A number of Barbie films are laced with anti-Semitism, a German public broadcasters has claimed.
Sputnik, the youth-focused branch of Germany’s publicly funded MDR broadcaster, levelled the accusations at several animated Barbie productions in a video published on July 19, the release day of the franchise’s hotly anticipated live-action film of the same name starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
In the video uploaded to TikTok, the presenter accuses various Barbie productions of peddling anti-Semetic stereotypes, such as Jews “having large noses and being involved in nefarious dealings”.
@mdrsputnik Ist dir das vorher schon mal aufgefallen? #barbie #barbiefilm #schwanensee #mattel
The video takes particular aim at the antagonist of the 2003 animated film Barbie of Swan Lake, Rothbart, whom the female TikTok presenter claims displays a number of anti-Semetic tropes.
“His name is Rothbart and that’s a Jewish name,” she says, criticising the character’s nose for being overly large and similar to Jewish caricatures in early 20th-century Nazi media.
She also lashes out at Rothbart being depicted in a negative manner, saying he is presented as being “power hungry”. The video also criticises his ability to use “dark magic” and turn into a bird, which the broadcaster describes as “dehumanising”.
According to Junge Freiheit, one element the broadcaster fails to mention is that the villain’s name is from the original Swan Lake ballet, on which the film is based.
MDR also criticises the films Barbie: Fairytopia and Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus for also allegedly featuring villains with overly large noses.
Some have accused the broadcaster of fudging the facts in this regard, with the TikTok video featuring characters from Barbie: Fairytopia who are not villains at all but victims who have been forcibly disfigured by evil magic.
Even Barbie herself is not safe from criticism, with the German broadcaster attacking the filmmakers’ decision to have their protagonist be someone with blonde hair and blue eyes, a staple of the brand since the release of its first toy back in 1959.
