#barbie controversy

[barbielore]

Hello Barbie and the Hello Dreamhouse were releases by Mattel to try to keep up with modern technology. In the age of Siri and Alexa, the Hello Barbie and Hello Dreamhouse were voice-activated Barbie toys.

However, much like Video Girl Barbie before her, when Hello Barbie hit the market, she raised a lot of concerns about privacy.

Hello Barbie essentially used the same mechanics as any other voice activated digital assistant - with the help of a WiFi connection, you could talk to Barbie and she could talk back. However a number of security concerns were raised about this, ranging from ToyTalk's privacy policy outright saying it keeps the data and shares this with third parties, to the possibility that a hacker could at best make Barbie say something rude or at worst, use this data to obtain personal information about other people's children.

The company offered a bounty to anyone who could help them identify potential weaknesses in the Barbie... but at the end of the day, perhaps the Barbie was more trouble than she was worth. Kids don't need a Barbie doll with an internet connection. (Does that make me sound like a curmudgeon?)

The Hello Dreamhouse didn't talk back (obviously, it's a house) but was theoretically supposed to respond to voice commands to emulate a smart home. The doors could open by voice command, the chandelier disco ball could spin and light up in different colours, and so on.

However after the privacy concerns and a lot of bugs and glitches, the Dreamhouse was discontinued along with Hello Barbie.

You know what stands out to me about that, though? Once they were discontinued, existing Hello Barbies and Hello Dreamhouses no longer worked, as the app was no longer supported.

Meaning anyone who had bought this and was using it no longer had access to the product they paid for.

[song-of-baldy-ron]

It really does say something that men* are so mad at how Barbie portrayed the Kens even after the ending where the narrator states that they are given women’s actual roles in society right now.

These are the same men that say “feminism has gone too far” and “women these days actually have more rights than men because (insert bs reason here)” 

But when actually presented with what that situation looks like in Barbie suddenly that’s not true. Which is it, guys, do women today have more rights or is Ken’s ending still troubling to you? If reality is what you say it is, this should be a success right?

*obligatory not all men

[polterwasteist]

The MCL Barbie & Ken (but fraternal love)

btw i still didn't watch the movie but i thought this poster reminded me of them so yeah-

[ljf613]

Alright, been a while since I said anything really Problematiqué on here and I'm bored, so I'm going to stick my hand in the hornet's nest and say that this so-called Barbie/Oscars "controversy" is dumb and contrived and incredibly absurd.

For those of you who've been living under a rock for the past couple of days (or just avoid listening to anything about Barbie and/or the Oscars, which is very sensible of you), here's a Twitter post that summed up the situation:

In other words, the very fact that Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor while Margo Robbie was passed over for Best Leading Actress and Greta Gerwig was passed over for Best Director is Terrible and Misogynistic and entirely the fault of the Patriarchy.

This has got to be the most absurd take I have seen this year. (Granted, "this year" has only been about four weeks, but the point stands.)

Let me explain some things to y'all:

Barbie received EIGHT Oscar nominations. (That is, in fact, a fairly impressive showing for a glorified toy commercial.)

One of those nominations was for America Ferrera as Best Supporting Actress.

Are you guys following? Eight nominations, and apparently none of it matters because the movie didn't happen to get the two specific nominations certain people wanted it to get. And not only that, but y'all want to tear down an actor who was nominated for an award that neither Greta nor Margo was even eligible for. Seriously? Don't you people have lives?

Now, I've heard that Ryan Gosling has come out and basically said that Margo should have gotten the nomination instead of him. (I haven't looked too deeply into this because I just Don't Really Care Enough.) If that's true, it's pathetic and nonsensical.

Ryan didn't take the nomination away from either of them. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It's not like Margo or Greta would have been nominated for that award if not for him, and I am almost certain that nobody on the nomination committee (or whoever decides these things) was sitting there saying, "Well, we gave Ryan Gosling a nomination, and therefore we shouldn't give one to Margo Robbie or Greta Gerwig." (I am so tired of the "someone else has something I don't and that's Not Fair and therefore they must be oppressing me" narrative.)

(As someone who didn't actually watch the movie or follow it all that closely, I can tell you this much: I saw lots of people talking about how hard Ryan Gosling was working to get this part right, and how well he did. I don't remember a single post saying the same thing about Margo Robbie. Maybe, just maybe, he got a nomination because he did an above-and-beyond spectacular job and deserved it-- and she didn't? Just possibly?)

Also, an actress getting passed over for a Best Leading Actress nomination CAN'T be misogynistic. You know why? Because who gets that nomination instead? That's right-- some other woman. And as for Best Director, there is a woman who's been nominated for that award (Justine Triet for "Anatomy of a Fall"), so it's not like they were deliberately trying to make sure no woman got the award-- they just didn't feel that Greta Gerwig made the cut.

And even if you pretend we're living in some imaginary universe where the nomination committee deliberately snubbed Margo and Greta while nominating Ryan for Sexist Reasons, why would they have given a nomination to America Ferrera?

In short, whatever the reasons Margo Robbie didn't get nominated for Best Leading Actress and Greta Gerwig didn't get a Best Director nomination, they do not and cannot include:

The committee hated "Barbie" for unspecified Patriarchy Reasons.

Ryan Gosling stole the nomination away from them.

The committee liked "Barbie" but hated all of the women involved (for Patriarchy Reasons).

[cringeworms]

[sapphire-weapon]

Hi, I just wanna share that I ship Ashley and Leon since the original RE, and I ship them even more now more than ever. I just wanted to say that I’m glad that I saw your blog. You defend them from hate comments. I could never do that. All I do is hide the fact that I ship them because people online (and IRL) can really be mean when I say that they have a good potential together.

I just think that their relationship can be wholesome and built on trust. It is without ill intention and born out of care & adoration. Which I think are the some of the foundations of having a healthy relationship, that’s why I love the idea of them together. I know this may be cliche to say this, but I think they can complete each other in some ways.

Is it wrong to want a potentially healthy relationship for Leon? I don’t get why people hate on the idea of it so much. I mean people can not ship it, and that’s fine. I just don’t get it when others start attacking because I mention that I ship them. It’s like I feel like I’m about to get executed whenever I say that they have a chemistry together 😆

Also, I apologize for talking so much about them. I just have no one to talk to when it comes to them. I just wanna share it to someone.

Lastly, I wanna say that you make deep analysis on not just their relationship and dynamics, but also on other lores on the RE franchise which I enjoy reading. It really gives a lot of new perspectives & insights on a lot of things that I don’t notice when I play the game. Thank you for this, really!

aw, anon

I also went through a period of very many years where I wouldn't say out loud that I shipped Leon and Ashley, because there was a stretch of a very long time in fandom where you got tarred and feathered if you dared have a Leon ship that wasn't Cleon or Aeon. Even shipping him with Chris was considered taboo back in the day (and, wouldn't you know, I do that, too).

And I was scared that people wouldn't take my (completely unrelated, mind you!!) meta seriously if they knew I shipped Leon/Ashley, so I just kept quiet about it. I even tried to pass it off, for a while, that I had no RE ships at all. It was just easier to say that than be dodgy about it.

It was actually kind of funny. For a while, a not-insignificant portion of the fandom went to me, specifically, for all of their Leon things, and I just had to kind of laugh at how ridiculous it was that these same people would've just stopped agreeing with anything I said about him -- things that they agreed with and had been relying on for their own interpretations -- if they'd known I shipped him with Ashley. It's all very, very stupid.

But now I'm in my 30s and I don't give a fucking shit anymore. I don't care about being an authority on canon anymore. I'm happy to be a reference if someone needs it, but I don't care about being the central hub of information. I don't need to try to make people feel impartially about me anymore.

But, authority or not, I'm still a story analyst at heart before anything else. I look at Leon's character first and then think about any possible ships second. And, yeah. After analyzing him for so long, I've noticed that Ashley brings out a side of him that isn't shown at any other point -- and it's in a positive way that's absent when she's gone. So, naturally and logically, in my head, it stands to reason that there's something to that.

Some people seem to be under the impression that Leon's character arc lives and dies by Ada's involvement, and boy is that just not the case. There's a lot of different moving parts when it comes to Leon's character arc, but he's primarily defined by the striking lack of agency he has, despite being one of the main characters of the series. Ada perpetuates and exacerbates that helplessness, but it would still exist without her. In Leon's own words: "nothing ever changes" and THAT is what's at the center of his character arc.

But even beyond that, Leon is a character who needs to be needed; it's something that's shown over and over and over and over again. So, as much as people like the idea of a "partners" type ship (like Chris/Jill) and so they ship him with Claire -- or as much as people like the whole cat-and-mouse will-they-won't-they thing that Leon has going on with Ada -- neither Claire nor Ada need Leon, so it would never really work in the long-term.

And as much as Leon doesn't want Ashley to need him... he still needs her to. Because he doesn't realize that Ashley can both need him emotionally because that's what romance is you fucking stupid idiot, Leon -- and also be her own independent person living her life to the fullest at the same time.

And you know what? I like queen/knight ships, and that's exactly what Leon and Ashley are. So I just embrace it.

This isn't to discount other people's tastes or ship preferences. Ship whatever the hell yall want. But Leon/Ashley has always existed, will always exist, and it's just as valid as any other ship. Thankfully, the remake seems to have made it more "acceptable" -- which really just tells me that the only reason why we Leon/Ashley folks were blacklisted for so long is because the vast majority of the fandom was just bad at RE4 and took out their impotent gamer rage on Ashley, as though it was her fault they sucked at the game. (If you got annoyed at Ashley screaming for help in OG -- or in remake, even -- it's because you let her get grabbed. It's player error.)

Just sayin.

[the-commonplace-book]

"What about an average Barbie?"

Midge.

"Who's like... a MOM."

MIDGE.

"Nothing extraordinary, but that's okay."

M I D G E

[fantaghoul]

Real controversial opinion that's probably gonna get me on some kind of watchlist, but I enjoyed Disney's Wish more than I enjoyed the Barbie movie.

There, I said it, please put the pitchforks down. I don't really have the energy to elaborate on it rn.

(Please don't send me hate. I am willing to have a civilized debate with anyone that wants to, but please try to keep the death threats to a minimum. Please.)

[yourfavehaskenergy]

Randy Marsh from South Park.

Randy Marsh from South Park has Kenergy!

[imkeepinit]

"When know-nothing movements put know-nothing politicians into power, that power gets squandered on garbage." - Adam Ozimek

Ted Cruz Doesn't Like the Barbie Movie and You'll Never Guess Why

How Culture Wars Undermine America’s Future

[barbielore]

A minor mystery of the Barbie line - was there in fact a brief line of Kardashian Barbies that were pulled from shelves?

Someone posted these photos on Reddit, and this photo can be found on Twitter, Reddit and a couple of doll blogs, but searching provides nothing official from Mattel. One website claims to have formerly had them in stock, but the item number garners no hits anywhere else - just their own website.

A little digging gets to a Hollywood Reporter article from 2012 that announces that the doll line is coming later that year. This is then the jumping off point to a few others - it seems clear than in early January 2012, people thought these dolls were coming, but that Mattel's official answer at the time was "we do not comment on product rumours".

Naturally, this sparked a bit of a minor to-do. The Boycott the Kardashians group (as reported in Christian Post, who I am sure have no bias here...) called for a petition to boycott Mattel.

As far as I can tell, though, the story peters out there. The next update I can find at all in the tale is a Daily Mail article from 2019 (which, besides any other feelings you may have about the Daily Mail, misspells "Barbie" in the first line) that cites a tweet from Kim in which she confirms there was going to be a Barbie of her but the deal fell through.

So that's the story, as far as I can tell. I hope you all had as much fun reading it as I did researching it.

[taylortruther]

Taylor's feminist is pretty much "I support all woman" it's very superficial

i think this is generally true but i also think this is most people's view of feminism (esp white and/or wealthy people) because most people don't understand intersectionality, so it's also like

[barbie-girlll]

barbie the movie might be banned here in the philippines because they said that a certain scene has depicted the 9 dash line, and that can cause a major issue.

so no hot girl summer for me now, ig

[vanillaboyfriend]

i don’t feel like posting pictures. but y3s? long socks? nice pants? cute sweater? AND curls peeking out from under the hat?? i’m eatin so good. ok edit be warned before you expand tags on this i went on a giant rant about nicks clothes whoops lol it is HUGE

[juniperhillpatient]

always be ready to humble yourself. saw a post of a ship I personally dislike & thought “ugh they don’t even interact outside of a few combat scenes just why” & instantly had to remind myself what I ship & calm down

[orb-the-watchman]

Kinda out of nowhere but I didn't watch the Oscars so I just heard Emma Stone won best lead actress and I'm like weirdly emotional about it...legit wasn't expecting that (and neither was Emma from the clips I've seen lol) and It was absolutely the best choice I love and connected with Bella so much... I don't usually care for who the Oscars chooses to win but that just made me so so happy ouuusgshggs