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SPOILERS AHEAD. I will be analysing the 2023 Barbie film in detail. Please don't read if you have yet to see it. And you must see it, I highly recommend!
Oki, so I had a crazy time with the film. First of all, I had watched Princella's video titled "Are males needed" before going to the film. In a terrific coincidence, the film happened to be about the exact same topic! Ooh, there were so many little details and ideas I noticed. I don't know if they were intentional by the writer or director, but I want to lay them out. I still haven't wrapped my head over some of the stuff in the movie and I would love it if you ladies have any thoughts.
So, one major plot point was that Ken is pretty much useless. "He knows Barbie will never like him the same way he likes her", He lives a life of "blonde fragility". He is "not his girlfriend, car, status" instead he has to "find himself". The way this is resolved is with a lukewarm "I am Ken, I am enough". The resolution seemed quite surface level, contrived and meaningless. I wonder if that was on purpose. If Ken represents males, then their lives literally will never have meaning without women, they will always need women more than women need men (basic sexual conflict)
Questions I have:
The inventor old woman's ghost in the mattel office. she says "we do more than work here". What does that imply? That somehow, even if only men hold all the real titles and positions, the spirit of old women somehow do some sort of greater work in capitalistic organizations? I didn't quite understand what this meant
The war scene- it was so ridiculously coreographed, I thought it might be actually a very subtle poke at oppenheimer! Was it to mock how stupid war is?
Time and again, the Kens do not choose to become violent against the Barbies. Even though that was the most easiest thing they could do and that is exactly what happens in the real world. Was the director trying to indirectly show us (by blatantly going in the opposite direction) that male violence is inevitable whenever women try to rise to power?
The way Barbies work. All the jobs in Barbieland are ridiculously simple. Each important title and job are shown to be comical parodies of real work. While it is on the surface, supposed to represent child's play, it can be argued that men in the real world see women as capable of doing only childlike tasks. I didn't really know what to make of this, especially when Ken admits that ruling was hard. Is the director trying to say ruling is hard for men and easy for women?
When Barbie asks Ruth if she needs her permission to become human because Ruth is the Creator, Ruth replies no. Is that a subversion of patriarchal religion? The idea that only the Creator has power over us and we must unquestioningly follow what God says is possible for our lives?
Details I loved:
"You need to get the Barbies away from the Kens to remove the Brainwashing"
Barbies planning a macabre, evil sounding plot to take back power (They do not worry about sounding like the villain)
Barbie says "You look beautiful", to the old woman, to which she replies "I know"
I recommend everyone try to go see this movie. It's a lot of fun to watch and society needs to get a hint that there is a big demand for more female-centric media
I saw it and loved it! I also overheard a few women nearby saying that one of their boyfriends were pissed that the movie "bashed men for two hours"
Truly mind blowing that these men can watch thousands of hours of porn over the years, but a two hour Barbie film is where they draw the line with "sexism" in movies
Yes i loved this movie and its jabs against the patriarchy. I loved that Barbie refused to give Ken a chance romantically too!
Edit 1: I searched the Barbie movie in YouTube and SCROTES ARE BIG MAD lol. The anti-feminist pickmes too. This movie is gonna rock.
Edit 2: I saw the movie and it was FANTASTIC.
I believe Ruth the ghost of the women who made Barbie is saying that women started Barbie and it's also women and girls that maintain Barbie relevancy and the spirit of womanhood and femininity that Barbie has evolved to represent and at times go against.
I didn't see openheimer but I thought the war scene was just hilarious and maybe to poke fun at men fist-fighting with one another over women/everything but because they're toys they can't become as violent. I think it's a tame and un-extreme depiction of male violence.
I believe the Kens didn't get violent because at the end of the day they're just dolls and these are children's toys so it can't get as nasty and chaotic as the real world. Plus, it's Barbieland at the end of the day and Ken is just the complement to Barbie who is the main character literally so it's against Kens' nature to actually hurt Barbie. Throughout the whole movie it's clear that Ken is in love with Barbie and wants her to return his affection.
I don't think there's a deep meaning to the Barbies' work. They live in a plastic, fake world with no real issues and everything is always perfect so why would they have to work hard? I think that it was hard for Ken to rule because the Ken doll doesn't have an occupation or purpose besides being Barbie's boyfriend. The other Barbies are themed (President Barbie, Author Barbie, etc.) so they're specially made to do those jobs and are of course perfect at them.
One of the details I loved was America Ferrera's monologue. It touched on so many truths!
I liked how that is what gets the Barbie's to stop being brainwashed and what she says is a lot of what we say here. What I've read here, is how I stopped being brainwashed by men too 😂
Just got back from watching the movie. It was fantastic. I loved the scene with the old lady.
I just finished watching the Barbie movie. Holy shit! I wasn’t expecting it to be awesome. There’s so many scenes that resonated with me. Especially, a speech that America Ferrera did. Phew!! This movie will be on my go to “Cheer up” movie. It was so damn inspiring.
It's plastic fantastic liberal feminisms but it's a great start! I hope it introduces feminism to a whole new brainwashed gen z generation.
I'm going to watch it on Wednesday💞.
I'll be back to add commentary!
Just watched it today. The movie's amazing 🤩