Artificial bodies and sexual dissidence: posthumanism and post-pornography in 'Barbie Can Be Sad Too' (2001) by Albertina Carri

Abstract

The research analyzes the short film Barbie también podría ser protagonista de la tristeza (2001), directed by Argentine filmmaker Albertina Carri, from a queer and posthumanist perspective. The aim is to examine how the film subverts traditional representations of gender, sexuality, corporeality, and affectivity in cinema through the use of animated dolls, pornographic aesthetics, and melodramatic elements, thereby questioning cisheteropatriarchal norms and the centrality of the human body as a unique and natural model. The study develops a qualitative and interpretative analysis based on film analysis tools and feminist and queer critical theory. The corpus focuses on the narrative, visual, and affective dimensions of the short film, drawing on the theoretical contributions of Donna Haraway, Judith Butler, and Paul B. Preciado.

The results show that Carri uses stop-motion animation and the artificial bodies of the dolls as political-aesthetic devices to destabilize binary oppositions such as human/machine and man/woman. The affective and sexual relationships among Barbie, Teresa, and Trabie construct a lesbian and polyamorous space that subverts the classical heterosexual narrative. The study concludes that the short film critiques heteropatriarchy and hegemonic pornography through a queer and post-pornographic aesthetic that politicizes desire, decenters the cisheterosexual subject, and grants agency to non-human bodies and objects.