a DRIVE to the DOLLHOUSE

A CINEMATICS!D FILM

--------- a DRIVE to the DOLLHOUSE ---------

This article weaves together traditional prose storytelling with elements of a screenplay.

Brace yourself for the ride

Act 1
EXT. NEON CITY SKYLINE - NIGHT

We're HIGH above a sprawling neon city.

The night sky is a velvet canvas, dotted with stars that compete with the vibrant, pulsing city lights below.

A PINK TEXT APPEARS, SCROLLING UPWARDS:
The text FADES, and we begin to PULL BACK from the city lights, which resolve into the REFLECTION in the eyes of BARBIE (30s).

We're now INSIDE a LUXURY CAR. Barbie sits in the back seat, staring out the window, the neon cityscape blurring past as the car glides towards a distant, towering hotel. She looks weary but determined & is trying to continue wearing her fake smile.

BARBIE rushes through the hotel lobby. As she is walking towards the elevator, she starts hearing sounds from behind her, she's gotten used to the stares, the whispers, the way conversations halt when she passes. After leaving Barbieland, after choosing to be human, she thought she understood what that meant; sadly she was wrong.

She clicks the button and all of a sudden everything goes mute around her; she is terrified of this but doesn't turn around to check

the elevator arrives, and she quickened her pace toward the elevator when a voice pierced the silence.

"Plastic!"

She turned instinctively, and a camera flash exploded in her face, blinding her. She shielded her eyes, stumbling into the elevator as the doors slid shut, muffling the world outside.

. _____________________ .

INT. HOTEL ROOM -NIGHT

Inside her apartment, she sought refuge by the window, the city’s neon glow casting soft shadows across her face.

She pulls out her flip phone and tries to find reasons to distract herself from all the distress, It opens to media page with her blurred image with fans adoring her mysterious allure,The early posts are what she expected:

“She's real! I can't believe it!”

“My childhood is coming alive!”

"She's so beautiful even blurred!"

This puts a smile on her face, but the curiosity and the will to be adored and loved unanimously lead to her searching her own name over the search bar and the screen darkened. The smile faded away, replaced by a creeping dread

“A real object, just a toy for us.”
“I’d love a dummy like her to play with.”

"SOULESS ,USELESS ,PLASTIC THING "

A sharp pain bloomed in her chest ;unfamiliar, suffocating.

‘camera flash explodes in her face again’

Flashback:Media Harassment

INT. COURTHOUSE STEPS - DAY

Barbie navigates a chaotic sea of REPORTERS and PHOTOGRAPHERS, their camera flashes relentless with the sound khachowww,khachowww.The sound is affecting her smile as she is being rushed inside the courthouse

REPORTER 1
Barbie! How’s it feel to be human now?

A MAN lunges forward,grabbing her hair and yanking her back.She stumbles, wide eyed with shock.

MAN
Are you just like this underneath?

He thrusts a Barbie doll in her face,its plastic limbs seems broken purposefully. The crowd presses closer,hands clawing at her clothes,voices jeering.Her breath hitches,vision blurry.She collapses,clutching her chest as a panic attack seizes her(it was the first time she experienced a panic attack just like humans),but the cameras never stop,their shutters are cold.

‘camera flash explodes again’

Scene cuts to Barbie in her Hotel room almost on the verge of yet another panic attack for she has never endured these emotions in all these years for she was unconditionally loved & adored in Barbieland. Moreover the flashbacks had torn open wounds she didn’t know she could feel. She shuffled to the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face. She looked up, expecting her reflection, but it stared back, unmoving, with static emotions

Her reflection’s eyes brimmed with tears, then fists pounded the glass from within.

REFLECTION BARBIE

“why?Why are you making me suffer like this ? this hurts so much!”

"I was happy! We were happy!"

barbie who is shocked tries to speak but the reflection shatters the mirror with a smack on it!

sound merged with the doorbell rings, jolting her.Heart racing,she crept to the door. As her hand hovered over the knob,her phone sang out,

"I’m a Barbie girl,in a Barbie world."

She answers the call just as she opens the door, forcing a smile yet again ;one she’s learnt to wear around the inhuman faces that surround her.

Standing there is the room service lady, all polite & sweet, asking

“May I come in?”
Barbie nods slightly, composed, and says softly, “Sure” before turning back to the call. “Hello,” she says, her voice still trembling with her own psychological breakdown that happened few second back.

MAN'S VOICE (V.O)
“Ms. Handler? Listen carefully. Leave that room now. Don’t turn back. Close the door behind you. From this moment, you’re my responsibility. The woman behind you has Dangerous intentions. Walk away now”

Fear surged through her. She stepped out, shutting the door just as a gunshot splintered the wooden door. She ran for the elevator, jabbing the button in a frenzy. Footsteps echoed behind her, the woman, now in pursuit of Barbie. Barbie still doesn't turn behind. The lady starts taking aim through the corridor but other doors open as one of the guests walks past her in the corridor forcing her to conceal the weapon.

The elevator doors part, revealing a man in a white jacket and cap. Barbie rushes inside, slamming the close button without glancing at him. As the doors seal, she exhaled, still shaking. Suddenly there's a huge bang on the elevator door. It opens. There stands the lady. She enters the lift calmly assuming the person to be a random stranger who might witness her act, so she quietly stands next to the man on the other side. Barbie is trembling with fear. She turns back to face the mirror and stares at her reflection, but the reflections are wrong. One shows her in her original pink dress, another shows her as an anatomically blank, like a doll. She enters a state of trance.Meanwhile, the elevator doors whisper shut

INT. HOTEL ELEVATOR - NIGHT
ASSASSIN
(sings)
“Room service for the plastic princess!”
The Man's movements are precise, his face appears nonchalant. He grabs the assassin's wrist, redirects her aim,knocks her unconscious, but his expression never changes.stoic it seems.

The lift doors slide open. He stands there silent, composed, like a ghost of control.

He reaches for her hand. She’s paralysed, barely present. Then she sees it: the unconscious assassin. Her breath catches.Terror locks her in place. Barbie covers her mouth, horrified by the violence, by how casually he dispensed death.

She looks up.His eyes meet hers: calm, unreadable. A toothpick between his lips. He gives a subtle nod.Something in that gaze steadies her. Just enough. She exhales, and they walk out hand in hand.

They start walking away from the lift, the barely conscious assassin makes a squeaky sound and it starts singing the Barbie song. Her tears start rolling again. She almost turns to look back until the man covers her eyes with one hand and simply says “don't” and they walk towards his car. He gently makes her sit inside the car. Walks around & is seated to drive. He places his watch on the steering wheel. He looks around for a truck leaving the basement and starts following it. Barbie simply stares at him

she looks into the rear view mirror and to her horror, in the mirror, Barbie sees herself. But she's not in the car. She's standing outside, perfectly posed as she glides through the parking space, with a nasty smile on her face, fully dressed like a doll.

ALTER EGO BARBIE
(mouthing)
“You can't escape what you are.

YOU ARE NOT HUMAN

MAYBE YOU DON'T DESERVE IT”

barbie watches her as they leave from the basement.

they exit the hotel and merge into the traffic.She turns to look at him

Barbie

(subtly)

“who are you ?”

He doesn't answer. Doesn't even look at her. Just drives with the same calm precision.

After a few moments, he pulls out a burner phone, dials a number, and hands it to her.

"Hello?" she says. "Barbie!" Gloria's voice is warm, familiar, real.

“Oh honey, are you okay?”

(Barbie starts crying. Gloria's voice is the first human sound she's heard that felt warm and familiar.)

GLORIA

(Softly)

“The world isn't ready for you,”

continues..

"I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's true. There's a movement growing, men who see you as a threat to their ideal of how things should be. They call themselves 'Top G.' They think women are... how do I put this, and you... you're the ultimate woman. Perfect, unattainable, but now real. They can't stand it."

BARBIE

"But I just wanted to be human…"

(as tears roll down her pretty face)

GLORIA INTERRUPTS

"I know. But humans are complicated. When they don't understand something, they fear it. When they fear it, they try to destroy it. The man driving you is the only one who can get you home safe."

Barbie looks at the Driver through the rear view mirror. For a moment, she sees her alter self again sitting in the backseat perfect pink dress, perfect smile, perfect emptiness.

"HUMANS ARE SCUM!" the backseat alter ego Barbie screams. "THEY HATE YOU! YOU'RE UNWORTHY!"

"Hey." The Driver's voice cuts through the hallucination. He's looking at her now, real concern in his eyes. "You okay?"

she shakes her head with wet eyes and red cheeks.He asks for the phone with gestures, listens for a moment, nods once and then throws it outside the window.He looks at her again, doesn't say anything but his eyes appear to be softer than before, calmer and protective in his own quiet way as they drive through the city lights

OPENING CREDIT ROLLS AS

PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND & WE SEE THEM TRAVERSE THROUGH THE NEON CITY.

Act 2

DRIVE

It unfolds like a soft, sunlit dream. A tender montage drifts across the screen: the Driver and Barbie on the move, their journey through nameless towns and winding roads.Daylight spills over the windshield. She sleeps in the passenger seat, restless and fragile, her face turned to the window like a child lost in a memory.

He drives in silence focused, unflinching but always aware. When the sun shifts, he gently places a blanket over her shoulders. When its breezy, he adjusts the air, makes sure she’s warm. It’s wordless care, spoken through gesture.

But her sleep is fractured. Haunted. Nightmares jolt her awake, flashes of men hunting her down like animals prey. And yet each time she opens her eyes, she turns to him and smiles. Just a little. And he responds the only way he knows how: a quiet glance, a soft “Coffee?” without looking away from the road.At times she would talk to him , and would simply nod ,and give her a glimpses of what we could call smile , perhaps

They stop at a small roadside diner. She eats, slowly. He watches , in a way he has started adoring her presence ,she realises he's looking , something inside her makes her feel different but she realises she kindof likes it when he looks at her.The world buzzes around them. As dusk settles, Barbie gazes out the window, her eyes distant, unfocused.

Across the glass ;like a hallucination she sees her: dolledup, glowing, manic. An echo of her past self. The alter ego sprints barefoot down the highway, arms outstretched, twirling, screaming into the wind“We’re going home!”

Barbie blinks. She doesn't say a word. Just sips her coffee. The ghost fades into the neon blur of the evening.

They start leaving once they have had their coffee when suddenly Barbie hears a kid fighting with her dad to keep the Barbie doll she insisted on keeping next to her while eating but the dad is asking her to keep it in her bag and not get it dirty as they have the pastries. She smiles at this. He noticed her smile, and one spread across his own face. As he was about to get into the car, movement at the diner caught his attention. A tall, bald man with a beard and sunglasses had just stepped out of a Bugatti. Dressed in a black tshirt, he walked with a grin towards the diner entrance carrying what looked like a toy gun.

The moment the man burst through the doors, chaos erupted. He began shouting at the people inside, his voice cutting through the peaceful atmosphere like a blade.

"Where's Barbie?" he screamed, raising what everyone had assumed was a harmless toy. But when flames suddenly blazed from the device, directed menacingly at the terrified staff.Panic filled the diner as people scrambled for cover. Above the screams and commotion, one voice rang out desperately: "I am here! Please don't hurt anyone!" It was Barbie, her voice trembling with terror as she revealed herself to protect the innocent people around her.

The Driver lunges forward, catching her hand amidst the panic, guiding her swiftly into the passenger seat.Behind them, the man gives a chase but the engine growls, tires screech and they vanish into the night before he can reach them.

EXT. DESERTED HIGHWAY – NIGHT

The car slices through the dark.The road is endless.Empty.

INT. DRIVER'S CAR – MOVING – NIGHT

Barbie sits curled against the window.Her mascara is smudged, eyes hollow. The silence between them is heavy, almost suffocating. The Driver never looks at her,but his eyes flick to the rearview mirror more than usual.Watching her.Always watching.

She stares ahead, completely devastated.

BARBIE (V.O)
“They hate me.”
"Not just what I stand for.
But ME,My existence.
Like I'm some mistake they're desperate to erase."

Neither of them speaks.

LATER – MIDNIGHT

Barbie suddenly wakes up sweating,breathing heavily .Haunted by the nightmares.

BARBIE
“Stop the car.Please…stop!”

The Driver pulls over.

She stumbles out.Stands in the headlights,arms trembling.

BARBIE
(voice breaking)
"I’m tired of all this.I can’t sit in the car.I need something..
It’s breaking something inside me that I didn’t even know existed.
It’s so painful."

She steps forward.Grabs both his hands, desperate.

BARBIE (CONT'D)
"Please…find a way I can live some other life.
Just for a moment.I want out.Out of this misery.
Is there a way to feel like none of this ever happened?"

The Driver looks at her.

His eyes quiet and nuanced and just barely wet.

He squeezes her hands.

DRIVER
“Yes.”
“Come with me”

INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – MOMENTS LATER

He leads her down a dark hallway.Footsteps echo

She’s still shaking.

BARBIE
“Where are we?”

He opens a creaking door.

DRIVER
“A cinema hall”

She steps inside.

The dust,the velvet seats,the glowing screen…it was like magic to her,something she never believed existed among humans

CINEMA -AN ESCAPE

He guides her to the center row(the perfect seat)& gently gestures for her to sit. She does, hesitantly at first, as if unsure whether this moment is real.He walks back toward the projection booth, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the empty, sacred quiet of the hall.

A soft hum begins. The screen comes alive.

Her eyes widen. She's instantly swept into it ;a 2016 romantic musical called LA LA LAND about a struggling jazz artist and an aspiring actress chasing dreams and heartbreaks beneath city lights. It’s the kind of story that believes in beauty, even when the world doesn’t

From a few rows back, he watches her as he closely moves towards her seat

He finds sits right beside her so that he has the clearest view of her. And for the next two hours, he doesn’t look at the screen once.

He watches her awe, the way the soft curve of her smile when joy slips in unexpectedly. He watches how the light from the screen glows across her cheeks, illuminating her as if the film was being played for her alone.

And in that silver glow, she forgets the world that haunted her. She forgets pain, fear, everything. For the first time since she became human, she feels something that resembles peace. Hope. Escape.

Little did he know his stuntman career would forge connections in the cinema industry, culminating in the cherished opportunity to arrange a private cinema viewing for the one his heart beats faster

And he sits there quietly, watching the woman he’s come to care for seem to be falling in love with the idea of life.

He didn’t bring her here to escape the world.
He brought her here to remind her it still held magic.

INT. CINEMA THEATER - NIGHT

The credits roll in silence. BARBIE sits motionless,tears streaming down her face but it's not from sadness, but from something she cannot name. Wonder, perhaps. Recognition.EUPHORIA

She turns finally to look at THE DRIVER only to find him smiling at her.

she smiles with tears in her eyes.

BARBIE

"I don't understand what I'm feeling ,its overwhelming ,its beautiful , I have never felt this happy while still being heartbroken ,I feel something ,I don't know..I"

DRIVER

(GENTLY)

"You dont have to.

just feel it"

He looks at her fully for the first time. In the dim light,she's luminous but fragile, like something precious that might shatter.

(shy with his gestures as he looks down )

“you are more human than any of us”

she looks deep into his eyes

BARBIE

“I AM NOT FEELING SCARED ANYMORE”

“Thankyou”

HE nods again with his familiar half smile

she moves a seat closer .He doesn't move away

BARBIE

“Will you stay here, by my side tonight”
He nods

They settle into the theatre seats,the screen dark now but somehow still feels protective. She curls into her chair, facing him.

she asks him

"Will you tell me what kind of life you desire ?"

The Driver looks at her again and says

"yes ,tomorrow"

she closes her eyes & says “I feel something you know ”

he looks at her & exclaims "you do!"

she has a smile on her face

He whispers to her ears “me too”

She wakes the next mornin with her head resting gently on his shoulder, while he, already awake, smiles softly with his eyes closed. Later, he brings her to a beach with a view of a secluded seaside home, its right next mountains and ocean. They stop before a shore that stretches toward a house kissed by the setting sun. As the sun dips into the endless blue, she turns to him and asks, “So, tell me, what kind of life do you dream of beyond all this madness?”
He offers only a tender smile, then gestures quietly toward the house.
There,this is one of those first moments she finds what a human life with the serene beauty of existing in this moral life is all about.

she sees a woman and child waiting at the doorway, the little one crying out “DAD!” as a man approaches. The woman leans against the frame, gazing at him as though she’s falling in love for the very first time all over again

A man comes home from work ,flannel shirt, work boots, tired but happy. His wife runs to greet him, and their child tries to jump on his back. They're imperfect, real, human.

"Life's beautiful when it has meaning,I have done things I am not proud of.

They chase me, shadows of my past, getting closer with every heartbeat.I can't stop now ,maybe never ,but I desire that maybe one day …someday I will have something more precious that I stop caring about it , might just have someone or something to live for " the Driver says quietly. "Someone to care for, to feel for, to hold onto. That's what makes us human."

Barbie watches the family embrace, overwhelmed by the simple perfection of it. The mother looks up, sees her watching, and smiles. Barbie smiles back.

They drive down to the house. The mother stops them, approaches the car.

You're so pretty," she says to Barbie. “You remind me of a doll I had as a child.”

"Did it make you happy?" Barbie asks.

"Still does," the woman says."I kept it safe."

Barbie is overjoyed by this

As they drive away, Barbie looks at herself in the mirror. She likes what she sees ,not the plastic perfection, but the person underneath. The person who can feel joy, pain, love.SHE FINALLY FEELS HUMAN

She looks at the Driver. He's watching the road, but when he glances at her, there's something new in his expression. Something that makes her chest flutter in a way that has nothing to do with fear.

ACT 3

DOLLHOUSE

The next day, they wake up and are finally about to reach the dimensional road to Barbieland. The two keep looking at each other, smiling. Neither of them speaks, but something feels quietly intimate and deep.They keep stealing glances.

They finally reach the spot from where they can enter the dimensions. Until now, the Driver ,who was skeptical about her truly being the Barbie is awestruck by the sudden change in saturation around them. The sky looks like a painting & everything feels surreal. He is spellbound, while Barbie simply looks at him with a smile.

He looks at her and says, “So you are really the Barbie?”She chuckles and looks straight into his eyes.

“Yes, I am,” she says.He smiles back as they travel further through this magical landscape finally entering the Barbieland

EXT. BARBIELAND - DAY

Sunshine spills like glitter across the cotton candy streets of Barbieland. Barbies twirl,Kens flex.Laughter ripples with dance floors everywhere

Their car rolls in. Barbie steps out,radiant,glowing,like she never left.

Cheers erupt. Hugs fly

Then Ken(the Alpha Ken) parts the crowd like a beach blonde Moses.He sees her. His smile beams.

KEN

(he comes close to hug her only to take a step back and ask)

“Barbie! My glitter, my queen, my... wait..Who is this? Who let this thriftstore brooding mannequin with the ugly face in here?”

to which a ken from behind him whispers in his ears

“he's a lot like you ”

KEN

“is he!?”

“okay let me rephrase it ,who is this walking midlife crisis having ugly personality but lucky enough to look as handsome as I do ?”

Driver stares back.Silent.Deadpan. Cool. AND with a A SMIRK

Suddenly, Weird Barbie appears and calls both of them inside. Barbie rushes there and is confronted with a prophecy about

she stats “ a series of lookalike bald men who barged into Barbieland at night and ambushed your old barbie house and burnt it down, it was mentioned after research at Mattel that they were from the near future(a society that's believed to be yet another set of dolls which were initially launched targeting incels of near future who were devastated over the loss of control of their worldly order, perspective and rising trends in embracing equality with nuance because the world starts embracing the existence of the perfect being: BARBIE ) .They even wrote “long live patriarchy” all over the town with graffiti as warning . By the time it was morning, they left the place, but it was in ruins , thanks to Mattel, it's rebuilt now for you. We have learned that you are being threatened outside, and it would be in our best interest if our queen bee stayed here with us.”
"You can explore humanity once it's safe out there.They have threatened to return when the time comes "

Hearing this, Barbie is in distress.

Her alter ego drifts across the air in front of her, ethereal and glowing with ghostlike grace. Her eyes sharp. Her smile cruel.

ALTER ego BARBIE

(softly, hauntingly)
"I told you…you should’ve never left.
You abandoned them …for feelings.
You chose emotions.
And now?
Now you feel more than any of them ever could."

Barbie stares ,stunned ,speechless.

The alter ego hovers for a breath longer,dissolving into thin air

Driver breaks her out of her hallucination by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" he asks softly.

She nods.

She realizes she has to stay back, despite her deep wish to go with him. Her eyes well up with tears as she walks beside him to bid farewell. Other Barbies and Kens follow quietly as he heads toward his car. His eyes are sore, but he doesn’t show it. He’s devastated inside, yet holds himself together. She hesitates.

He enters the car.

Suddenly, she rushes in and sits beside him.

He still doesn’t turn to her.

Staring straight ahead, he rolls down the window and calls out to Alpha Ken.

"Take care of her," he says.

Alpha Ken nods instantly, understanding the weight behind the words.

"The most beautiful emotions I’ve felt have been with you," she said, tears falling.

INT. CAR - BARBIELAND BORDER - SUNSET

BARBIE
(hand on his as he shifts gears)
“I need to say something.”

THE DRIVER
(still clenching his jaws)
“You don't have to..”

BARBIE
(interrupting)
“I do.”

She waits until he looks at her.

THE DRIVER
(quietly)
“Barbie. I KNOW.”

BARBIE
“Do you...?”

THE DRIVER
(without hesitation)
“Yeah.”

BARBIE
“Then why does it hurt so much?”

THE DRIVER
(touching her face)
“Because it's real.”

"ITS HUMAN"

He smiled faintly saying "Take care of yourself. I'll wait for you "

She stepped out, watching him drive away.

Another Barbie approached from her side and tell her

“you look like you are going through something that I have heard of humans to consider their biggest weakness as well as strength”

"That’s love, I think! "

Upon hearing this ..Barbie’s heart has a rush of emotion, everything she ever felt starts falling into place, she has a rush of memories of when they saw a movie together, where he shared his vulnerable desires near the beach, she realises it's the first time she has felt this way for someone.

She grabs a Mattel design bike and chases him down the road. He notices her in the rearview mirror and stops immediately shedding his gloves and jacket. She ditches the helmet, and they collide into an intimate kiss. She tells him “I WILL MISS YOU”. He smiles , ”ME TOO BARBIE'.

The entire town bids him farewell as He drives off into the beautiful landscape.

▪️▪️▪️

Post-Credit Scene

EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE -beach - EVENING

The driver gazes at the family home next to beach as the kid enjoys the toy he gets for her from barbieland . His phone buzzes with a text from Barbie: "I never got to know your name ?"
He chuckles and keeps his phone away as He enters an open bar near the beach, where a TV blares: "Top G Influencer Launches ‘Top G’ Doll Line for Incel Market."

He smirks, shaking his head as he walks away.

FADE OUT.

✻✻✻