America Ferrera rejects feminist criticism of Barbie.

America Ferrera found herself in the Oscar race for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her role in Barbie, which was largely defined by a nearly three-minute monologue in which her character, Gloria, passionately rails against the double standards that women face on a daily basis. . Both the speech and “Barbie” in general have been criticized by some for being oversimplifications of feminism, but Ferrera rejected such criticisms during A recent interview with the New York Times.

“We can know things and still need to hear them out loud. It can still be cathartic,” Ferreira said. “There are so many people who need Feminism 101, and whole generations of girls who are just growing up who don’t have words for The culture in which they grew up. And also boys and men who have probably never spent any time thinking about feminist theory. If you're well-versed in feminism, it might seem like an oversimplification, but there are entire countries that banned this movie for some reason.

“To say that something is perhaps essential, or, in some people's eyes, that essential feminism is not essential, is an oversimplification,” the actor continued. “To assume that everyone has the same level of knowledge and understanding of the female experience is an oversimplification.”

Ferreira revealed in Interview with Vanity Fair Last year her monologue for the movie “Barbie” was filmed over two days.

“It's part of a much larger scene with a lot of characters. I had to do it so many times to cover the others and go over the whole scene and over the course of two days,” she said, adding that she felt like she had filmed 500 takes of the monologue. “It was probably 30 to 50 rounds.” Complete, from top to bottom. at the end, [co-star Ariana Greenblatt] She read me the monologue because she had memorized it because that's how many times I said it.

Ferreira was also given the opportunity to modify the monologue as needed. The film's director, Greta Gerwig, co-wrote the “Barbie” screenplay with Noah Baumbach, but Gerwig was careful to get Ferrera's perspective when it came to filming Gloria's speech.

“The script has evolved a little bit,” she said. times. “Greta asked me: Why don't you just tell me what you're going to say? Write it in your own words. What are you going to add? Not every director starts by inviting actors to rewrite their work. Some of what we talked about made it into the script. The phrase 'Always be grateful' came from that conversation with Greta. “But never forget that the system is rigged,” she added. “There were many versions we did. We ended in tears. We ended in laughter. It went big and small, and I was able to do it because I really trusted Greta to know what was right for the movie.”

“Barbie” is now available to stream on Max.