#the barbie movie is not about barbie

[mk-wizard]

I have to say this because I am offended as a woman who grew up with Barbie AND He-Man. I don't hate the Barbie movie because it isn't in tuned with my politics. I hate it because it's not really about Barbie at all. It is an imposter. Barbie is feminist, but NOT a radical feminist. She is diplomatic, kind, she loves men and considers them as her equal, and she wants everyone to be confident and kind. As for Ken, he would never turn on her because he is faithful, intelligent, kind and capable. He is not a boob who is under her thumb.

The Barbie movie is not about Barbie. It's about all of the misconceptions we have of Barbie just as I suspected it would. And I have every right to be displeased about that. And you know what else? So does anyone else including men.

If women are allowed to hate Masters of the Universe: Revelations because it is a badly written show that doesn't respect the lore, then men are allowed to not like the Barbie movie for the same reasons especially if those reasons are sound. Yes, I'm sure some of them hate it for sexist reasons, but the majority of men I see hating on the Barbie movie hate it for the same reasons I do and I'm a woman. If anything, I'm glad men respect Barbie enough to see the film is wrong. The problem is that the media is only talking about what the sexist men are saying blatantly ignoring what all the other fans are saying.

But then again, what did we expect? The same thing happened with Netflix She-Ra and Masters of the Universe: Revelations. When fans don’t like a new product because it doesn’t respect the lore and feels like imposter media, we get accused of being bigoted in some way or the other. We are like that lone honest kid who calling out that the Emperor is naked, but is then told to shut up because they’re upsetting everyone. In other words, we live in a time right now where if you ever admit you don’t like something even for the most valid reason, you are either silenced, ignored or made out to be the bad guy.

However, it is all the more reason to keep being honest. And Hollywood knows it because even it can’t run from the truth forever.

And I think it’s reached the phase where it is getting out of breath from trying to.

PS: I don’t want my son to grow up in a society where his free speech, including the freedom to give an opinion on a movie of all things, is either limited or prohibited just because he’s a boy/man while the girl/woman next to him can say anything she wants about anything she chooses.

Like I said before, if women can say what they want about He-Man, men can say what they want about Barbie. Period.

[hatchetfield-scarecrow]

I hope Barbie is so good and successful it makes every executive that’s turned everything bright and fun made for young girls into edgy boring teen dramas for the last ten years spontaneously combust into flames

[r0semultiverse]

Like music to my ears

[anxiouslittlecarrot]

I want everybody who’s calling Ken a Trophy Husband to know that he’s actually a Trophy Boyfriend, because when Ruth Handler invented Ken in the 1960s, she was adamant that he would never marry her and instead be her “handsome steady”, so that Barbie remained a figure of independence for the little girls and was never put in the position of housewife.

Her house is hers. She bought it and furnished it with money she made in her own job. In STEM, in politics, in healthcare, in fashion, in academy, in customer service. Her credit card is in her name (women in the US couldn’t have their own regardless of marital status until 1974). And it’s all pink and fashionable because femininity and badassness aren’t mutually exclusive. No matter who you are, you can be anything.

That’s why Barbie’s slogan is “you can be anything”. Teaching these ideals to little girls is why Barbie was created. Empowering women and empowering femininity is the original meaning of the Barbie doll. It’s not that you have to be all this to be a woman, but if you are all or some of this, you too are awesome.

And somehow pop culture deliberately changed that narrative. Sexualised, bimbofied, and villainised her, when she actually isn’t responsible for the impossible beauty standards — people are, she’s just a stylised, not-to-scale toy like most others.

Men are frothing because he’s just Ken and I guess they were expecting her to be just Barbie, but that’s exactly what Ken is. Canonically. A badass woman’s himbo boyfriend.

This movie has the potential to radically change the way we collectively see Barbie into what Ruth Handler originally intended, I’m so very excited

[twilight-zoned-out]

Some things about Allan:

He’s the only one who reacts to the narrator

He’s the only doll (besides the Weird House) who isn’t swayed in some way by Ken’s takeover

He also declares himself as “Ken's buddy" (making canon his official box description) which makes his inability to be swayed more interesting

He has bendable legs (probably the only reason he tries to jump the fence instead of going around like everyone else)

He easily decked a half-dozen construction Kens and could probably singlehandedly win the Ken fight

He seems to know more about the real world than most Barbies

He knows what NSYNC is 

He knows about other Allan copies living in the real world (I’m trying to figure out if he made this up to convince the humans he can live in the real world, but even if he did, how does he know what NSYNC is???)

There are no other Allan models

[phantomrose96]

The realest part of the Barbie Movie was when Barbie was like "okay but what if this hurts his feelings? what if this makes him sad? :(" after Ken stole her house, stole her car, and stole her agency, because as a woman you still have to second guess everything you do on the assessment of whether it might hurt a man's feelings.

And then that apprehension was proven right one million times over by the entire Conservative Internet Manosphere pissing and shitting and screaming themselves hoarse over Barbie daring to hurt a man's feelings.

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

The Barbie movie really said. Yes you will grow up and childhood wonder will vanish. Yes you will grow up and learn to hate yourself, your body, your awkwardness. Yes you will grow up and lose your confidence and certainty and sense of purpose. Yes you will grow up and the world will seem a bleaker, lonelier place every day, and society will seem bleaker and lonelier every day, and you won’t understand what went wrong in the span of just a few years, what took you from a happy and secure young girl to a sad, uncertain, scared grown woman.

And yet. You will learn to find beauty again. You will find joy in not having a purpose, in building a purpose for yourself. You will find beauty in connection, with the people and the world around you. You will learn to love signs of ageing as proof of a life well lived, of experience and happiness. You will take that little girl by the hand and tell her “I know, this isn’t what you thought it would be, but it’s real. Let me show you how beautiful it can be.”

[eternallovers65]

The way she takes of the high heel but is still on tip toes, how she waves around and the car drives itself, the barbieland sign with the hearts around, the pink slide, the glittery posters and the perfect descriptions

SHE'S EVERYTHING HE'S JUST KEN!!!!!!!

Greta you did again!!!!!!

[peridot-tears]

Truths that Co-Exist

Barbie (2023) is a giant product placement that profits off nostalgia.

The writing is profound and life-changing and understands why we seek nostalgia in a way most nostalgia-driven entertainment doesn’t.

The film is self-aware about how even now, Barbie dolls set incredibly unrealistic beauty standards. Their “body diversity” does not even scratch the surface of what that phrase really means. I don’t expect this to change.

The film still made a beautiful statement with the scene on the bench about how societal beauty standards are narrow and restrictive! And that beauty comes from experiencing life and the marks it leaves on you!

Its feminist statements are validating. Many of us see our reality onscreen, and the great thing is that it includes how cishet men fall down a pipeline of toxic hypermasculinity. It also shows the solution, and allows men to express themselves despite what society expects them to be.

The film is a capitalist venture.

The cast (aside from the leads) and crew were probably overworked and severely underpaid during filmmaking.

We can still appreciate that something fun was made, and we all made another wonderful memory where we and our loved ones went to the movies color-matching in pink.

We should not feel guilty about seeing ourselves in this film.

Meanwhile, support the WGA and SAG-Aftra strike.

[izloveshorses]

greta gerwig really said. when this girl gets a little sad and confused by the weird and complicated and uncomfortable parts of being human and growing up, she meets god and sits at her kitchen table, drinks her tea, holds her hands. and she asks god if she’s allowed to be happy. and god tells her she doesn’t need her permission. she tells her she’s going to be okay.

[antigerrymanderingspiderman]

there are no mirrors in barbie land, not in the beginning or in scenes when we see the car mirrors, which means the barbies don’t really know what they look like. barbie responds to a compliment with “thank you, i feel beautiful” and whenever else she’s talking about her appearance, it’s just about how she feels.

we can see her change in appearance, but her view of how she looks is through the way she feels she looks

[mk-wizard]

People, if you want to see a feminist movie that is also feminine-positive without hating on men. Watch this not (imposter) Barbie. This movie is funny, relatable and kind spirited.

[chloesimaginationthings]

Barbie doesn’t know Ken is a horse girl

[gnarlymetalghost]

now i’m thinking about how men are like “hmm. i don’t get it” in regards to Barbie and how women spend their whole lives listening to men’s stories and learning how to relate to them abstractly because they’re not made for them. now the roles are reversed and instead of men being willing to find themselves in a story about women and motherhood and daughterhood, they shut down because they’re not forced to empathize the way women are.

[ayo-edebiri]

[batfamfucker]

What About The Kens?

I'm already seeing guys complain about the Barbie movie end, how they wanted Kens to be equal in Barbieland but were only given a small part on the Cabinet.

That's the point.

You're meant to feel bad for the Kens. Believe me, women aren't partying over the 'Returns to Matriarch' ending. Some will be, but the ones who also clocked the meaning behind it won't. Most women will also feel bad for Kens. Because it's an exact parallel to how women are treated in reality.

Men, you're meant to be upset. You're meant to question it. Because you're meant to feel it, and feel what that is like, so you can finally understand women. You're upset at seeing it in a movie, now imagine living it in reality. That's being a woman.

Kens were shit on so you could feel what it was like for women this entire time. Kens were being used as a placement so you could see yourself in a woman's shoes. A world dominated by the opposite sex. When Ken leaves, and sees male presidents (All men) for the first time, men being doctors and lawyers, etc, realising he is more than just a prop for Barbie, that was on purpose. Because that is the feeling that Barbie gave to women. It's why you cheer for him at first before he goes a little overboard.

It's exactly why the real world was an exaggerated Partriarchy and Barbieland an exaggerated Matriarchy. Neither wins. Neither is equal. None of them change for the better. It's why you should want women in the real world to be respected, and Kens in Barbieland to be respected.

The thing is, women also didn't win. Not in the real world. In Barbieland, yes, but not anywhere else. The real world didn't change. But you didn't notice, did you? That Gloria (The mother that helped Barbie) also didn't get a position on the Mattel board? It was still all men? Her idea was ignored until it made a profit, and the men will likely get the credit? She'll still just be the receptionist? The women representing the real world didn't get anymore opportunities, neither did the men in Barbieland.

I was hoping that Gloria would be offered a position on the board, and that the Barbie Cabinet would introduce another entire Cabinet to represent the Kens, but neither happened. They're complete mirrors.

But which one did you actually notice? Which did you actually care about? Now tell me again the ending was unfair. Because it was. For both parties. That's the point.

The difference is, Barbieland is fictional. You will walk out of the theatre with the reassurance that at least it's not real. Women won't. Women can't. Companies not giving women equal opportunities or voices isn't fictional, and that was just one example. There are no women presidents (USA at least) for us to go look at in the real world. We don't have somewhere to go to realise it could be different for us like Ken did. Barbie and make believe is all we had when we were kids, or even now.

You're supposed to be mad, just not at the movie.