Scientist has figured out where Barbie really lives. A Florida mayor says, ‘Terrific!’
“Barbie” the movie puts the plastic title character on a mission to traverse from her once idyllic Barbieland to the “real world” to seek answers to the sudden problems that ail her.
That’s a simplistic description of the plot of a movie that has dominated popular culture this summer almost as much as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
But with its $1 billion gross so far, chances are you’re hip to the plot of director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
Barbie, Ken and Weird Barbie never tell us where Barbieland is, but a Harvard-educated celebrity astrophysicist with some 20 million followers on his Facebook, Threads and X social media accounts has called on the stars, and his training, to tell us where he thinks Barbieland is.
We think Jimmy Buffett would approve of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s theory.
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Where’s Barbieland?
Tyson writes: “In ‘Barbie’ the Movie, the Moon’s orientation places Barbie World between 20 & 40 degrees North Latitude on Earth. Palm trees further constrain latitude between 20 & 30 degrees. The Sun & Moon rose & set over the ocean. So if it’s in the United States, then Barbie World lands somewhere in the Florida Keys.”
OK, it’s Barbieland, not Barbie World, but close enough.
What does the mayor think?
Key West Mayor Teri Johnston, only the second woman to serve as mayor of the southernmost spot on the map, is delighted with the scientist’s theory.
“I think that’s terrific,” Johnston said, laughing in a phone chat Friday morning with the Miami Herald. “It’s just such a wonderful time to have something quirky and positive and you know, so, energetic out in the world today.”
Besides, Johnston adds, “Well, we’ve got one of everything else. Why not Barbie?”
Johnston, 72, who was elected to her third term in office in 2022, has not seen “Barbie” yet.
“But I’m going to. Both of my daughters have and I can’t wait to see it,” she said.
Other Keys attractions
READ MORE: ‘The longevity of mischief.’ Jimmy Buffett looks at 50 years after his first Key West gig
So, without spoiling it for the few who’ve yet to see the film — like Johnston, who may be busy running the island community — if Barbie (played by Margot Robbie) fulfills her mission and finds her way back to Barblieland from the real world, which the film suggests is Venice Beach, will she meet up with snorkelers and divers at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park?
Have a cheeseburger in paradise at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant on Duval Street?
Watch the sunset with Ken (Ryan Gosling) and tourists at Malory Square?
Or mingle with the literati at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum?
Tyson isn’t specifying. And a “Barbie” sequel is yet to be set. But Johnston is enjoying having another (maybe) iconic place on the Keys map to join the other attractions.
“It’s just fun,” Johnston said. “It’s lighthearted. It’s non-political. It’s just everything that we need right now.”
Barbie-mania has people wondering where their cursed dolls would live in Barbieland
