Why did you make Barbie unsuitable for ME? Seven-year-old fan pens letter to director Greta Gerwig after she’s not allowed to watch hit film in cinema

• EXCLUSIVE: A seven-year-old Barbie fan was distraught the film has a 12 rating
• Olivia Barrett wrote a letter to director Greta Gerwig demanding a new film  

For crowds of adults across the country the Barbie film has been a slam-dunk success – a nostalgic look back to their childhoods brought into the glaring light of the modern day world.

But, for the seven-year-olds still very much in their Barbie era, the experience has been more confusing.

Because the target audience for the iconic toys – the under-12s – have not been able to watch their hero in action.

One such girl is is Olivia Barrett, who this week has written a letter to the film’s director Greta Gerwig expressing her intense disappointment.

A doll connoisseur with her very own Barbie DreamHouse, she was left baffled after her mother, Emily, told her she would not be able to go.

Barbie-mad Olivia Barrett, 7, was distraught to see that the new Barbie film had a 12 rating

Incensed by the movie’s 12 rating, Olivia wrote a letter to director Greta Gerwig

Her mother Emily watched the film by herself before deciding it was not appropriate for her child 

The Barbie film passed the $1 billion mark in the box office this week (Pictured: Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie)

Coming out at the start of her summer holidays and with adverts that seem to be on every billboard across the country, youngsters have been taunted as they can’t understand why they wouldn’t be able to see their favourite toy come to life.

And so – taking up her pen – a furious Olivia wrote: ‘Why did you make the Barbie film for older children?

‘I am seven years old and I am sad that I can’t see it.

‘Will you be making another film for seven-year-olds?

‘I love Barbie.

‘Why has it got rood [sic] words in it?

‘Barbies are my favourite toys.’

Emily Barrett, 33, helped her daughter write the letter after seeing her disappointment first hand.

A business owner from Kent, she saw the film with her mother-in-law before deciding if it was inappropriate for her little girl.

The seven-year-old asked Greta Gerwig (pictured) if she would be making another age appropriate movie 

Research session over – she was glad she didn’t allow Olivia to come with her. With themes of death and sexual illusions, she doesn’t think it would be appropriate for people of such a young age.

She said: ‘She’s always been a big fan of Barbie. She’s got a Barbie house that she plays with constantly and the Barbie film has come out primetime summertime when all the kids are off.

‘There’s been a load of advertising around it – like Margot Robbie in the Barbie car looking amazing.

‘She was so gutted and she kept on saying to me: “Why can’t I see the Barbie film?”

‘There’s lots of things in it I just don’t think she’s ready to hear.

‘It’s just really gutting for them that it’s been put at a rating and there are enough things in it that will stop parents from taking their little ones to see it.

‘I took her to see a film yesterday at the cinema and it’s all Barbie everywhere – it’s a reminder of: “This isn’t fair, I’m not allowed to watch it!”‘

Emily didn’t even tell Olivia when she went to see the film because she was afraid of upsetting her.

And to compensate for her not being able to see the film, her mum Sue has got bought her a special Barbie top.

Olivia has now become the star of the family WhatsApp chat after her letter was posted in – with everyone very impressed by her strong-minded penmanship.

Emily continued: ‘Eventually when this comes out on Netflix, I could show her the first 15, 20 minutes of it where it is all about Barbie Land and it’s exactly what the little girls want to watch.

‘It’s all the pretty dresses and the car and the dancing and it’s really good fun – that’s what you expect from a Barbie film!

‘But once you go into the human world it gets quite adult and it’s all about feelings and older connotations and thoughts.

‘I’d show her the first 20 but probably not beyond that for now!’

Emily hasn’t told Olivia she went to see the film because she is afraid of upsetting her

The careful mother has said she may show Olivia the first 20 minutes of the film – but no more 

The Barbie film passed the $1 billion mark in the box office this week, making history as the first female-directed movie to do so after its release just three weeks ago.

It was infamously released alongside Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible – leading some theatre-fanatics to see all three in one go in a challenge dubbed ‘Mission Barbenheimer’.

But for Emily the fun was undermined by adult themes in a film about her child’s favourite toy.

She continued: ‘By having some of the thoughts of death – it was just a bit unnecessary. The kind of things they were exploring in it was a bit strange.

‘There’s lots of connotations of death, lots of innuendos – there’s quite a lot of sexualising in it.

‘She’s seven years old. I don’t really want to be exposing her to that stuff too early, but she’s just really gutted. She’s so into Barbie.

‘I kept saying to her it’s not a child’s film – and that’s just so confusing for kids.

‘Taking a Barbie doll and saying, actually, it’s not intended for children to watch it – especially when they make this bright pink poster with the Barbie in the car.

‘She was asking me so many valid questions and she said to me: “I want to speak to the person who made it!”

‘So I let her go with it, and I said why don’t you write a letter – and she did it! I helped her write it with the spelling and things, and I thought it was a really good thing for her to do, to voice her opinion on it.

‘We’re not exactly activists but I just thought it was really important that she voiced her opinion!

‘If you do get sad about something you can do something – whether you get a response or not I have no idea but I thought it was a good thing for her to do.’

But Emily fears that her problems are not over yet – and she knows some parents will have been more liberal than her.

She worries that when Olivia goes back to school she will be upset that some of her classmates might have been to see it when she couldn’t.

She added: ‘The trouble is there’s been a mix of parents opinions, where some people have taken their kids with them with the mindset that maybe they’ll overlook the connotations – but there’s also very obvious parts in it.

‘Come September is she going to go back to school and a couple of her friends might have seen the film – and does that make us bad parents?

‘It’s made it quite tricky for parents not knowing if it is suitable or not.’

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