Do check before you take your child to the film: Juhi Parmar disappoints from ‘Barbie’ movie

Mumbai: Television actor Juhi Parmar, on Monday, penned a long note as she was disappointed with Greta Gerwig’s film ‘Barbie’.

She wrote a long note with the caption, “A lot of my own audience is not going to happy with what I share today, some of you may send me a lot of angst but I share this note as a concerned parent to Barbie! And for the other parents out there, don’t make the mistake I did and please do check before you take your child for the film,
that choice is yours!” 

The note read, “I start with owning up to my mistake, I took my 10 year old daughter Samairra to watch your film without researching the fact that it was a “PG-13″ movie. 10 minutes into the movie, inappropriate language, sexual connotations and I was anxiously running out of the theater wondering what had I just exposed my child to. She had been waiting to watch your film and here I was just shocked, disappointed and heartbroken with what I had just exposed her to. I was the first one to walk out of the movie within 10/15 minutes and by the time I reached out, I saw other parents following with their little ones crying, while some parents chose to stay back to watch the entire movie. I’m glad though that I chose to walk out within 10-15 minutes as I didn’t even want to think about how much worse it would have got-ten…. In fact I would say leave Pg-13, the language and content in your film Barbie is inappropriate even for children 13 and above.” 

She added, “I had barbie dolls as a child and so have most women when they were growing up and so do most girls as they grow up today. Its a part of our childhood and today with your film, its gotten a new life as everyone is talking about Barbie, wearing pinks, there are barbie parties and barbie manicures happening with the “I Am A Barbie Girl” song playing in the background. What Fabulous Marketing! And so I want to ask, why make a movie that is such an essential part of a child’s life and then have content in it which is so inappropriate for them. And then I ask what about the cross checks? | made a mistake by not doing my research but why are there no reminders and checks, why are theaters not reminding parents that we hope you are aware that this is a PG-13 movie. Or when we are booking the movie for a pop-up to come that the movie is PG-13. We are asked as content creators many times on certain platforms whether the content we are uploading is for children or appropriate for chil-dren, so why are there no checks and balances here?

“I am guessing probably because everyone is enjoying the sales because the theaters would be half empty if it wasn’t for the young girls who are pushing their parents to take them for the film. I went back and checked the promos and realized that none of them even gave a glimpse of the inappropriate language that was coming up in the movie. So then then why mislead? But Barbie, this is not just about you! Half of our hindi movies have so much inappropriate content, atleast you were labeled Pg-13, our hindi movies aren’t and then parents ends up exposing their kids to content like rape, suicide, sexual connotations and what not,” she wrote.

Addressing herself as a concerned and disappointed parent, she wrote,” And lastly I want to just say that I may want to be a responsible parent and walk out of your film and choose not to show her many other inappropriate movies, but there are a sector of parents who will continue showing their kids even after knowing. And those kids will have conversations with other children, so it becomes impossible to avoid. The language and information comes back to my child even if I try to keep her away from it. And hence I come back to my main question here… WHY DID YOU BREAK THE PERFECT ILLUSION OF BARBIE? Why make Barbie inappropriate for kids and a Pg-13 movie rather than one which everyone could enjoy with family. I wish I could erase the memory of this film and continue believing in a picture perfect Barbie for my child who has a collection of yours and loves you so much…I so WISH! A Concerned & Disappointed Parent, Juhi Parmar.”

‘Barbie’ has released in theatres nationwide on July 21 and has notched several other box office records, including the biggest opening weekend of the year — besting ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ (USD 146 million).

‘Barbie’ cost USD 145 million, not including a marketing campaign that propelled the movie into the mainstream long before it landed in theatres. Gerwig, the Oscar-nominated director of ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Little Women’, co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Noah Baumbach.

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling star as the stereotypical versions of Barbie and Ken, who leave the world of Barbie land on a quest for self-discovery in the real world. The cast also includes Issa Rae, Dua Lipa, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Helen Mirren, John Cena and Will Ferrell.