#ironic Barbie wasn't the main character of her own movie and instead a man replaced her

[lovedaisy02]

Barbie review

TLDR: Ken centric, Ken Asks for a divorce and he really should. Good for Ken. He deserves more. Waste of time, just look up Ken clips and Ruth clips online and that's the movie.

Full Review:

I finally saw Barbie....

Um

So, about the worst movie I think I've wasted time on in a while. Not too surprising since the last decade hasn't brought anything memorable other than Spider verse.

It should be renamed "Ken Asks for a Divorce" and he should, I felt happy for him when he threw her clothes out and got some of that negative emotion out. Barbie is not a center point at all and doesn't add to the film at all. Any actress could've played here without changing anything or impacting the film. Margot Robbie does a good job in her roles but she didn't really even need to be there. She was more or less just collecting a pay check and coasted (good for her, don't we all sometimes?).

The film failed to comment on the 21st centuries social problems between genders and appears to be stuck in the past while simultaneously representing the exact disconnect between cis men and women: a lack of mutual respect and communication. Instead of coming to the conclusion that Ken and Barbie should give each other mutual respect for their thoughts, feelings, ideas and hobbies the film decides that the Barbies know better and the Kens should just be manipulated into a solution. They are not in a romantic relationship in the film but even a friendship would be impossible in their situation. In fact, in real life, I would tell Ken that Barbie is a bad friend and he should let her out of his life. The film skims the surface of women balancing societal demands but it lacks nuance and cultural insight. Some women might still be facing these issues and some areas of the US but I bet a lot, me included, don't, and the current sexism women experience wasn't represented at all. It also excluded more atypical women which is the realistic majority.

The mother-daughter relationship was also poorly written and poorly executed. Ruth, which I love the addition of, comments that Barbie helped heal the rift between mother and daughter. Barbie says she didn't help. I agree with Barbie. She didn't do anything, they went to another reality and suddenly were no longer fighting. The US tends to have a trend of "teenagers hate their parents" which is very tried and one dimensional. This feeds into another lack of insight since many cultures respect their parents and I'm sure many US teens don't hate their parents for no reason at all.

The rant Sasha gave upon meeting Barbie was nonsensical. That's all I can say about that without having to unpack it line by line. Not to mention the fascist throw away line doesn't make sense and it just comes off as a grab at trying to reference the current mainstream buzz words.

All in all the most entertaining and exciting part of the movie is when Ken took over and then went to war which, is a more realistic representation of what a lot of girls end up doing with their dolls...

The film also failed to stick to its rules of their world. Suddenly every Barbie and Ken understood taxes, cars, and stocks? I can see the Barbies knowing since they each have jobs but how would the Kens know? Their whole identity is that they don't know anything because they've never had jobs outside of a hobby or location (rolling blades, beach, guitar etc). How would a ken be able to be distracted into explaining stocks? How would Barbie and Ken know to explain they don't have genitals if they've never had genitals and no one in the Barbie world does either? It was too disjointed.

Do you want to watch an interesting commentary on men and women gender relations? Watch Barbara Streisand films. Specifically, "The Mirror has two Faces." We don't need anymore films going "hey men make sexual comments, don't promote women and women have to try really hard!" Films because it's pointless. The 80s to about 2000s and maybe some after already did it and did a wonderful job without making the women look stupid or the men stupid and did all by showing not telling. We need more films on the nuances of gender identity outside of men vs women and instead where the actual break down of communication is, when the gender roles are reversed or defied and what that might mean in a relationship (familial, work, romantic, or friendship).

Very firm 3/10 wouldn't recommend. Don't waste your time if you haven't watched it yet, just look at Ken clips on YouTube and the Ruth appearances and there, there is your movie.