InBarbie, directorGreta Gerwigmade fantastical use of the eponymous Mattel toy to offer meta commentaries on gender, society, and the iconic doll itself. After years ofanimated content in theBarbie Dreamhouseseries, Gerwig’s blockbuster brought Barbie into the live-action sphere and launched Mattel Films into the Hollywood mainstream. 35 years prior, however, a different director made his debut film using Barbie-like dolls in equally creative ways. Though it didn’t receive Mattel’s blessings and is notoriously hard to find due to copyright issues, the unique film perseveres as a cult-classic for those lucky enough to have seen it.
Todd Haynes' Daring Directorial Documentary Debut
Todd Hayneshas directed a number of contemporary cinematic classics, most famously 2002’sFar From Heaven, 2007’sI’m Not There, and 2015’sCarol. His movies frequently focus on art, identity, and unconventional relationships, all explored through intense (sometimes experimental) mergers of cinema’s visual, audio, and narrative components. The director developed this distinctive craft back in the ’80s, as an MFA student at Bard College. There, he made his inaugural film, which still stands as one of his most distinguished artistic achievements.
Ablend of documentary and music biopicas well as an avant-garde subversion of conventional cinematic language, Haynes' first movie was a 1988 short titledSuperstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. Running just 43 minutes long, the film recounts the true story of the titular musician’s tumultuous and tragic life.Karen Carpenterwas the drummer-turned-lead-singer in the popular 1970s rock band The Carpenters. Headlining the band alongside her brother Richard, Karen came from a conservative suburban family, where her parents kept her homebound well into adulthood. The pressures of being a pop sensation led Karen to life-threatening issues with body dysphoria, anorexia, and addiction — all topics that Haynes' film digs into with unapologetic detail.
“Barbie” Stars in ‘Superstar’
The creative kicker toSuperstar— and its indirect link to Mattel — is the fact that Haynes recreated scenes from Carpenter’s life usingBarbie dolls. Rather than animate or hire actors to reenact the pivotal moments that move the plot along, Haynes staged dolls that resemble Karen, Richard, their parents, and other people in the story. The doll scenes show the intimate parts of Karen’s life, while intermittent archival footage provide context of the world at large. Edited together, they makeSuperstara visually engrossing film, unlike anything made before or since.
Haynes does not simply use the dolls to be provocative or unique, and thoughSuperstaris a student film, the dolls aren’t strictly a budgetary alternative to live-action reenactment either. Instead, Haynes' use of the dolls deliberately echos the film’s central themes. Being a pop icon, specifically a female singer, Karen Carpenter was subject to immense objectification and commercialization throughout her life. Barbie dolls are, of course, massively commercialized objects themselves, andthey’ve conventionally reflected unrealistic standards of beautyand body type. The dolls are thus astute objects to represent the subject. Karen’s doll in particular begins as a familiar Barbie, with the perfect figure and unamendable smile, but her plastic features deteriorate as the mental and physical illnesses take over before her untimely death.
Image via Warner Bros.
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Mattel and The Carpenters Confront ‘Superstar’
Superstarmade its rounds on the film festival circuit in 1988, garnering praise from audiences and critics alike. However, being just a lowly student at the time, Haynes never received permission from Mattel to use Barbies in his film, nor did he receive permission from the Carpenter Estate to use The Carpenters' music, which is featured heavily throughout the film. Mattel noticed the unauthorized use of their products right away and, according to Haynes' collaboratorChristine Vachon, representatives from the company visited her office to complain. Luckily, Haynes had a foolproof rebuttal.Vachron recounted to an audienceat the 2023 Karlovy Vary Film Festival, that “Todd bought all those dolls in garage sales. They were Barbie rip-offs, so he was able to prove to Mattel that it was an off-brand. That it wasn’t Barbie, but it was what you got if your parents couldn’t afford Barbie.” Though this likely wasn’t what Mattel wanted to hear, and audiences still associate the film with Barbie proper, the defense worked. Because the dolls were knock-offs, Mattel never filed any legal claims against the film.
Getting around the Carpenter Estate was more challenging, and using their songs without permission ultimately led to the film being indefinitely shelved from wider audiences. Unlike the faux-Barbie dolls, the music in the films was indeed The Carpenters' songs, ripped straight from their discography. Vachron alleges that, “The reason (Todd) didn’t seek permission for the songs was because he didn’t expect the film to blow up the way it did.” Once the movie accrued its unexpected following, though,Richard Carpenterfiled a lawsuit.
Allegedly,Richard Carpenter’s grievances with the filmwere not principally due to its copyright infringement, but rather its unflattering depiction of him and his family. While the film is sympathetic towards Karen, it presents Richard and the Carpenter parents as manipulative, ensnaring, and ugly — right down to their blatantly disfigured Barbie faces. Though this depiction was not necessarily dishonest, one can see why Richard did not want the film to have a wide theatrical release. Ironically, whenThe New York Timesreferenced the Richard Carpenter-Todd Haynes beef in 1991, film criticCaryn Jameswrote “Men may dream of being played by Robert Redford in the movies, but who wants to be seen as Ken?” Two years later, a 13-year-oldRyan Goslingwould make his debut onDisney Channel’sThe Mickey Mouse Club. Little did anyone know what was to come for the young actor, and his eventual role as Barbie’s dismissed male companion.
To this day,Superstarhas never had a wide release. Bootleg VHS copies circulated throughout the ’90s, and today, versions of the movie will occasionally show up on YouTube or other video-sharing websites. Its absence in mainstream circulation is a shame, as it offers one-of-a-kind narrative and aesthetic choices and showcases Haynes' directorial innovation. Perhaps one day the full movie will rerelease more widely. Until then, we’ll just have to keep on fanaticizing about this Barbie-not-Barbie biopic.
