s Drag Show and Spectrum’s Drag Queen Bingo. 

Vigo said her favorite character from Barbie was probably America Ferrera’s character. “I thought she did a really good job,” said Vigo. 

Vigo said she took an important message away from Barbie: “The world will always try and put you into specific categories, but you don’t always have to conform to that. You can find your own category.”