Crowds attack delivery men to snatch this tiny treasure.
A divorced couple divides their valuable bounty in an official court room.
United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky attempts to smuggle this restricted prize.
In other words, this industry is a “bubble about to burst.”
You’d think these true stories reference jewels or drugs. Instead, Ty Inc.’s Beanie Babies are the desired treasures that made grown adults across America go crazy.
In 1986, Ty Warner founded Ty Inc., which originally focused on selling stuffed toy cats. His business erupted with the popularization of Beanie Babies (released in 1993). And the rest is history. By continually retiring certain products, Warner created artificial demand for his Beanie Babies. Manufactured scarcity, as it’s now called by marketers. Adults crowded stores and even trampled children collect as many of these small stuffed animals as possible, hoping the toys’ future value would make them rich.
But Warner didn’t achieve this massive success alone.
The Beanie Bubble tells the story of how three women contributed to Ty’s plush empire. The cinematic narrative is embellished with plenty of extra fluff, but as it jumps between different time periods and characters, it demonstrates the genius behind one of the 1990s’ biggest toy fads.
In the film, it all starts with a woman named Robbie. After she meets Ty outside her apartment building, the two become business partners and launch Ty Inc., selling “under-stuffed” Himalayan cats. Together, Ty and Robbie break ground for the company’s business model and popularity.
Ten years later, Maya enters the scene. Beginning as a minimum wage employee hoping to work her way through college, Maya uses her innate business know-how and vision for the newly invented Internet to transform Ty Inc. from making “millions to billions.”
Meanwhile, single mother Sheila meets Ty through her lighting-design job. She originally refuses to date him for the sake of her two daughters. But after an impromptu delivery of stuffed toys for the girls, Sheila acquiesces. While her daughters (Ava and Maren) are grateful for the gift, they have a few suggestions. Their honest feedback inspires Ty’s Beanie Baby empire.
At first, Ty’s big personality charms Robbie, Maya and Sheila. But after years of being overlooked and underappreciated, these three women gradually realize their futures are bigger than a five-dollar toy.
As Robbie says at the beginning of the film, Ty could not have launched Beanie Babies without her, Maya and Sheila. And, indeed, this story delivers positive messages about female success and empowerment. Maya and Robbie provide brilliant business insight, and Sheila makes sacrifices for her daughters as she raises them, solo.
The Beanie Bubble also provides fascinating insight into the Beanie Baby craze. The film explores key business decisions that caused the company to rise and quickly fall in popularity.
For some viewers, the story could be the catalyst for a conversation about what we value, what we’re willing to spend to pursue those things, and what really matters most in life.
When Maya begins her job at Ty Inc., Rose (the receptionist), tells her the wage isn’t a “salvation salary.” Maya replies, “You don’t know how cheap my soul is.”
During a toy-selling event, Maya can briefly be seen reading a book called The Big Book of Hell. (Upon further investigation, this book has nothing to do with a Christian conception of the infernal afterlife. Instead, it is a compilation of Matt Groening’s comic strips about mental illness, sexuality and drugs.)
Ty explains that he thinks Jehovah’s Witnesses would be valuable business partners because they’re good at sales.
Several couples share passionate kisses. In one case, it’s implied the couple had sex. In another scene, a couple makes out in bed. Both are presumably unclothed (though the blankets mask anything critical). One couple shares an intimate moment in which they sit on a couch and hold one another. Ty claims that he and his dad once dated the same woman, and he says that he was “good in bed” with this woman
Some women wear low-cut dresses showing cleavage. While Ty and Robbie swim in a pool (Ty fully clothed), it looks like Robbie may be wearing either short shorts or a long shirt (though the water obstructs anything critical). Robbie’s husband, Billy, asks if Ty is a cross dresser. Robbie clarifies that he is not.
Robbie and Billy have been having marital problems, which get worse once Robbie starts the business with Ty. Later, Robbie cheats on Billy. Likewise, Ty is a womanizer who repeatedly cheats on his romantic partners. We see an unmarried couple cohabitating as well.
To demonstrate the mania Beanie Babies incited, there is a scene in which a Ty Inc. truck crashes on the road and falls on its side (though we don’t see anyone get injured). After the crash, people exit their cars on the highway to fight each other for the Beanie Babies.
A body gets rolled into an ambulance. Later, we learn it was a dead man. After learning shocking news, a woman punches a man in the face. Rose asks Robbie if she has ever considered poisoning Ty.
The profanity in this film is almost as abundant as the Beanie Babies in the Ty Inc. building. We hear nearly 25 uses of the f-word (including once preceded by “mother”), more than 20 s-words, 19 misuses of God’s name and one misuse of Jesus’ name. Characters also spew two uses each of “a–hole” and “h—,” three of “crap” and single utterances of “d–n,” “a–” and “b–tard.”
In one scene, Maya calls Ty a “douchebag.”
Several characters drink glasses or bottles of alcohol. In one scene, Maya hosts a college party in which her peers drink alcohol.
People double-cross and lie to others to bolster the success of Ty Inc. Before his business launches, Ty reveals that he has a troubled relationship with his parents. His mother had mental disorders and his father abused him. This childhood trauma, the movie suggests, is the reason Ty struggles with romantic and family relationships.
Ty refers to plus-sized women as “fatties,” and he doesn’t want them to touch his products because he believes the women are “sweaty.” Ty suggests that one of his romantic partners should get a nose job.
There’s some innocuous and innocent banter involving a dancing frog’s backside.
Maya, Sheila and Robbie’s real-life counterparts are Linda Trivedi, Faith McGowan and Patricia Roche (respectively), whose lives are a bit different than their depictions in the film. But The Beanie Bubble, loosely based on Zac Bissonnette’s nonfiction book, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, doesn’t claim to be a documentary. The film’s opening text reads, “There are parts of the truth you just can’t make up. The rest we did.”
Through the creative liberties it takes, The Beanie Bubble speaks to the harm of greed as well as the struggles of women in the workplace. Although these women were clearly victims of Ty’s exploitation, I appreciate that they didn’t just accept defeat. Instead, they displayed confidence in their abilities and made a name for themselves despite Ty’s dishonorable actions.
Unfortunately, harsh profanity often clouds the story’s redemptive themes. Uses of the f-word and s-word are frequent, as are misuses of God’s name. If it weren’t for this inappropriate language, The Beanie Bubble could easily have landed a PG-13 rating.
Aside from the profanity, another element stuck out during the film. As I watched The Beanie Bubble and perused articles about the Beanie Baby craze, Matthew 6:21 came to mind. It reads, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
In hindsight, it’s easy to scoff at the madness surrounding a children’s stuffed animal. But as another famous passage of Scripture reads, “There’s nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Beanie Babies no longer hold humanity’s attention, but there will always be worthless items that coerce our hearts away from true treasure.
This R-rated movie draws no such conclusions itself (and perhaps I’m over spiritualizing this very average movie). Still, for those who choose to watch The Beanie Bubble, the film potentially provides an opportunity to examine the condition and location of your heart.
