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New This Week

• Thankful for the Barbie memes.

• Give this Abbott Elementary star some love.

• Quinta Brunson, always perfect.

• I’m sorry, Jen Shah is doing what now? 

• A very important Reba moment.

It’s Barbie’s World and We’re Living in It

Someone on the Barbie movie’s marketing team deserves a raise.

I’ve never seen a publicity rollout so pandering, which is to say: so genius. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. teased the long-waited release of the trailer for the upcoming Barbie movie—a project which, from its first announcement to the upsettingly hot first photo of Ryan Gosling as Ken and the paparazzi photos of the actors on set—has occupied not just an alarming amount of real estate in my brain, but the most valuable. Rather than survivalist thoughts like, “Should I eat today,” or “Have I paid my rent,” my brain is now full of questions like, “What metaphor for our current socio-political crisis is Greta Gerwig making within her Barbie movie?” 

A slew of character posters for the film were released in the morning, drumming up excitement for a trailer that would premiere later in the day. The posters featured photos of the actors in the cast along with their character’s name (most are “Barbie” or “Ken,” as the film features multiple versions of the dolls) and a brief description of who they are. A photo of Issa Rae in costume, for example, was captioned, “This Barbie is President.” Simu Liu, rocking a green tank top, was pictured with the descriptor, “He’s another Ken.” 

As a warmup for the trailer, the poster rollout was brilliant. It gave us the most minimal roadmap possible for understanding the footage that was to come, by at least knowing which of the many famous faces in the cast—from Margot Robbie to Will Ferrell and Kate McKinnon—were versions of Barbies or Kens, and which were playing other characters. That turned out to be helpful, as the trailer itself offered not an iota of plot detail, something that would ordinarily enrage the Extremely Online horde, but instead was forgiven because of how bright, pink, and delightful the rest of the publicity had been. 

We were given a montage of dazzling costumes, some stellar music cues, and a not-so-thinly veiled sexual innuendo in the one robust dialogue scene—Gosling and Liu talking about how they would “beach off” each other, just as in my recent dream—and not much else. And that was fine, because the character posters had provided plenty of entertainment otherwise. 

The brilliance of the posters was not just that they distracted us from the veritable nothingness that was to come with the trailer, but that they also ended up drafting us and our enthusiasm for the film into its publicity. (Nefarious, but inspired.) The posters were a perfect template for Photoshopping other faces—be it actors, characters from shows or movies, or us regular plebeians—with witty captions, memes meant to go viral. Many of these resulting memes were hilarious. Others tried hard! Most of them were incredibly popular. I know this, because I have seen Barbie character poster memes more often this week than I have seen my own face in a mirror. And I stare at myself in the mirror a lot. 

What intrigues me is more than the blast I had scrolling through these memes as they flooded my Twitter timeline, Instagram carousels, and entire consciousness. (Gwyneth Paltrow: This Barbie lost half a day of skiing. M3GAN: She’ll kill you. Reba: She’s a single mom who works two jobs, who loves her kids and never stops. Margo Martindale: This Barbie is a character actress.) It’s the way they went viral, and when.

The Barbie memes were a communal positive experience that rarely exists anymore. Sure, it burned fast and bright. The memes were so prevalent and so high in volume that they got old fast, and the lingering attempts at jokes reaped diminishing returns. But just when I thought the Twitter dumpster fire was down to its last embers, the vitality of the Barbie memes seemed to fan its flames in ways I hadn’t expected. I don’t know whether this says more about me or our culture, but I observed more engagement with Barbie on Tuesday than I did with the historic arraignment of the former president of the United States. 

There’s a palpable exasperation with Twitter, with the litany of changes instituted since Elon Musk’s takeover. Most of these indicate that Musk seems to have no idea how or why people who liked the site used it. While Musk’s foolishness when it comes to the platform has been a staple of the last few months, the nonsense was extra potent at the beginning of this week, like that one corner of the neighborhood that’s always a little smelly on a hot, muggy day. 

All of the back and forth about allowing people to pay for a blue check and removing the blue-check verification from existing users who did not subscribe—a discourse that included outrage, mockery, and warnings from experts about cyber safety—ended with people keeping their legacy blue checks after all. It was just all so silly, and many people, myself included, had a feeling of “enough” when it came to the site.

Then the Barbie memes came pouring in. Just when I had one foot out the door, Twitter was throwing a Barbie-themed party I never wanted to leave. That’s especially because, in a rarity, everybody seemed to be on board. While, sure, some of the poster memes were funnier than others, it seemed like the whole site was enjoying it. That never happens.

We’re divided to a fault and not shy about it. The prevalence and influence of fan culture is at risk of being squashed by the prodigious jaded anvil of killjoy culture. Even the new season of Succession, which accomplished the miracle of being as good as people anticipated, isn’t immune from scattered naysayers online. But we were all united in the Barbie love. It’s a rarity that I can’t imagine happening again. 

Who knows how long Twitter will go on without Musk legitimately running it into the ground, or doing something finally triggers a mass exodus. And if it sticks around, the internet party-poopers surely won’t be caught sleeping on the job again, allowing something to be popular and beloved without ruining the fun. But this has been a blast. #GretaGerwig2024, running on the “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!” platform.

Let’s Hear It for Lisa Ann Walter

It’s heartening to see how widespread the love for Abbott Elementary has been, because the entire cast is so great. That Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble was earned.

When you love a show, it’s always tempting to pick a favorite character or performer—even if it changes on a season-by-season, or episode-by-episode, basis. Already this year with Succession, I have changed allegiance from Shiv to Tom to Willa to Roman, with his fruity little standing positions and jittering nefariousness.

But there’s something about Abbott Elementary—It’s so pure! Everyone seems so nice and happy to be there!—that makes it impossible to choose one favorite. Who could possibly admit whether they find Janelle James’ Principal Ava or Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Mrs. Howard funnier? Who isn’t charmed by Chris Perfetti’s well-meaning cringiness? Or finds themselves erupting in shocked laughter by some totally random aside William Stanford Davis’ Mr. Johnson says? 

Forgive me, however, for breaking from this share-the-love stance to fawn over how much I’ve loved Lisa Ann Walter’s Melissa Schemmenti. While the comedy stemming from her marinara-for-blood, tough Italian roots has always been delightful, the way in which it’s been shaded this season with her earnest love and dedication to teaching and her students has revealed the character in an entirely new light. I’ve also loved how she’s warmed up to and started to really care for the young teachers in a genuine, if begrudging way.

That was on display in this week’s episode, “Educator of the Year,” in which she gives a supportive speech to Tyler James Williams’ Mr. Eddie, when he feels like he didn’t deserve an award. 

“Yeah, you’re definitely not the best teacher in Philadelphia. Or this school. Or this grade. Or this classroom,” she told him. “But I’ve seen you stick it out and improve week after week. You work really hard to get better, and you care. So maybe someday you’ll grow into deserving this award. But you know what? They’re not going to give it to you then, because you can’t choose when people acknowledge you.”

I have to admit that when I first read this in my colleague Fletcher Peters’ recap, I cried a little bit. When I finally saw it in the episode, I cried a lotta bit.

I really hope Walter starts collecting more accolades for her work on the show. Like the perfect lasagna, it’s a hard performance to cook up—and only she could make it.

Thank God for Quinta Brunson

It’s a banner week for cast members from Abbott Elementary delivering perfect speeches. 

It’s rare that the monologue is a standout segment from an episode of Saturday Night Live, but after rewatching Quinta Brunson’s from this week’s outing more times than I’d care to admit, I can say that hers is the exception. (Watch it here.)

She made a perfect joke riffing on the seemingly ever-present “Friends had no Black people” discussion, humbly flexed that she’s now friends with Oprah and Obama, and delivered a hilarious analogy comparing teachers to having a dishwasher to explain how indispensable they are. 

What I loved, though, is that she didn’t just let the humor stand on its own. She underlined it with a pointed address to the country, taking advantage of the platform and this moment in her career to say something important: “Please remember how important teachers are. Acknowledge the work they do every day. And for the love of God, pay them the money they deserve.”

The Cell Block Tango

According to Page Six, currently incarcerated The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah is creating a play with her fellow inmates. It is apparently titled The Real Housewives of Bryan, named after the facility where she is locked up.

The details in this Page Six story are a riot. According to Shah’s manager (who knew you still needed one of those while in prison?), “the production is still in early development because Shah is teaching some of her crew how to read and write”—a sentence that is just allowed to exist with the business-like sincerity of Playbill reporting an update on a new Broadway show.

“The script reportedly will revolve around the real-life ‘Housewives,’ locked up at FPC Bryan in Texas,” the article says. “Naturally, the personalities are ‘cranked up to 11.’”

Has anyone ever tried to break into prison before? I need to see this production so badly. The Pulitzer committee must be alerted. The Tony Awards found shaking. 

A Very Important Reba Moment

I am of the opinion that 2001-2007 The WB/CW television series Reba is among the greatest sitcoms of our time. My old roommate and I owned only one set of DVDs, and it was the Reba series box set. I commissioned a tote bag with Reba McEntire’s face from the opening credits that has since been stolen. (If you see someone walking around the streets of New York rocking this tote, APPREHEND THEM!!!!) I love this show. 

Which is to say, if I had attended McEntire’s recent concert at the Hollywood Bowl and seen the Reba cast holding onto each other and swaying while McEntire sang the show’s theme song, I would have died on the spot. (Watch it here.)

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is full of Easter eggs and hidden moments that Nintendo fans will love. How seasonally appropriate, given this weekend’s holiday. Read more. 

This week I learned that Pedro Pascal is a “babygirl”—and also what a “babygirl” is. Read more. 

When I found out about the Martin Luther King, Jr. connection in Ben Affleck’s sneaker movie Air, I legitimately screamed. Read more.

• Beef: Road rage has never been so fun! (Now on Netflix)

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie: There hasn’t been a good movie for kids in theaters for a while. Let’s enjoy this one! (Now in theaters)

• Air: I would not have predicted that the movie about sneakers would be getting critics this excited, but here we are. (Now in theaters)

• Paint: They did Bob Ross real dirty with this one. (Now in theaters)

• How to Blow Up a Pipeline: You’d think with that title, it would be more explosive. (Now in theaters)

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