Greta Gerwig gave us Barbie one of the best films of 2023, as she not only managed to bring together several generations but also spread a message against patriarchy. This film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is not the only one by the filmmaker that carries her feminist discourse, a hallmark that distinguishes her.
Either as a director or as part of the cast, Greta Gerwig has managed to stand out in all her projects.
Greta Gerwig Films That Are Similar to Barbie
Lady Bird (2017)
Undoubtedly, before Barbie, one of Greta Gerwig’s best-known films is Lady Bird, released in 2017. The story closely follows the life of a young girl named Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), who lives with her mother Marion, in California.
Both face difficulties in their relationship because Christine is going through one of the most difficult stages: adolescence. While this is happening, the protagonist is in search of her identity and her great ambition to fulfill her dreams, such as studying at a university that her mother (Laurie Metcalf) cannot afford.
Throughout the film, ‘Lady Bird’ also experiences various ups and downs in her friendships and love relationships, allowing her to face the realities of adulthood and the process of maturity.
Little Women (2019)
Little Women, is an adaptation of a classic novel written by Louisa May Alcott, which Greta directed and released in 2019. The story follows the four March sisters – Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlen), and Amy (Florence Pugh) – during the Civil War. Each of them with different personalities and dreams.
Little Women is a story about womanhood, sisterhood, independence, and the struggle for self-fulfillment at a time when women were a ‘zero to the left’ to society.
Frances Ha (2012)
In this film by Noah Baumbach, we can see Greta Gerwig shining as an actress. She plays Frances, a 27-year-old young woman living in New York, in search of fulfilling her greatest dream: to be a renowned dancer.
The film shows that moment when we rethink our future. Frances Ha is the portrait of a young woman searching for her identity and purpose in life as she navigates the transition to adulthood, where problems include economics, work, friendship, and love relationships.
20th Century Women (2016)
In 20th Century Women, by Mike Mills, we can once again see Greta Gerwig in her facet as an actress. The story is set in Santa Barbara, California, in the late 1970s, and follows the life of a teenager named Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann).
The plot centers on Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a single mother raising her son Jamie, with the help of two women: Abbie, a young photographer and feminist, played by Greta Gerwig, and Julie, an enigmatic teenage friend of Jamie’s, played by Elle Fanning.
The film explores, through the eyes of this young man, the different perspectives and experiences of these women in the 1970s, a time of significant social and cultural change. Each represents a different version of femininity and independence, influencing Jamie’s upbringing. The film highlights themes such as the struggle for gender equality, personal identity, and the exploration of sexuality.
White Noise (2022)
Directed by Noah Baumbach, White Noise stars Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver as the mother and father of an American family in the 1980s. The film is an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise (1985) and shows how parents explore with their children those mysteries that cause an imbalance in people’s lives, such as love and death.
This story was written in Spanish by Nayeli Párraga in Cultura Colectiva
