This summer, swathes of pink-clad women flooded into movie theaters to attend the much-anticipated premiere of Barbie, director Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster debut. Until now, indie films were Gerwig’s bread and butter. Her projects largely center on female protagonists and pursue themes related to femininity: examining female friendship, women as artists, and the progression from girlhood to womanhood. Both Ladybird (2017) and Little Women (2019) performed and reviewed well, but neither came close to the sweeping success of this most recent project.