Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie is packed out with plastic characters, but one in particular is very much based on a real-life person.
The satirical comedy, which is adapted from the popular Mattel toy franchise, was released on Friday (July 21). It stars Margot Robbie as the titular doll and follows her journey from Barbie Land to the real world. There, she and Ken (Ryan Gosling) soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
Throughout the film, we meet a number of Mattel executives, including Will Ferrell’s moronic CEO who seeks to locate Barbie and return her to Barbie Land. But while Barbie’s on the run, she stumbles across another employee who actually appears to be on her side.
In an antiquated room in Mattel’s headquarters, Barbie comes face to face with a mysterious old woman, whose identity is not revealed until the end of the film.
Who is Ruth in Barbie?
In the closing scenes, the mysterious woman (played by Cheers star Rhea Perlman) is revealed to be none other than Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie.
Handler co-created Mattel with her husband, Elliot, in 1945. In the 1950s, she became inspired to create the iconic doll to help young girls imagine who they could grow up to be. Handler named the doll after her daughter, Barbara Handler.
The first Barbie doll was released in 1959 and featured a black and white bathing suit, as featured at the beginning of the film. Ken (named after Handler’s son, Kenneth) debuted two years later in 1961.
In a four-star review of Barbie, NME wrote: “What follows is a nuanced, rose-tinted comedy adventure, set to a stonking pop soundtrack featuring Lizzo and Billie Eilish, that somehow lives up to the immense hype. To borrow a pun from Ken’s coolest jacket (out of a long lineup), Barbie is more than ‘kenough’.”