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they constantly try to erase intersex people and do invasive surgeries on intersex children in order to get them to conform to a strict sex binary or even perform unnecessary medical procedures on intersex adults without consent

“you reek of alcohol, hendrick” or something idk

now i don't speak lightly of Barbie movies, they were my childhood and a lot of them still hold up to this day. but while some of them did have interesting themes, most Barbie movies still kept things very kid-friendly and didn't delve too deep into those themes. so it was really refreshing to find out that one of these movies were a lot deeper and complex than the others.

this movie is an adaptation of A Christmas Carol but it is not the exact same, by any means. instead of simply turning Ebenezer Scrooge into a woman and calling it a day, the movie actually introduces new themes and makes an original story with interesting characters and arcs.

Eden is NOT a stingy old woman with a bad attitude. she's a victim of abuse, and she is particularly reminiscent of a lot of child prodigies and child celebrities who are pushed from a young age to sacrifice their childhood in pursuit of fame and success.

Eden's aunt is a surprisingly realistic and terrifying abuser, from isolating her from everyone else to barging into her best friend's home to yell at her in front of everyone, simply because she wanted to celebrate Christmas. that scene where her aunt starts banging on the door and present-day Eden begs the angel to take them back, while child Eden looks terrified, was genuinely so REAL. like that shit activated my fight or flight.

and Eden starts internalizing this mindset which later leads into her reinforcing the cycle of abuse by being a stuck-up bitch who abuses her employees and expects everyone to cater to her needs.

it's really interesting to see Eden come out from her journey to the past, being vulnerable for a second before snapping back to the mindset that her aunt taught her. because it's easier to keep believing a lie than to face the fact that you were horrifically abused as a child and you could never get back the childhood you lost. it's a very raw and human experience that anyone who has been through adverse childhood experiences can relate to.

it's also interesting to see Eden, after having her mind changed, be horrified at the thought of her best friend going down the same path that she did. it feels very cathartic to see her finally accept the truth that being selfish gets you nowhere and how tragic it is to see a kind-hearted person turn into a selfish monster.

coming to Eden's redemption, i like that there was no mention of forgiving her aunt. there was no "she's family after all" or "she meant well" or "it's for your own good". Eden realizes that her aunt was well and truly wrong, and to her credit, so does the aunt herself (or yknow, her ghost).

this movie does what a lot of other movies fail to do with redemption, which is that it focuses less on forgiveness and more on action.

Eden's employees are happy that she's changed her mind, but she still does the work to be better instead of doing the bare minimum of apologizing and expecting everyone to forgive her. she makes such an effort to fix her mistakes that Catherine is astounded and flabbergasted.