#meanwhile barbie takes the you-can-be-anything message to its logical extreme and decides what she wants to be is the one thing mattel will | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

seventeendeer · 6 months ago

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just watched the barbie movie everyone was discoursing about last year and I can't help but feel like a lot of the problems in its execution could have been avoided if the kid character's arc had been about learning to embrace girly stuff as an act of rebellion against the adultification of teen girls while barbie went full butch transmasc

#deerchatter #i know why they didn't do that obvs the writers haven't a fucking clue what a feminism is and the bosses prefer it that way #but it's fun to think about what a good version of the premise could have looked like. there were interesting pieces on the board #the kid character could have been interesting if her arc had been about rejecting barbie bc of increasing awareness of the association #between femininity and weakness. but in wanting to gain respect she started acting and dressing like a young woman because she's at that age #where girls begin to be rewarded for being a more subdued and quote-unquote natural kind of feminine.#she could have become friends with barbie as a symbolic way to heal her inner child #meanwhile barbie takes the you-can-be-anything message to its logical extreme and decides what she wants to be is the one thing mattel will #never let her be: gender non-conforming #these 2 character arcs and where they intersect could have told the same story much better i think #emphasis on personal choice/growing up/social rebellion/embracing what will really make you happy #while also covering multiple ways to handle gendered expectations. pick out the parts you like or throw the whole gender out. both r good!#anyway i have to admit this movie was disappointing. i knew it wasn't gonna be woke but i thought it would still be a bit more fun ....#was hoping for a guilty pleasure kind of experience but even setting aside that hard thematic fumble it's underwhelming :(

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