#also america ferrera

[rosiethedragongeek]

Dude honestly props to Jay Baruchel for voicing Hiccup throughout 3 movies, 8 seasons of a tv show, and 5-6 specials, bro, that’s literally insane

[catharsistine]

The scene in the Barbie trailer when Barbie is skating around with Ken and asks "Why is everyone staring at me?"

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE AN ADOLESCENT GIRL.

Living in Barbieland (childhood girlhood) but then suddenly you're all grown up in the real world subject to scrutiny and sexualisation (the guy slapping Barbie's ass) and feeling like existing is a crime?

Being forced by adult men into a box (which leads to the not like other girls syndrome) and exploring the 'real world' (being forced to grow up too quickly) while fighting the realisation that maybe the world sucks and being a woman is so difficult while hoping with all your heart that it's not always going to be this way.

Losing touch with the very things that made you happy because they're considered immature and girly? (The group of teens that said they hadn't played with Barbies since they were five.)

Older women telling you that you have to learn the truth about the world and that you can never have your old life back (Kate Mckinnon's Barbie) despite it being the only thing you yearn for, but also older women being a bright spot and support (the old woman on the bench) in the endless slough of life.

And this is just the trailer!!! I'm so excited for this movie I can't breathe, Greta Gerwig the woman that you are 😭

[modernvintage]

We can absolutely go to town criticizing the Oscars for missing the entire plot of Barbie and not giving Margot or Greta a nom…

While also cheering on America for hers. Like don’t take this away from her. She deserved her nom. Her monologue was incredible.

Quit saying Barbie was overlooked when a Latina actress scored a nom for the film. It wasn’t entirely overlooked. She matters. Ya know?

[gooeyringtown]

i’m so sorry for all these but i just think they’re so funny 😭

[gaaike]

After watching Barbie my friend pointed out to me the beautiful fact that America Ferrera, who we were introduced to as Ugly Betty is now such an integral part of this confidence-building, allowing yourself to be happy and loving and accepting yourself type of movie.

And how that felt like something very deep down was maybe starting to heal a little.

[tumblasha]

the way i adore wilhelmina slater, she's a trans ally! she performs in drag shows occasionally!! sure she's a bully and a little evil, but i can look away

[scarletmaster143]

Okay here we go

The Barbie Movie 2023: a transcendental experience

I would like to preface this by admitting that I cried essentially throughout the entire movie. I was crying in the first twenty minutes when Barbie entered the Real World and found that it was the complete opposite of BarbieLand. Several other people have made this comparison but the scene where Barbie gets catcalled and harassed on the street, where she feels too conscious about everything (the tea scene with Ruth especially) is so vital because that is how every young girl I have met has felt when they begin puberty. Ken, of course exemplifies the masculine perception, the confidence and esteem that comes with realising that "Men rule the world". The way he is not a bad character but the draw of power is so strong even for someone as "accessory" as a Ken doll and so he goes along with the patriarchal system. Barbie feeling utterly lost after learning that she has not been in fact empowering women as she had thought, rather she was a "fascist". My take is that the criticism against Barbie is valid in that there is little diversity among the dolls and yes there are certain things that can be improved upon. However it is parallel-y true that Barbie can be ANYTHING. Especially in a world where success and happiness have come to be defined by such limited criteria Barbie rightly points out that most girls are ordinary, they are not scientists or presidents or nobel prize winners, however that does not mean they are unworthy of consideration, of respect and of care.

I am unsure what is the broad internet verdict on Barbie but I do believe that the movie encapsulates a very specific feminist experience where it's not that men are at fault for everything, Ken does ultimately admit, along with the directors of Mattel, that he does not want to be in power all the time. However, Gerwig refuses to dictate how men should behave, they will have to go to the Real World themselves and figure it out. Barbie however gets to learn that just saying "I don't want anything to change" does not stop things from changing. As someone who uses the exact same phrase several times, it hit me hard when, despite her best efforts, things kept changing. The loss of control and increasing uncertainty that adulthood brings is enough to make anyone into a Depression Barbie (complete with BBC Pride and Prejudice) but Gerwig also says that just because things are changing does not mean that we are simply helpless. We have people around us, mothers and grandmothers and daughters and Weird Barbies, who are there to support us. America Ferrara's rant about how women can never be perfect or likeable is a cinematic masterpiece- it reflects the constant discourse around what it means to be a modern woman and ultimately puts forward that women can be "anything", they don't need to be only perfect- if nothing they do is perfect then there is no need to desire perfection, they can remain as they are. Sasha was a surprisingly heartwarming character, I was fully expecting her to be annoying. All the Kens were hilarious, of course, the little Sex Education cast reunion was adorable. The style of the movie may not suit everyone's taste, it is loud, over the top and camp as fuck, everything is a reference, the fourth wall is essentially non-existent. But at its core the Barbie Movie is a lesson in growing up- it is a tale of someone who has to find herself and accept herself before becoming a human. Interestingly, Barbie reflects adolescence quite literally (I was half expecting Gerwig to put in a menstruating reference, but it makes sense that she didn't, considering the no-vagina thing) and the last scene where she asks to see her gynecologist is not only symbolic of her becoming a human but also of her becoming a woman. She is a doll in the beginning like pre-adolescent girls are often called but then she goes through terrible things where she is not fully doll, but not fully human, and lastly when she has become human, shedding her doll part. Adolescent girls are rarely allowed to be anything other than perfect "dolls" even when they are having the most terrible period of their lives and Barbie's constant desire to make things return to as they were shows how she also wants to remain a doll, but once she accepts that things need to change she starts shedding her doll nature and starts becoming human. This is still a sad process but now Barbie knows (thanks to Ruth) that no matter what she will be okay as a human.

In conclusion Barbie is not a movie that is of the feminist genre, at least not to me, rather it is a coming of age story for some of the most iconic characters in pop culture.

[strideofpride]

America Ferrera’s love interest in Real Women Have Curves is INSANELY Jonah Simms coded oh my god

[lonelystarbuckslover13]

Unpopular opinion but if you’ve said shit all about Palestine but suddenly wanna pipe up and be an activist again when Greta and Margot aren’t nominated for Oscars then I’m honestly not interested in hearing your opinion on the latter

[sakebytheriver]

Anyways America Ferrera really is the only one in that cast who deserved an Oscar nom, because of how she was able to deliver that cringe ass speech at the climax and not make me want to kill myself the whole time she was speaking

[murcielagatito]

i understand gloria was not advertised like barbie and ken were for the obvious plot twist but like also now that the movie has been out for a hot minute would it kill mattel to make more than a limited edition of her as a barbie doll... preguntando pa los latinos 👉🏽👈🏽

[tvnacity]

man, people criticized barbie for being a sanitized intro to feminism but clearly that’s the level it needed to be at considering the academy watched the whole thing and went yeah… director (and main actress) whom??? We Must Nominate Ken

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

...wait, people are genuinely upset that greta gerwig didnt get nominated for best director for the toy commercial movie when the movie got nominations for best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best original song, best production design, best costume design, best picture, and best adapted screenplay for which greta gerwig was nominated?

[gooeyringtown]

put me in a room with them and we’re not helping the overpopulation crisis at allllll

[lesbinewren]

the fact that executives wanted to cut the bench scene from the barbie movie but that has become one of the more talked about scenes that resonated with people goes to show that these studio higher-ups are very disconnected from not just what audiences are actually looking for but also just from the art of film creatively

[nursey-patrol]

Weird to me that America Ferrera (who I would argue was the real protagonist) DID get nominated but alllll the posts only mention margot and greta