Barbie and The Magic of Pegasus: A Reflection
I know this reflection is about 20 years too late, but I was 5 so…
My Latest Thrift Find
A few months ago, I was shopping at my local thrift store, when, low and behold, on a shelf towards the bottom, I glanced at the recognizable purple packaging from my childhood, glinting under the fluorescent lights. I removed it from the shelf to reveal something I had long forgotten about, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus.
But in all seriousness, this moment awakened a part of me that I had lost, my love of Barbie animated movies from the early 2000s. In other words, a lifelong obsession.
Over the past year (you may have seen it online somewhere) there has been a sort of Barbie resurgence, if you will. This has taken young women, like myself, back to the early days of adolescence, drawn to the unencumbered female empowerment, animal sidekicks, and of course, the magic.
For those of you who haven’t had the divine opportunity to enjoy this 1h 28m masterpiece, whatever you think it entails, you are most definitely wrong. The mystery of the writing room on the day they imagined this movie, is something I will always long to know. Nevertheless, 5-year-old me was enthralled… 22-year-old me still is for that matter.
Synopsis
Princess Annika, played by Barbie, voiced by Kelly Sheridan, has snuck out of the Castle to practice ice skating, unbeknownst to her parents. This causes panic in the castle, alarms ring, and guards are on high alert. When Annika returns from her morning skate, the King and Queen punish her by taking the ice skates and grounding her from leaving her room.
I know what you’re thinking, Annika’s parents must be the villains. This must be a Rapunzel-like situation.
Not in the slightest.
That evening she sees an ice skating party from her bedroom window. Annika dawns a new party dress, retrieves her skates from a hook in the great hall, and escapes to the party among the townspeople.
While completely entranced with her solo skating, a green haze lines the sky, the band stops playing, and the crowd disperses and gawks upward. This is when the villain is introduced, Wenlock, riding a griffin.
Wenlock is an evil sorcerer who wields power from a magical staff. He tries to force Annika to take his hand in marriage. When she refuses, he petrifies the entire town, including her parents. If she does not marry him in 3 days, they will be frozen, forever.
This is when the plot, again, deviates from the norm.
From another part of the sky, a Pegasus swoops in, saving Princess Annika, and whisking her away to safety.
This all happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie. Not too many spoilers, I hope.
The Pegasus is truly her once-human sister, Brietta. Wenlock tried to force Brietta into the same fate 18 years prior. Only, when Brietta refused, she was transformed into a winged horse. From here on, the sister duo works together, with the help of a few friends, to defeat Wenlock and save the entire kingdom.
Vivid Memories and Girlhood
There are those few movies that stick with us, all the way into adulthood. Whether it was a specific scene, or moral qualm, all these years later, it is everpresent. As ridiculous as it seems, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus is that movie for me. Many aspects of The Magic of Pegasus are with me all these years later.
I remember the first time I watched it, around age 5. I was at my grandma’s house with my sister. My grandma pulled out a case of VHS tapes and had us pick. When I saw the cover, I knew my life was about to change forever.
I remember the color scheme adorned with perfect purples and pastel pinks. I remember the adventure, the sense of purpose, and even, the anxiety I felt at the climax of the film. I remember the satisfying sound bites. From the skates on the ice, to the footsteps in the castle, to the precision of the voice actors, this movie leaves you glued to your seat.
Among all the humor-filled scenes, the mission is completely serious. There is a goal and steps to achieve it. But more so, it is a celebration of girlhood. It plays into stereotypical ideas of femininity, all while never making light of them. These movies are told through a female lens. This is probably what led childhood Alissa to be completely enamored by the picture.
You may think that this is my individual experience. But that is not true. I have talked with several people through the years about the BCU (Barbie Cinematic Universe), specifically, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus.
Once, I was at a get-to-know-you dinner with a table full of strangers. At some point during the evening, the topic changed to animated Barbie movies. I, of course, start speaking about Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus and my favorite soundbite from the movie.
“When Annika takes her skates off the hook on the wall and sneaks out of the castle to join the townspeople in the square. That sound they used of her skates clinking together will be ingrained in my memory forever.”
When I mentioned this, the girl across from me at the table shrieked.
We apparently had the same exact childhood memory of this scene. We spent a few minutes gushing over the fact that something affected us so much in the same exact way.
It is shocking that a stranger I met half-way across the world had the same exact experience. It goes to show that these movies crossed more than just a few days of childhood boredom.
The great thing about the BCU is the layers of walls. You aren’t simply watching a voice actor play a character in an animated film. You are watching the movie star, Barbie, play several female protagonists as a part of her movie discography. Going along with this, the animators and writers did the funniest thing possible, bloopers.
More than that, it plays along with the idea that Barbie is everything. She is an actor in this respect, but with that, she is a fairy, mermaid, musketeer, princess, and student, among many others. This sense of freedom “to be,” allowed young girls to assume they could “be” anything too. By recognizing Barbie as the focal point, we felt seen. Seen in a way that other forms of media didn’t show.
In this case, Annika relies on her intuition and hopes for the future. These intrinsic values help Annika achieve her mission, even when everyone else has given up. Not a bad role model for young girls, especially when society tries to condition them to give up hope.
“It's only hopeless when you don’t try.”
-Annika
“There is always hope.”
After all of this, if you have any doubts about the influence of these movies on young women, may I suggest asking one of us? I would be surprised if she didn’t have a favorite, regularly watches it, and most likely has it on a DVD from the thrift store. Or ask this guy. For those of you who really hate enjoying life and having fun, check out the summer of Barbie box office numbers.
There is an endless stream of newsletters that can be seen through the lens of this Barbie animated film. I will leave those reflections for another time; they also deserve the respect of an entire post. Selfishly, I want this post to do well, just for a reason to write about this movie some more.
With that written, I hope you enjoyed my reflection on this Barbie classic. If you are interested in watching Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, there are a variety of ways to watch it online, but may I also suggest checking your local thrift store? You may even get lucky and find a copy with the original 3-D glasses.