The "Ultimate Performance" of De-Musicalization: The Structural Transformation and Adaptation of Hollywood Musical Narrative Formulas in Barbie
Abstract
Drawing on Goffman's dramaturgical theory, Turner's ritual theory, and Butler's concept of gender performativity as its theoretical framework, this study analyzes the transformation and adaptation mechanism through which the film Barbie appropriates and reconfigures the generic structure of Hollywood musicals. Through close textual reading and semiotic analysis, it is found that the film converts the classic musical formula of "utopia-crisi-ultimate performance" into a threefold ritualized process: the disintegration of rules in Barbieland symbolizes the vanishing of structured space; the patriarchal gaze in the real world triggers the liminal stripping of identity; and the act of walking in the gynecological clinic serves as an anti-spectacular rite of passage. The study reveals that the field of game rules, instead of the physical stage, undertakes the function of conflict resolution (e.g., the power reversal game). Furthermore, it reconstructs the paradigm of female growth through four dimensions of bodily practices, such as the visual politics embodied in the transition from an upward framing of Barbie to a level framing, and the exaggeration and collapse of Ken's patriarchal performance. This transformation and adaptation mechanism not only provides a systematic analytical framework centered on the three core elements of "performance, space, and power" for contemporary women's cinema but also holds significant methodological value for addressing the predicaments in the localization development of musical films.
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