13 'Barbie' scenes that pay tribute to other movies, including 'Clueless,' 'Midnight Cowboy,' and 'Singin' in the Rain'

Both the first teaser for "Barbie" and the opening of "Barbie" feature a shot-by-shot spoof of the opening sequence to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."

In "2001," the dawn of mankind occurs when a group of apes encounter a monolith that allows them to evolve into humans.

In "Barbie," a group of young girls are bored with their baby dolls. When Barbie (Margot Robbie) stands above them in all her glory, they destroy their old dolls and claim her as their new toy.

Instead of evolving into humans, this fits with a key theme in "Barbie," that the doll was created to help girls turn into women, and inspire women to succeed in the real world.

Early in the movie, we see what a typical "perfect" day in Barbie Land looks like through the perspective of Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie. This involves her getting out of her bed, showering, brushing her teeth and hair, choosing her outfit for the day, and so on.

"Barbie" director Greta Gerwig told Letterboxd that this routine was inspired by a similar scene in "An American in Paris" in which we see Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) wake up and go about his morning routine.

"He lives in the tiny apartment and everything folds into everything else," Gerwig said. "And there was something so satisfying about watching him go through his morning routine. That was one of the morning routines I loved."

She added: "Even though Barbie has much more of an expanse, I was like, 'This is a great opening.'"

Gerwig told Letterboxd that Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" helped inform her how to shoot the movie, and Robbie's hairstyles.

Gerwig said that the pink bow Robbie wears is "definitely a nod to that Catherine Deneuve hair" in "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

She also said that Demy's later movie, "The Young Girls of Rochefort," was an inspiration for one of the hats in "Barbie."

"We had one of their hats," Gerwig added.

During Barbie's morning routine, the lead character is shown getting dressed by standing in front of her closet and the clothes magically appearing on her. A new outfit then appears in the closet for when she wants to change.

Margot Robbie told Architectural Digest that this was inspired by the closet in "Clueless."

In the opening, Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) picks out her outfit by skimming through her virtual wardrobe on her computer.

"This was a design thing that we were really excited about," Robbie said. "We were saying that the wardrobe in 'Clueless,' the bar was set so high and we would really like to do something that is as cool as that."

There are no walls or windows in Barbie Land, leaving it open for neighbors to see into each other's houses and wave. In one scene, Barbie is getting ready in front of the mirror, which is also see-through.

Gerwig told Letterboxd that she was inspired by a scene in Jerry Lewis' "The Ladies Man" in which the camera pans to different rooms within a house.

"They built this house that was cut out, and then they moved around the rooms with a camera in this one continuous shot with all these girls getting ready," the director said. "It's incredible. And that's where I got the idea for the mirror that has nothing in it that you look through."

"I always had a sense of wanting this to be a movie with an amazing soundtrack. 'Saturday Night Fever' obviously has this incredible soundtrack by the Bee Gees," Gerwig told Letterboxd. "There's a documentary about the Bee Gees, and I'd seen it and was so touched by the Bee Gees, and I thought Barbie seemed so disco to me in her heart, because Barbie's sort of — and I will say this as a lover of Barbie and disco — a little bit dorky in the best way."

She added: "'Saturday Night Fever' was a movie that was driven by music, but not a musical. I guess we're half of a musical."

In a brief scene, we see Barbie struggle to walk up a big flight of stairs to see Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon).

Gerwig told Letterboxd that the scene was inspired by a scene in Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell's "The Red Shoes," in which Moira Shearer's character walks up a massive flight of stairs to reach a house.

"There's things of 'The Red Shoes' all over the movie," the director said. "There's a shot of her walking up to that house, which I wanted it to feel like that when Barbie walks up to the house."

In a scene later in the movie, Ryan Gosling's Ken dons two sunglasses on top of each other as he shows off how he has brought the patriarchy to Barbie Land. This is a reference to Anton Walbrook's character in the movie.

Gerwig said that "Gosling wears a pair of glasses that are the cat-eye glasses that the director wears" in "The Red Shoes," "because I was like, 'How stylish and bold that that man's wearing cat-eye glasses — it's so fun.'"

"Then Ryan was like, 'Can I wear cat-eye glasses?' and I was like, 'You definitely can,' and then he had two on," she added.

When Barbie reaches Weird Barbie's house, the quirky character advises her that she must go into the real world if she wants to know the truth about why she's malfunctioning.

Weird Barbie then gives Barbie a choice: pick a pink heel and return to how everything was before, or pick a brown Birkenstock and find out the truth.

In "The Matrix," the lead character, Neo, is also given the option to learn about the reality of the universe or go back to his ordinary life, but the choice is presented through a blue pill and a red pill.

There are numerous nods to "The Wizard of Oz" in Barbie but the clearest one is the pink-brick road that leads to the real world.

In "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy (Judy Garland) has to follow a yellow-brick road in order to see the Wizard and return to the real world.

Gerwig told Letterboxd that the final scene, in which we see what becomes of all the Barbies, Kens, and humans, was inspired by the ending of "The Wizard of Oz."

"I always loved the ending where there's almost a ceremonial quality," Gerwig said. "They go around to each person and they all get their ending. And I kind of wanted to do that sort of thing."

After being cat-called and ogled when they arrive in the real world, Barbie and Ken decide to change clothes and steal a pair of cowboy outfits.

These outfits are clearly a reference to 1993's Western Stampin' Barbie and Ken dolls.

However, according to the production notes for "Barbie," the scene is also a nod to "Midnight Cowboy."

The scene is meant to mirror the fish-out-of-water experience Joe Buck (Jon Voight) has when he first walks through New York in the 1969 movie.

The box layout of the Mattel building in "Barbie" is a reference to Jacques Tati's "Playtime."

Gerwig told Letterboxd: "I always thought of Mattel as existing slightly in Jacques Tati's world."

The dance sequence in the middle of the big Ken fight appears to be inspired by numerous musicals ranging from "Oklahoma!" to "Gold Diggers of 1935."

However, the most obvious reference is "Singin' in the Rain."

In one scene, Cyd Charisse's character arrives at a party and the story shifts into a dream where it is just Charisse's dancer and Gene Kelly's character. The pair dance alone in the room together.

The patterns on the floor in "Barbie," and even the Kens' black outfits, seem to be direct homages to the dream sequence in the 1952 movie.

Gerwig told Letterboxd: "There are so many great things in 'Singin' in the Rain,' but the dream ballet inside of the dream ballet is one of the most incredible, beautiful, completely unhinged things."

She added: "When he's dancing with Cyd Charisse in the space with the stairs, and she's got that long white scarf that floats up — that was sort of how we wanted to model a certain Ken ballet."

After the Kens finish fighting, they realize that something is wrong in Barbie Land and return to the Barbie dreamhouses to find out what happened.

Led by Gosling's Ken, they pretend to ride on fake horses, fitting their obsession with horses since learning about the patriarchy.

In "Holy Grail," the knights also ride fake horses and gallop from location to location.