#like there's skipper and midge but they just like go along with the barbies

[thelizardperson]

okayyyy seeing barbie the second time and some things i noticed that i think push more into the critique of barbie - on the first day where barbie has a perfect day and gets the perfect breakfast, she sips the milk but doesn’t eat the waffle, in fact barbie doesn’t actually eat. ever. and its not because she cannot as a doll, again she does the action of sipping milk, and in fact does even drink actual tea in the real world, but she doesn’t even pretend to eat. now i do think its a stretch but i think this could be greta’s nod to how barbie being an unrealistic body type can lead to unhealthy eating habits

-  even barbie world where everything is perfect and women rule the world, they still carry the harmful social dynamics girls experience when they don’t do femininity “right” - weird barbie is still ostracized and exiled for being weird. The Barbies still worry about having perfect hair and Barbie’s flat feet are considered unequivocally gross.

- something that im still thinking about is that at the end of the mom’s double standards speech, she ends with “i dont know” and i dont know if its intentional but both times ive listened to that and gotten to the end im like okay wow. but uh. what was the point? and that i dont know at the end makes me feel like it is a critique on like, feminism that is just about pointing out the things wrong with the patriarchy without offering a real solution ? (im still trying to understand my own take on this tbh) and how like this sort of rhetoric managed to snap the barbies out of their patriarchy trances and magically solve everything but like. that doesn’t work in the real world. the real world is aware of this dichotomy, take sasha, the politically correct middle schooler, who is portrayed not just as an exception, a nerdy sjw, but in fact as a cool girl, leader of the intimating middle school girl posse - she knows that women are mistreated, but that doesn’t solve that companies “still do patriarchy very well, but just know how to hide it better“. Like i guess its that the message is here. everyone knows we Should treat women better, but how do we institute that kind of change? As we see with the way barbies treat each other and approach beauty as a necessity, even just putting women in power doesn’t necessarily solve it? im not sure, but i think somewhere in here is the heart of the movie, this movie which says only men in power doesn’t work, but neither does just women in power. - ordinary barbie... who is she? are we able to glamorize and idolize a regular woman? I think “mattel” says she will sell because she is relatable, and that is what people are clamoring for atm, especially youth who want accurate representation and to be seen. but like, idk the consequences of that are not discussed. Will she stay relevant? Will she ever be as iconic as stereotypical barbie is? Can she be? - The way mattel is portrayed in this movie is ... interesting. I think a lot of it must be censored/restricted by the actual company’s influence on the film, but like... hmm. They’re portrayed kind of as an “average corporation”, boring office, all male executives, the quip at the end being like oh if ordinary barbie sells we’ll make her. But also the ceo not caring that ken is making money, and only “caring about little girls and their dreams” was a weird, unexpected line for me. is this them trying to protect their image? like an oh we do only really care about making money but we can’t just outwardly sell patriarchy because that would look bad? or was that genuine? Is he too lost in the corporation sauce that he sold himself on that idea? Also because the executives are portrayed very de-humanized and lacking in autonomy (honestly some of the least human-like characters in the movie about dolls).