Feeling Cynical About Barbie
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2023
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Barbie is everything, and I'm just cynical.
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Sources:
Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello, The new spirit of capitalism, Verso (1999).
Alex Barasch, “After “Barbie” Mattel is Raiding Its Entire Toybox” The New Yorker (2023).
Richard Brody, “Barbie is Brilliant, Beautiful, and Fun as Hell” The New Yorker (2023).
Jim McGuigan, “The Coolness of Capitalism Today” tripleC vol. 10 (2012).
Chris Murphy, “Studios Allegedly Won’t End Strike Till Writers “Start Losing Their Apartments” Vanity Fair (2023). 
Развлечения
![PIECE BY PIECE - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters October 11](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7Bc6trBc1kc/mqdefault.jpg)
but in all seriousness guys, I am the biggest fan of the BCU! If you don't follow Preminger fan cam accounts on TikTok are you really a Barbie fan...
A couple things that should be clarified:
1. I have no aspirations to join SAG, I was not paid by the struck companies to make this video, and I am not an influencer. This is film criticism. And I figured instead of supporting the strike symbolically, I wanted to use my platform to raise awareness/money for it. This is a discussion that many people in my field have been having, and we all came to different conclusions for how we should move forward based on the kinds of video we make, our particular genres of RUclips, and our plans for the future. This was my decision, and no, it does not qualify as crossing a picket line as some of you have suggested I have done. It was a decision made after extensive consultation.
2. I love my community post responders! But the community page is not a sacred space - I can engage with it how I would like to, as it's my channel :)
they're not fancams they're edits (this is just a silly pet peeve of mine 💕)
Preminger is iconic
I love that you mention near the end the problem with the whole "Oh just be quiet and let people enjoy -fill in the blank-". I've always hated that mindset because I think we need to question ANYTHING that is popular, no matter how harmless it MIGHT be. We can do it without being mean, or insulting the people who love the said thing, but we have to examine the said thing regardless.
@@soniaiboyako4023as-aza-__-\\\\\. A
Premiger best villain in cinema
I think being called a "pick me" for having a critical take on Barbie proves that the word has officially lost all meaning and is just another misogynistic insult to add to the pile.
🎯
Or maybe, uncritical heuristics like that are how we got to this point in the first place...
You mean it was ever anything else?
I’m over the “let people enjoy things” rebuttal when you give a nuanced criticism of a movie. It’s valid to consume media and criticize it
The world is mysoginistic apparently
Barbie is inside us all...in the form of microplastics.
😂😭
Comedy gold. 😆
😂😂😂😂😂
🤣🤣
Yeah they're inside our balls apparently but somehow not our vaginas? Or the reseaech/media is choosing to stay silent on this part of the equation? Idk, but either way it looks like your comment has been confirmed by science>.
"Barbie is wearing the clothes of artful cinema, putting on an edge-lord voice and hitting all the necessary talking points so we have nothing left about it to criticize, and everything left to buy." Wow.
@@tonimashdane33498 Lol this is like people trying to say Verhoeven's Starship Troopers is genius satire, considering how much the movie has boosted Mattel's sales while the film itself is very shallow.
Funny thing is, I didn’t even feel like Barbie was for The Girl’s. Ryan Gosling was the star of the show and arguably carried the movie on his back. The biggest takeaways from the movie were “I am kenough” and “big Ken energy”
In Barbie world the roles were reversed, so I think Ken was the symbolic woman trying to seek empowerment (having his own identity beyond Barbie, not being in competition with other Kens...)
Barbie had to be serious and responsible and Ken could have fun without a second thought.. kinda like real life!
I'm afraid this was inevitable, we want to cheer women as "underdogs" succeeding against all odds, but then when you make the movie specifically about a woman, with several supporting female character; suddenly the male love interest is the underdog. He becomes the under-represented minority in this one particular setting. What feminist movies might need to do is to set it up as starring a male, perhaps even having a title about that man, but having the female star undercut him, while remaining morally superior. That's a pretty difficult thing to pull off.
It was a comedy where Ken was the comedic relief lol.
If this is what they did then they completely misunderstood men. Men don't need to be 'kenough'. Men need sex. They're not trying to impress women to feel validated, they're trying to impress them for sex. Men and women cannot be compared in this way, and it's why the argument of 'you are enough' does not apply to men, because it is totally irrelevant.
I remember watching the movie and once it was over I turned to my boyfriend and said "It's not what I expected. It was fun, I had fun, but something's missing" and I'm glad more people noticed the story was lacking and underdeveloped. Sometimes it felt as if I was watching one of the Lego movies. I was expecting something more like the quieter moments of the movie.
Literally
I said the same to my bf!
EXACTLY
My husband was so excited to take me to the movie when it was finally released in the country we live in, I had been avoiding spoilers as best I could. He ended up enjoying it more than I did, I felt bad that after all the hype I just felt empty and confused. Visually it was so much fun, but I felt so bad that he was planning so many things just for me not to enjoy it.
I feel so relieved I’m not the only one that felt this way about the film because I was starting to think I was a monster 😅😂
@bryttanie People are very defensive about the movie, to the point that any criticism about it is frowned upon, especially if it comes from women. It was fun, but like you said, it was confusing. It even felt like there was more than one movie shoved in there. The musical scenes, for example, fun as they were, seemed out of place.
I'm glad you husband enjoyed it, my bf had the time of his life.
God do I wish Barbie was an existential psychological thriller
Same!!! Like if it turned into something like Don’t Worry Darling.
unfortunately that wouldn’t sell so well 🥲
Yes the depression barbie ad was the best part for me.
YESSSS THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED
Why? We have already so much of those. A comedy is nice for once.. it’s been a long time
I feel like a lot of this "you cannot possibly criticize the barbie movie" is also coming from how little nuance people allow into arguments like this, that oftentimes, they believe that if you criticize something, that means it's horrible and should be tossed aside. I enjoyed the Barbie movie immensely, and I think criticizing it, seeing where it fell short and where it hit the mark, what cultural and economical factors lead to it, just makes me enjoy it more! It's so much more interesting that way!
I agree. I would add that perhaps the typical immediate criticism of what women do or what is regarded as feminine might also play a role in people's hypersensitivity to criticism here.
For example, as mentioned in this video, Greta Gerwig is criticized so much more than male directors for doing similar things.
It gets hard to tell when people give something or someone a genuine chance or if they nitpick from the get go because of sexism/misogyny. At least for me it is hard to tell at times.
THISSSS
I agree! I also love film critique and it saddens me when people think it's inherently bad. It leads to great discussions and analyses.
Yess!!!!! This!!!
@@AceofRoses510
I think you are spot on about the hyper sensitivity about criticism regarding female creatives. And many folks are rightly very protective over what they perceive as hate.
And honestly, the YT videos about Barbie I've seen, who are of course hiding behind the 'nuanced criticism' facade just come across super nitpicky more than anything else
thank u so much for bringing up the whole ferrara monologue feeling like it was made to create snaps from the audience, it felt super superficial and i completely agree that it felt like i was being sold feminism, rather than "empowered". my friends all left the theatre in like awe of how deep and hard hitting it was to them and obviously i dont want to detract from that sort of response, but, i couldn't help but feel entirely cynical about so much of the themes.
no literally. i saw barbie in a very full, rowdy theater. people were hooting and hollering and saying "YES QUEEN" throughout the entire film, but when we got to the ferrara monologue... crickets. silence. it really felt like a very transparent attempt to try to say something deep about women and feminism and i think people could tell how shallow it was and weren't taking the bait.
I still think I’ve heard some women cried at that part, so I’m a believer if it uplifted someone/ empowered someone it’s still worthwhile and substantial. I also don’t think EVERYTHING in cinema needs to be shown not tell, dialogue can be a very powerful tool. And also for how on the nose… I think a lot of feminists forgot how many women have 0 feminist ideas ever brought to them and if the Barbie movie is the way they get it, I think that is worthwhile. So many women are unaware they’re struggling with internalized misogyny so yeah, I feel like we can accept feminism that is digestible for the masses.
@@ValentinaHueck totally agree and thank you, I now feel like the act of feeling cynical about the content of the speech and the overall message was pretentious of me because ultimately I agreed with the message and what is so wrong about driving a good message home, especially to a huge audience of people from different socio cultural perspectives/attitudes.
Like am I trying to gatekeep something I agree with? Weird.
But in that moment, it felt preachy in a shallow sense precisely because it read as “duh” to me, and felt like it was babying the intelligence of the average feminine audience - like most audiences intimately know these inequalities, why is this framed in such a profound way and how are my friends reacting so strongly to something that feels so fundamental and textbook.
It felt like something that would get a lot of likes on Tumblr circa 2016.
@@hotgirledits2000 I couldn't agree more. Honestly sometimes I wonder if the problem was that they were trying to tackle too much in one movie, so they lost so many plot lines. Like when Barbie wanted to randomly become human at the end (I mean I get it, but I feel like I missed something).
i felt like the mother/daughter plot got interrupted when they had to get all of the barbies out from under the spell, it just felt like so many plots were going on that they all fell flat for me. it's also crazy about the pink pigment shortage!
YES!!! I feel like its story telling 101, if the building blocks of your plot is The Mother/daughter relationship, the The conclusión also must be The Mother/daughter relationship!!
Same problem with me, the story would’ve profited if it was a mini series instead. However I do understand that a movie gets more people to watch it
Me too! After the scene where the daughter basically told Barbie all of the things she hated about her, I thought these critiques would be addressed later but they never were...Her character felt so pushed to the side and we never really saw her and Barbie interact again, or her and her mother for that matter. They were kind of hinting that the daughter and her mother had this difficult, bad relationship but it just seemed to be magically solved by the end of the movie. I would have preferred exploration of that over the extra-long Ken dance number.
definitely agree! After watching the movie, I didn't feel like it fully fleshed out certain aspects that were brought up in the movie and was extremely disappointed when it barely talked about the mother/daughter plot especially when for me that was like one of the few things that actually made me care about the movie (plot-wise.)
Yeah the movie kind of forgot the whole point of Barbie going to the real world in the first place. I actually would've preferred if Ken had stayed friendly and worked with Barbie to help.
The best parts of Barbie for me were the more quiet moments when Barbie was becoming a real person and getting in touch with her personhood and developing individuality, when things weren't said out loud, which sadly didn't happen much. Barbie talking with Ruth in her kitchen and realising all these expectations put on her were not why she was created and that she was enough just by existing in the eyes of her creator, Barbie looking around at the world in the playground with all its cracks and defects and different people each with their interior lives and then looking at an old woman, something that has never existed in her world, with all her wrinkles and "imperfections" that Barbie was so worried about that she left barbieland to "fix", and seeing how beautiful she is for living a whole life, and then her responding with "i know", showing she didn't need to be the ideal version of a woman (in the eyes of the world) to be confident and happy... And it leading to her wanting to be that, getting to experience a full life in a difficult and unpredictable world because that's when she could make choices and change ans grow.... Those form a full movie for me if they were able to be explored with more freedom, and all the surface feminism, while very marketable, was just a bit cringy to watch and felt off to me.
Idk, i think the movie had some really good ideas that weren't fully explored (couldn't be, probably) and others that were too in our face to feel genuine. I really liked the movie btw, as a fun and pretty and entertaining thing to watch, but that kept it from being any kind of subversive or revolutionary as people were making it out to be
completely agree, those quieter and more subtle moments ended up being my fave parts of the movie. i loved it overall but, too bad we didn't get more of that
@@chaaaargh I think that if they had let the movie be more introspective and understated it could have truly been something great and had something to say... But then it wouldn't have made a billion dollars at the box office
@@justlola417argh which is so upsetting bc I would’ve loved that sm
Agreed!
The heart was definitely there. I teared up during the park scene
You've just put into words what I couldn't express myself. I absolutely loved the movie and I thought it was hilarious. But in the end, it was shallow and ended up feeling like a guilty pleasure rather than a feminist masterpiece. Quite literally it felt like looking through rose-coloured (or pink-coloured) glasses. It was like a very pretty, polished and well-presented slideshow but missing a lot of the actual information needed to complete the assignment. I have to say, it was a lot of fun though and I felt a high of female empowerment walking out of that cinema along with an army of women and girls dressed in pink. Yet, I couldn't shake the sour taste of a giant production company taking advantage of us once again and the whole capitalist commercial undertones to it all.
this exactly
YES! I had the same feeling when I left the movie theatre! Like something was amiss- but I couldn't quite place my finger on what it was. It felt like I was being sold female empowerment in a little box made out of pink plastic- and the product inside was nothing at all. I loved the musical numbers- and the sets, the costumes, the acting. Very well made, but it felt... empty
We should Just watch these slurps and enjoy them with our friends and family.
And movie reviewer can also express their opinion and show the limitations of those media
Expecting actual denigration of the status quo(global capitalism which leads to structural bigotry, economic inequality) from the media which is funded by capitalists is 😂
Also I liked verily bichie's video on this movie.
To achieve change in material conditions,We should organise our individual workplace and create a larger workers movement to take out the capitalist run govt over long time.
What I am saying is to people who take these movies seriously -
don't take these media pieces seriously
@@tonimashdane33498 That's a good point! Thanks!!
Can you tell me more about why you think that is? I honestly would like some more info... I sometimes feel my own way of viewing things is very limited.
@@tonimashdane33498Oh... well it's art, of course! But why can't both be true? It's certainly not one or the other- both can be true at the same time.
We can view it as art and as branding.
Certainly when people like Kubrick made films like a Clockwork Orange, there was no major brand/branding involved in any capacity.
The landscape has changed dramatically when it comes to major American blockbusters (not that Clockwork Orange was an American film)- not that I know much about cinema myself.
You sound quite irate about that in particular, though- are you a filmmaker yourself?
i just felt like the speech from the mom was very surface-level ‘obvious’ feminist social commentary. like that probably works for 14 year old girls who are learning what feminism is, but it clearly isn’t for everyone, unlike it claims to be.
Ikr that scene was so cringe
@@MMMM-qg7ln And it ruined the pacing too, with how it brings everything to a halt just to put all focus on something you'd read on Twitter.
It was either for the younger girls or/and middle aged moms that don't even believe in feminism. i've seen some people saying that their moms cried, and while I didn't really like it that much, at least is a (very small) step forward for some people.
I feel like when you've seen movies like Promising Young Woman that speech feels so obvious and elementary.
I don’t think it was meant to teach the audience. It was meant to teach… Barbie. the character. barbie symbolizes the way young girls learn about patriarchy and sexism. At first everything us awesome, pink and fabulous. And then puberty hits, your body changes, you have « irrepressibles thoughts of death ». And then the boys around you learn about patriarchy but find it awesome and want to make it work for them. So you have two choices : feel depressed about the loss of your perfect world or be brainwashed and accept it with a smile. And that speech was like a older woman teaching a young girl what society expects from her. So of course it’s simple, it’s basic. But come on, we all had to learn feminism in a basic way ! I think the movie was way more profound than what it seems. But I respect your opinion and i see why you have it. I just think there’s more to barbie than 101 feminism and a big ad for the dolls
My biggest issue with the film was that it felt like it really dropped the ball with the mother and daughter - THANK YOU for bringing this up
I didn't expect the mother and daughter aspect of the movie and i was confused when I saw America Ferrera and was wondering what her part in the movie would be. I walked in thinking this would be a Barbie retelling of the Wizard of Oz and Mattel was the part of the Wizard. The mother daughter threw me off guard and after the movie was over I wished they had gotten rid of the Mattel bit and focused more time on the relationship, especially since Sasha and her friends were supposed to be the Bratz dolls.
Easily the most disappointing aspect of the movie.
Even more unfortunate that the mother and daughter are both people of color. I would have loved more of them, but a part of me knew I wasn't going to get that.
Same here! That was the main complaint I had about the film - besides the way things end for the Kens, and the unnecessary Mattel Execs who added nothing to story.
Just felt like the mother & daughter were poorly written.
Literally I haven’t heard anybody bring this point up - the fact that the mom and daughter could’ve fully been removed and Barbie’s character arc would’ve been mostly intact. That’s bad writing.
Yes! It's like they set the mother-daughter relationship to be the main conflict in the film and then discarded it in favor of making it a boys vs girls conflict.
I saw Barbie and my main problem was that there was no ‘story’. There was a message. A theme. A spectacle. I could tell you what happened but there was no story. I’m a writer and filmmaker but at my core I’m a storyteller. It was fun to watch visually but honestly kinda boring.
What would make it a story?
Asking because it seemed like a "things just happen" movie, which I've felt other works have done, but I wouldn't call them bad for being that.
^ I feel like a lot of critically acclaimed movies don’t have what you would call a “story,” what differentiates this from those? or do you just not like that genre/style in general
Your take fascinated me because I felt like it had a pretty clear story: the main character underwent massive change and growth and ended up in a fundamentally different place than where she started. What did you feel was missing in regards to having a story? (Genuine question, not attacking your opinion at all)
Yes, there was a lot of “tell” and not much “show”
yeah gerwig just lost
I also didn't like how they treated Allan. He was ignored by EVERYONE. Both the Barbies and the Kens. Yeah he was there but he was never addressed. People praise the movie about his character and how he's autistic coded or trans coded or whatever. But no one embraced his being different yo everyone else. He was just there
I love Michael Cera to death, but I can't help but feel Allan being portrayed by a more heavy set fella would've been such a stronger statement over the vaguely queer-coded thin guy. As is, the movie already has a problem with it's depiction of "kenough" (as long as you're hot we forgive you??) so I think making that more of a statement rather than just a guy who was ignored would've been cool to see, in my personal opinion.
I kept waiting for some kind of payoff but he was just ignored or belittled and the movie had nothing to say about his gender non conformity in this Barbie Ken binary
@@Tine_of_Nice_Dreams How was Allan gnc?
@@Tine_of_Nice_Dreamslol youre crazy in the head
@crazygirl9784 well the barbies are women and all the Ken's are all men. The barbies are in charge and generally run things while the Ken's are just Ken's but Allan is neither of those and is very explicitly just "allan." While he isnt necessarily gnc in our world, in this one he is (or at least just nonconforming in some way)
Someone pointed this out in the comment section and something I have been thinking for some time is, the "pick-me" criticism because you didn't like something stereotypically feminine always completely ignores the fact that this pick me attitude didnt emerge out of nowhere and formed because of patriachy's hostility towards gender non conforming women. We really are coming full circle.
Good point
The pick me insult is about women that are jealous of other women and find some way to insult them. Let's stop pretending that women aren't cruel to each other or that when they are it's because of the "patriarchy".
Finally someone said it
It's ok to be cynical about the Barbie movie.
New Super Yaki Shirt just dropped
Really? Try to be all over internet and see how people call you far right trump supporter no matter your political affiliation.
You're so different, omg
@@ArchiduquesaMAyou’re so different for supporting the billion dollar Mattel ad, omg
It's also ok to just feel nice and seen and positive about the funny pink movie without needing to interrogate it.
The ‘Let People Enjoy Things’ thought terminating cliché irks me so much.
How does other people having a critical conversation have anything to do with your enjoyment of it?
I get why people get defensive over media aimed at women because of the history of misogynistic backlash against media aimed at women. But not all criticism of media aimed at women is misogynistic and sometimes criticism shows that people respect a work or it's target audience enough to analyse it and take it seriously
@@redactedredacted6656 exactly, attacking all criticism on media made by women... is an attack on critiques that are also made by women, and if we say that women's media is not allowed to be criticized, then we are saying that women's media should not evolve and that will make women's media stale and bad in the long run. criticism is not a bad thing, it is constructive, we should stop having that stigma on it because of some men just really not having any media literacy
when we criticize, they either become self-aware and dislike what they once liked, or just feel they're listening to a broken record and just want it to stop. But I ain't stopping, nobody is telling the biggest corporations to stop etching their product names and info in our brains.
you can be critical about things you enjoy too. critical doesn’t mean hate, i think more people need to realize that
@@emmyuwu5403 very that
the self-aware lines about barbie ruining the planet were just a vehicle to sell us vehicles. those loving car commercial-esque shots of the cars said it all about how this was not about challenging the corporate status quo at all which also left me feeling a hollow sense of enjoyment
Sponsored by Chevolret.
You perfectly put into words how I felt after seeing Barbie. There were *glimpses* of beauty and humanity but it was very much fighting an uphill battle against the Mattel of it all.
I sincerely hope this isn’t indicative of Gerwig’s future endeavors working as a studio director, because Little Women and Lady Bird are very special films to me.
@@tonimashdane33498 I don’t recall saying anything about censoring artists. I hope Greta Gerwig continues to have a successful career and gets to do whatever she wants
@@tonimashdane33498 Not the brightest bulb, eh?
@@tonimashdane33498 some of the greatest filmmakers of all time? lol
WATCH MORE MOVIES!
@@claynorth964 ignore that person, they been in this comment section for weeks ranting abt directors names that normal people would not be able to recognize lmao. That scene in Barbie where they made fun of the godfather probly applies to them
@@tonimashdane33498 🥱🥱🥱
Something I hate about online media discourse is that if you like or dislike something, it always reflects on your character in some way. People have learned ,“I personally don’t like this” doesn’t have as much weight as, “if you like/dislike this then you’re a bad person”. People are not the media they consume.
This, most people treat feminism or activism like a pin you wear on your chest, as opposed to values you try to embody. It still ends up being about "identity" revolving around what you consume.
OOF. "'Identity' being about what you consume" is such a completely on-point description of much of our current social climate!! 😵 As Broey notes in this vid, that aspect of rampant capitalism has infiltrated sooo much of our popular culture? And often it's intensely self-contradictory, like trying to support a feminist & social justice stance by buying non-biodegradable products created by women in sweat shops...🤦🏻♀️
Great point, that's so true!! It feels rly rooted in capitalist/consumerist structures of thinking -- almost like peoples' identities and values are dictated by what they "consume" and "advertise" themselves as liking or not liking.
I think it can reduce/define media literacy and critique as, just, Marketing. Marketing of both personal beliefs/identities, and of whatever media is being discussed.
@@ernie39 this is so painfully true. god forbid you criticize something that a lot of people like. sometimes the things they like become their identity so much that, despite obvious flaws, they aren't willing to recognize it because they can't view any aspect of it as bad while still being able to enjoy it. perhaps if they accept that there are bad aspects, it feels reflective of who they are, so it means something is bad/wrong about them.
i'm seeing that with the second season of good omens. it is straight up bad but a WEIRD amount of people aren't willing to accept how poor quality it is, i suppose because it's gotten too tied up in their identity?
@@ernie39 because what you consume IS your identity. At least on the internet. Same for everyone.
Honestly, I loved the movie. I thought it was fun and I laughed the whole way through. But what keeps creeping into my mind is how all through the press tour not a single conversation ever edged close to talking about the insane amounts of licensed promotional material that's been made, about the hype encouraging overconsumption, etc. I expected at least a shy question along the lines of "did you have any qualms about the commercialization of the film" or at least "did you imagine it would lead to so many brands partnering with Mattel to sell us shit" or something along those lines.
That question would have been immediately cut. As a matter of fact there's little chance qs like those weren't posed, they probably popped up multiple times, but what we get is highly contrived.
same, I felt like the movie was overall really well executed and I enjoyed it, but it did rub me the wrong way how upheld the Mattel CEO and board members overall were. they did a little of mild call outs, but it really does feel like they could've done more. I get the movie was made by Mattel so they wouldn't, but still. I left really enjoying the movie but still feeling like I'd consumed pro-mattel propaganda
honestly the marketing was so clever i didnt even realize the barbie instagram filter was mattel's logo
Truly the height of affective cynicism is seeing that even subversion is marketable.
I’m not gonna lie, as someone who’s always had a love for dolls, I personally loved the Barbie movie despite it being nowhere near perfect, however, I do also feel cynical about it. The moment mattel announced a “cinematic universe” and also watching people go from hating the movie dolls to sweeping them off the shelves right after the movie came out it really hit me. You explained perfectly why I feel this way.
im so glad you posted this video- i feel like atm theres a strange mindset on the internet where criticising something even slightly, for a valid reason, is taken as HATING the entire movement/franchise/fandom. Its most prevalent in the taylor swift scene, where saying you dont really love one of her songs is taken as being a “pickme” and hating feminism. there’s a time and a place for critical thinking, but i think analysing massive media outputs in a dynamic way is really imoortant
imootant 🤭
"I like this but I'm going to criticize it, please don't send me hate mail" has become the standard opener for media crit video essays. For some people thinking critically deepens their enjoyment of media. Other people FREAK THE FUCK OUT at this. The latter really should stop watching videos by the former.
I'm 4 minutes into this video and Broey is still doing the standard disclaimer.
Yeah, I’ve been told by a lot of people online to “stop thinking so much, it’s Barbie” and I don’t think that’s ever a valid argument. It’s not criticism, it’s critique - there’s a difference. The former comes from a place of hatred; the latter from a fondness from the thing in question and a desire to make it the best it can be. Barbie was a good start, but nowhere near the ‘feminist masterpiece some people are calling it. People are starved for good media imo, this is probably the first mainstream film that’s tackled any subject matter deeper than bullying, and that’s depressing.
never thought i’d see the term “the taylor swift scene” a day in my life 😂
For me, it depends on who is doing the criticism, I trust Broey that she will do it with nuance and will point out compelling points with great examples. Some people only do bad faith criticism because the movie caters to women, and it's pink. Regarding the strikes, I am disappointed with all of the directors who aren't supporting the writers and the actors. That includes Gerwin.
I liked the movie, but I know it wasn't perfect, and the moment surrounding the movie it's weird, and a little voice in the back of my head kept asking if this was going to be the beginning of the Mattel Cinematic Universe, because I don't think I want a Barbie 2.
i am being so serious, you quite literally just put everything that i thought leaving the cinema yesterday into words. this is an incredibly thoughtful and eloquent video and i am appreciative that you were able to say so well what i couldn’t quite articulate. i wanted to be as ecstatic about barbie as others and couldn’t understand why i was having a hard time. now more than ever we need people like you to make videos like this-thank you!
agreed.
I felt the same. so glad to see this take well delivered
ABSOLUTELY AGREE! was coming to comment the exact same thing :) glad i’m not alone in how i felt about the movie-also as someone who WANTED to love it!
Honestly, I really liked it as a piece of entertainment. I wasn't expecting it to be like, feminist theory or whatever, because it's sponsored by a toy company. But I do think it's starting conversations about feminism and gender roles among a broad audience, which is good. It may not have the answers, but at least it gets people thinking about the questions.
My main issue was literally everything about Sasha's character; she seemed like one of those stupid gen Z caricatures that keep popping up everywhere nowadays with no actual substance, and the whole thing where she called Barbie a "fascist" made me roll my eyes in the theater, considering the actual fascism that many young people are concerned about is on the rise in the United States and elsewhere. It's an ideology that follows a specific set of characteristics that are important to look out for, so communicating the idea of "those silly young people call anything they don't like fascism!" trivializes a very real danger and the ability to recognize its warning signs. Also, having her arc go from stereotypical gen Z faux-activist to embracing a manufactured product of capitalism was... weird.
I did roll my eyes with Sasha’s dialogue when I was in the movie theater drinking my Sprite. And I stopped drink and I kind of cringed at her philosophy and semi faux ne pas political philosophy about, “Barbie”, being a mass manufactured product that has been around for decades since its inception in 1959. ‘59 and when it was only $1 back in the day. Now the median price for a Barbie Toy is $20.00. That is how much value Barbie is and how commodified this toy has become.
It's hard to call her a caricature when there are real people who actually talk like her, for example this comment section is filled with them.
Yea it's ironic and real downside to the film that the 2 "real" people in the movie were the most cliched and stereotypical and uninteresting. I never like to criticize a film on what I think it SHOULD have been - that's an asinine and backwards way of critiquing a film. But when I keep having unprompted thoughts of "why didn't they just go in this direction?" pop into my head I can't help but break my own rule.
The film would have been so much better and more cohesive if it was more of a buddy-trip movie where Barbie, Ken, and the mother/daughter had misadventures while learning from each other. Like, Barbie gets shredded by this tween and like...they have zero meaningful scenes together after. Sasha just kind of hovers in the background kinda learning Barbie is a "real" person with her own merit and worth but like, it's just kinda there and not given any narrative weight or attention.
If the movie wanted to make a point about how some girls engaged negatively with Barbie maybe make that girl more of a character and not a tired cliche? She could learn to be more open to different perspectives and not be so judgmental and mean. She doesn't have to be a Barbie stan at the end, but she could have a nice little coda at the end where she sees some little girls playing with Barbies and smiles or validates her friend who said she liked Barbie...because as the movie kinda pays lip service too, Barbie means different things to different people. And all of those perspectives are valid.
Oh shut it spinster
@@nope5657the real downside is the writing is fucking abysmal on almost every level
I inexplicably felt incredibly depressed and underwhelmed leaving it so I’m glad this video exists. I’ve been feeling awful for not loving it as much as everyone else.
i think we were all slightly disappointed, but it'll take years for everyone to actually admit it lol
@@elenamedrano5404wow I’m glad i read this before I saw the movie. I’m not quite brainwashed but it’s hard not to hop on the bandwagon at least a little bit when it’s such a pretty and pink bandwagon. Looking forward to watching it with a more nuanced view now
Yeah, I can feel this apprehension before going to see it. I'm going to, because that's a fomo I don't mind avoiding, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to switch off my critical brain for two hours to just enjoy the absurd escapism.
As, maybe, is unfortunately a survival strategy nowadays.
yeah it’s been difficult discussing my criticisms with my friends that all love it. They wave away all criticisms as “the movie is supposed to be feminism 101, you’re silly for expecting anything more. Intro to feminism is important too” when that’s not the point.
But is it too hard to understand that Barbie the movie is just as feminist as Barbie the toy? Sure the ideas the toy represents can be empowering, but it’s also manufactured from plastic and from outsourced exploited labor in foreign countries. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Barbie the toy is progressive only on the surface, so what’s so different about Barbie the movie? I would enjoy the movie a lot more if people weren’t so delusional about this films ulterior motives.
It’s because it was really mid. But if people want to project their own life experiences into the movie and for that reason feel that it’s amazing, they can’t expect someone who *didnt* resonate to love it regardless.
Ryan Goslings popularity with younger people is due in part to the "literally me" meme. So i believe his part as Ken is perfectly cast.
To the Ken's and the Allen's 🍻
Honestly Ryan Gosling was my favorite part of the film. He made me feel more sympathy and affection for Ken than I expected. Plus he has great comedic timing.
@@Missjunebugfreak
So many people are saying that that I predict that for the first time more Kens than Barbies will sell this Christmas. Which apparently, according to the film, would upset the head CEO of Mattel for some reason... Some clever Brer Rabbit type ruse by Mattel of "please don't give us your money. Oh no, not profit! My heart sinks more with every ching of the cash register!.~" They'll be weeping all the way to the bank!
@@Missjunebugfreak I loved Alan. I felt like Alan was representing how the patriarchy and toxic masculinity also hurts men who don't conform and don't want to be part of it. As someone who didn't really conform and was called homophobic slurs by my shitty toxic dad, it struck a cord with me.
@@Zectifin i agree Allan is the best. And not just because they spelt it correctly and that it happens to be my name. But what you just said too.
a movie made by corporations, about a toy made by corporations, a toy made in sweatshops, a toy exploiting women's bodies. But all good because, it's directed by a woman 😁
This is pretty much articulating exactly how I feel about the movie and general context. My sister and I unabashedly dressed WAY up to go to this movie and hoped to have a great time - and then were just silent and sad on the ride home.
I also had a bad gut feeling after I saw the Barbie movie and couldn’t understand why especially since all of my friends loved it. I think you hit the nail on the head with this video. I love the memes, I love the pink, I love the I am Kenenough but I don’t love how this movie is untouchable by criticism unless you are anti-feminism.
i don’t think it’s bad to critique it, but the reason it is loved is bc so much of media is bent on women being objects of glorified trauma porn to appear darker. people started creating all of these dreary “socially conscious” films and tv shows and true crime became more popular.
you can also critique the fact a lot of these sad and gloomy movies are made by rich nepo babies who don’t have to face the situation of what they’re making social commentary on like consumerism, capitalism, or the rich exploiting the poor.
much of the other “diverse” media including poc has arcs of anti-racism where poc just have to be socially conscious abt how we are treated from every aspect, which includes non white women and feminism.
barbie isn’t exempt from critique, but the entire point is that women also put ourselves into holes when trying to be these perfect poster children for activism, especially when lots of minorities and kind of tired of being the “activist” roles and don’t want to think about oppression toward us all the time. which is the reason poc becoming conservatives is reaction to liberalism eating who it’s supposed to aid. it is usually white women/men w liberal values kind of sticking their feet in the sand and not considering how it’s not good for poc or poor ppl to only be exposed to media abt how brutal the world is toward us.
It’s because of the marketing. The movie is one giant ad and the marketing team is trying to make it a feminist thing so that it’s immune from criticism
@@pixi3d3ath47 there are so many actually good movies that are about women’s trauma (The Nightingale is one of my favorites), that’s not the issue with this movie. It’s just an ad
@@intrusive-th0tvery true
That’s probably because the incels like Ben Shapiro & piers Morgan have dominated the critical conversation around the Barbie movie so it feels like many ppl are protective of the movie & the feminist message.
Fascinating that you brought up Mattel’s new strategy in this video, and that makes the cynicism feel more trenchant.
Yes.
They are planning to make 45 movies based on their ip’s😂
@@weird-guy we really do live in the most hellish fucking timeline for artists, don't we?
Broey is right. The moment we need a multi billion dollar company as our only vehicle to co opt feminist messaging…. We’ve already lost. The “let people enjoy things” argument is equivalent to saying, “please let me forget who my enemy is. I really like their toys”. They throw us propaganda pamphlets and we keep picking them up from the ground.
@@eg4441 Mass inequality & monopolisation is basically just returning us to the historical norm of art largely existing as something commissioned by the powerful bourgeoisie and aristocracy lmao
So I’m older (in my 40’s) and I LOVED my Barbies as a means of escape/control over my chaotic poverty environment. My “barbieland” was always in my closet of whatever house we lived in and it was the one place I could control my environment and act out my fantasies of having access to ~things~ that indicated success/security. I also acted out aggression, self loathing, frustration and malice.
It’s so interesting to me how this movie reminded me of those same impulses I had as a 9 yr old - I found myself enjoying the Barbieland moments and then becoming ENRAGED and depressed as the film continued to disappoint me. Mirroring my experience with “aging out of” girlhood playing with dolls era. I left the theater seeing everyone in pink teary eyed or smiling and I remembered how I felt disconnected from the experiences my peers SEEMED to be having?
Granted, I did microdose before the movie so my mind was opening farther than normal but it was very much a moment of “I am every age I’ve ever been.” And there’s a comfort in holding that space for yourself - while simultaneously being filled with white hot rage at the exploitation of that same “resource” by the capitalist mechanisms.
My daughter is only a few years younger than you ( she’s how i found your channel💕 she’s also a Preminger stan & knows all the lyrics to YOURE JUST LIKE ME- she wore those DVDs out😂) and I am so impressed with y’all’s generation of analysts- it’s definitely where your anxiety roots from and that can be debilitating but it’s also where your power derives. Y’all REALIZE so much and that in turn makes existence painful(& beautiful.)
I tell my kid the only bit of wisdom I’ve gained from aging so far is the realization that the color spectrum of my emotional multitudes on ANY SUBJECT is so varied and pixelated when examined up close. So I do my best to just take each thought as it comes, constantly trying to be present and considering of the context involved.
Does it help? I dunno sometimes? I’m still a sad girl at heart and I know my kid is also a sad girl at heart and I feel like most of us who love this channel are sad girls.
But it’s kinda nice right?
Like we’re Barbieland adjacent. We exist between both realms. Balancing between the suffering of awareness and the endless optimism of knowing how incredible being a GIRL is.
Thank you for your time and effort on this, as per ushz. And I love the fundraiser idea for strike support.
LETS KEEP GOING I GUESS🎉
'Barbie' has demonstrated that titillating a prefabricated kind of artificial, plastic feminism through the absolute innocence of a girlie toy works beyond capitalism 's wildest (wet) dreams.
Complacency sells.
anyone remember how in prerelease PR interviews of actors they were hyping movie up to be “not at all what you would imagine: fantastic, genius plot subverting expectations”? well, honestly, it came out to be exactly what i would imagine.
That's just them doing their jobs
@@gleewhoseline198 i’m not criticizing actors. and i’m not saying it’s not their jobs, i understand that. i’m saying it didn’t subvert any expectations and it’s funny to notice in retrospect. idk what they thought we were imagining? frame by frame play doll in silence? or life action “Princess and Pauper”?
“i guess you’d never imagine Mattel making “self-aware”, pop feminist movie, addressing surface lever criticism of barbie that they heard from their customers for decades and also coincidentally improved their product based on that said criticism!”
They sold out actually being able to get the message of the movie across for the sake of selling tickets. There was never a *chance* of this movie just getting fair criticism, of people just being able to watch it and absorb it for what it is, pretty much everyone who went in to see that movie had an idea in their heads of what it already was to them and watching it was just the chore you did so you could get to writing your article or script.
Which is kind of the opposite of any sort of "revival of cinema" to me. It was excellent marketing, but it fucking killed the joy in watching this movie. It's like you can't say anything at all about it without it being a statement about your politics and you as a person
@@chloedsmith exactly
"If we're passed corporations trying to sell us stuff through art, then we may as well give up." Is something I've been hounding on for forever. Thank you for saying it out loud.
What are you saying?
OH. ****PAST
This is such bs man. The barbie movie doesn't even encourage people to buy toys. It discourages people to purchase the product. Secondly, why is barbie is corporate shill and the lego movie is fine and every movie ever. So if something is a product you can't be a fan of it? It's funny how feminists hate women.
Idk why yall are acting like products can't be good. You can make art of a product. Take the lego ninjago show, tenkai knightd for instance or the thousands of other products including my little Pony. Everything is a product except true art. Does that mean it should mean any less to people? To kids? I pity your children who you probably will only let watch indie films instead of cartoons. Or maybe you're not so cruel and only hold this for adults. Fair. But be consistent. I get why women feel they are shamed for liking girly things. By women too because it's "just a corporate product". No sht everything is. Doesn't take away the fun you have with the product or the brand animated shows and videos
Idk I don’t mind being sold stuff lmao I like stuff
13:49 I’m glad that you mentioned América Ferrera’s monologue- she’s speaking the truth, but it was so blatant that I couldn’t help but mentally check out. Great video, made me not feel bad for having an opinion about the movie between love and hate.
people calling this movie subversive would pass out watching an actual subversive one
I think the main reason i was so joyful about the movie was that it was the first time women's childhoods were being rejoiced in the same way men's are (not saying that boys don't play with barbies or girls dont play with lego) but like after years of transformers and lego and marvel and dc like we got one that was Girl-coded. The joy was seeing people embrace femininity. It's difficult because even with the previous cases, it's like i don't want to buy their merch and get more plastic in the world, and they are basically toy ads too. But this toy ad is for the others in the room? Like the joy is seeing people embrace fuschia and not be embarrassed by it.
But that doesn't make it not be the same as the lego movies
That’s great but it certainly didn’t make it a good story
I thought it was great so that’s a subjective opinion.
People embrace femininity every day though. Women are pressured into being feminine.
@@TheOwlQueenTwo things can be true at once. Femininity is still undervalued. Women who want to be feminine should be able to express themselves and get media that represents them taken seriously. While it’s debatable how good the movie is and the future of Mattel IP does look bleak, the OP is just pointing out that masculine IP gets plenty of representation. So much so that it has completely saturated the market.
A "boys toy" is a long antiquated term. What franchise or brand can be said to be actually uniquely boy's toys anymore? A "boys toy" is more a subjective label than a planned demographic consumer group. It would be called out as exclusionary in it's moments of launch if attempted these days. But still, I get it the idea that "girly" has been something that people have been treating like cringe these days too. It does feels unfair and meanspirited, so I am glad the Barbie Movie was so well received for that reason.
About the message being too much on the nose, I think our current climate of media illiteracy led Gerwig this direction. And even then people misinterpreted the message (sometimes willingly).
Honestly not surprised writers have taken this route given the common misinterpretation of so many works. Half of Oliver Stones movies come to mind; Wallstreet, critical of capitalism, becomes a favorite of those it was meant to critique. Platoon; antiwar movie becomes ever dad that never got the opportunity to kill foreigners favorite action movie. W; meant to be a takedown on the man and his Presidency becomes a sympathetic look at a man trying to get daddies approval.
Or maybe Gerwig just Isn’t That Girl. She has stated she wants to be a female big hollywood blockbuster director. Those kinds of films like Avatar or Marvel or Fast and Furious…. Those kind of billion-dollar-making films arent known for being “good”, but rather “entertaining”.
Gerwig isnt some ultra-profound feminist-turned-director. She just wants to make billion-dollar-making movies.
this!! she understood the assignment and while it sucks that it’s still operating within an exploitative system, i think bringing feminism into the national conversation with widely digestible themes is really important, and i think greta recognized that in order to gain the visibility to achieve that you have to get eyes on it and that equals marketing and money
Willingly! Yes
@@Shtuhtefup Sure, one thing is how on the nose the message is, another is what the message itself is. The feminism she portrayed in the movie is very much watered down, either because she wanted to or because the studio(s) imposed that.
I finally saw Barbie (still haven't seen oppenheimer), and I was super disappointed. I thought it was meh. But I felt the same about Lady Bird, so maybe Greta Gerwig isn't for me? Or maybe I had high expectations? I just don't understand why it was such a big subject for the past few months.
And I was a huge fan of Barbie as a kid, she was one of my favourite toys. The first clothes I made was for her. I had the Pocahontas Barbie, a blonde barbie, and Ariel. A friend of my grandma was helping me make and design clothes for them, it is such a sweet memory for me.
I really wanted to like the movie but had troubles finding any interest in the story. I feel like everything I liked about it was in the trailer (the mirror, the feet, all the Barbie doll stuff)
After watching Barbie with my girlfriend, we talked about what the movie would look like and be about if it was by a different director and their style (granted I wouldn't say Barbie is in Greta Gerwigs style).
Like imagine if Barbie was made by Lars von Trier, or Ari Aster.
ari aster making a doll movie would be amazing
Nah I want HARMONY KORINE cause he'd make something bonkers.
I agree with this. I also think that reliving the realization of what it is to be a woman, through Barbie, was meaningful and thought provoking. My boyfriends 60 year old Russian mom who doesn’t even believe in feminism cried. The film changed her perspective and made her realize the ways she’s suffered. She got to know herself better. I think that means something even if it’s still part of capitalistic hell
totally agree
yes!!!!! For a politically active leftist feminist it was just a bit of fun. but I was so excited to take my mum and my nan to see it because for them even that bare minimum was huge. there are so many women and girls who don't even get the stuff in barbie we take as given and I'm glad that the film was 'commercial' enough for it to be able to sneak under the radar to them and hopefully plant a seed of something bigger.
it's not for the girls, it's for the mums! 🩷x
It's so sad that despite there being such wonderful literature that already explores these themes, with a lot more depth, which includes hierarchies, class struggle (and without being hijacked for corporate profit) that this is how people discover social commentary, and that they may never explore beyond it.
I was actually so shocked that reactionaries were labelling this "woke feminist propaganda" when it has such a shallow, inoffensive and recuperating concept of feminism.
This was largely how I felt about it. While I completely agree that the movie would have been better if it didn't have the commercial, capitalistic undercurrent, I think that the movie is still playing an incredibly important societal role. The movie was able to wake a lot of women up to their own experiences. As a lefty myself, I wasn't always pleased with the movie, but so many women have had such little exposure to feminism that for them, the movie was a revelation. The accounts of women breaking up with their boyfriends or coming to a deeper understanding of their own experiences are enough for me to say that the movie is a net good, even though it ought not to be taken at face value in several important respects.
You made a great point discussing Media Literacy. It's impertinent to never stop asking questions such as "why did they make this?" "who is making money from this?" and "can I trust this source to tell me the truth about this?" When you stop asking questions, you fall victim to what these evil media companies are trying to suck you into. But hey, to each their own, I guess!
Easily one of- if not THE best, most thoughtful and on-point reviews I’ve seen of this film. THANK YOU! Actual good faith - non-misogynistic - critique of this film is a rare as hens teeth. A breath of fresh air.
you just earned another sub.
I don’t think some guys get the “just Ken” thing. It’s about not being the perfect guy and how those of us who weren’t popular are just as good. It’s a bone we were thrown that we don’t even deserve in a good movie.
"Almost nothing is shown through the stroytelling" is the biggest issue, 100%, and what even was the plot!?
The plot is that a middle aged woman works at Matel and she imagines what it would be like if Barbie were real. She imagines the thing she wishes Barbie reflected, like her real concerns and thoughts and realistic body issues. She imagines what she would want her daughter to say about how terrible this product she loves is. But she also loves it. It was meaningful to her in her childhood. And she imagines conflating that doll's world with her own. Are her nameless, faceless, corporate overlords really any different from the plastic they produce? Well, they are in that in their real world, the patriarchy exists, so they made up a fantasy to sell to girls to pretend it doesn't. What would it be like if that fantasy were just as patriarchal as the real world? And she imagines the real world infecting the world of the toys and how that would look.
She then lives out a fantasy in which by simplu yelling her opinions at people and telling them to vote, she could solve the problems of life that, in the real world, are just not that simple. And it would be nice if she could take that simplicity back to the real world with her. So it ends with her imagining Barbie as her real life friend.
But all of it is in her head. Nothing actually happens in the movie.
At least, that's my take.
@@Sam_on_RUclips This woulda been a cool storyline for sure.
@@keenoled It was all there. You just had to work for it a bit. That's what made the movie interesting to me. And also what Gerwig was able to do with her own corporate overlords watching. I imagine she probably felt a lot like America Ferrera's character was somewhat representing her. Or at least her own self-perception, at least to some degree. She said that she didn't cut much because Matel had already cut enough. I'd love to have seen her own Director's Cut of the film. But I don't think we'll be allowed to see that.
Interestingly enough, I'm a guy and I went to see the film with a bunch of my female friends. And they all had that reaction that the social commentary aspects fell flat.
They were too shallow and simplified to actually speak to them in any way. It felt shoved in due to expectation and unnecessary to the general story this specific film was telling.
If you think about it the reason the film even needed America Ferrera to monologue all the themes in a heavy handed manner is because the film itself really isn't about those things or didn't do a good job showing it by the story itself.
In my opinion (for what it's worth) it was a film about an estranged mother daughter relationship, unrequited love, and maybe what it means to be human (in a basic way).
And then the social commentary was thrown in due to expectation bc of Barbie's place in the cultural discussion but not built into the foundation of the film.
Otherwise it could almost seem harmful to portray the patriarchy as hapless idiots who just need girl bosses to tell them what's right as opposed to the complex and more insidious concept that it is.
And ironically I think the film inadvertently tackles the idea of traditional masculinity and men feeling forced into it in a more detailed way than it portrays female identity; boiling it down to the stereotypical attributes like just being pretty, motherhood, etc.
I think it's ok to expect some level of complexity if it decides to tackle a subject. It doesn't need to be the most brilliant take but it's ok to want it not to be shallow and kind of sanitize a real issue.
On the other hand, if this film spoke to young girls or adult women in a meaningful way, who am I to judge?
(Also this wasn't a film for kids, bc most of the topics it did broach seem to be about issues adults deal with not kids and a lot of adult humor. So people using that excuse are just actively ignoring the movie itself.)
no this is exactly what i said.. like the ending felt way way more meaningful than the entire movie because the way they addressed toxic masculinity with the kens dancing and all was way more well done than how they addressed feminism through the entire movie. The kens were definitely the most fun aspect and i absolutely hate that because than it just makes the feminist message feel over bearing and nagging (like how most men think of women) and imo doesn’t really do it any justice. i’ve seen some women say that it changed their perspective on life and for that i guess it’s good? sometimes we have to remember not everyone has a youtube degree on social issues and that there’s plenty of women out there that have been alienated from this message. but that’s the only context i can think it’s any useful in
I agree, the exploration of masculinity was unexpectedly creative and pretty solid imo! Obviously the movie's focus is Barbie (and by extension, how kids tend to play with Barbies/disregard Kens) and I don't want to take away from that, but I do like to imagine a version of the story that explores the Kens' (and Allen's) alienation with both Barbieland and real world patriarchal expectations a little more!
Totally agree… I think the Ken subplot was by far the most elaborate and the only one that actually got a satisfying conclusion. The mother-daughter story was underbaked and the daughter gets nearly forgotten by the end of the movie…
I felt the exact same way!
@arthurdurham
I think it’s hilarious that large portions of the population that consider themselves erudite throw around the phrase “the patriarchy” a lot.
Hardly anybody used that phrase 20 years ago except for the most cloistered academics. Society today could sure use a catastrophe to distract us from our first-world issues….
My thoughts exactly. I was so excited for this movie. I saw it during its second day of release with my friend who saw it opening night. As soon as it ended she excitedly turned to me and asked what I thought. I was like "...I have mixed feelings."
I did not hate the movie by any stretch; it's super enjoyable. I saw it a further two times in the theater and bought a bootleg shirt that says "when I found out the patriarchy wasn't about horses I lost all interest." But I didn't love it. And I felt like there's a lot of problematic stuff in it that was simply glossed over and nobody will talk with me about.
Thank you so much for this well-reasoned video. You are one of my favorite youtubers. You remind me so much of Lindsay Ellis (who still uploads new videos to Nebula, in case anyone is wondering).
Came here from your offline pod with Favreau. Nice work - the most telling performative contradiction in the work is that the marketing budget exceeded the production budget. Cannot separate the creative work from the corporate intent; and yes every studio has corporate intent - but not all of these are made equal. Marvel started because they wanted to boost their toy sales
I remember hearing a couple of months ago that the scrip went through a lot of rewrites, and after seeing the movie, I'm pretty sure most of those were because of the Mattel board of directors thing. Their place in the movie is so strange, they don't really do anything besides giving Will Farrell a couple of minutes of screentime.
They aren't good, but they aren't evil (they aren't nounced either), they don't have any real effect on the plot... I believe they are vestiges of an older script that really dealt with feminist issues from an structural and cultural standpoint, but was later sanitized into the #DestroyThePatriarchy movie we ended up getting.
Honestly, the only reason I can think of for not cutting them out completely is that they had already hired Will/he had shown interest in the part and he's too big to reject.
Nobody's "too big to reject" in Hollywood, that's not how it works... I think the Mattel board storyline feels awkward and unnecessary because it was a request from Mattel. Self-deprecation paints them in a great light. If Mattel is aware of its own flaws and even heavily funds a movie exposing them and promoting feminism, how bad can buying a Barbie for my daughter really be???
I mean, from what I've heard, the earliest versions of the movie were basically shitting on Barbie for her perceived affect on beauty standards, that was scrapped and then they wanted Barbie to be very girlboss-ish (as in like, the obnoxious mlm type of girlboss if I'm understanding correctly, not literally in an mlm, but that type of "girlboss" attitude), and then they brought on Gerwig and now we have the Barbie movie we got, and Mattel went a bit more hands off after bringing on Gerwig if I remember correctly
It does feel like it has like 3 different points it was trying to make, and the executives really felt out of place
I’m going to choose to believe this is the case. I felt the same way, it’s like they wanted to do so much more with them but I could almost feel their hand in everything, saying, “don’t take this too far.” Margot Robbie said in an interview she never thought this movie would be made because it has Mattel in it 👀
@@elizabethb4168 Obviously - the entire marketing point of this movie from Mattels perspective with bringing in Gerwig was to say "hey you know that talk about how Barbie negatively effected girls body image? Well forget it and look over there, aren't men awful!"
Little note, but I really thought that Ryan Gosling casting was clever for his past roles as brutal emotionally cold figures of masculinity (Drive, Blade Runner, etc). Those moments where those dark characters seemed to shine through the doofy Ken character (especially when he Discovers Patriarchy TM) are still utterly chilling to me; and honestly makes him the standout performance.
But at the same time one could argue Ryan acted in La La Land.. I think it was a nice plus for Gerwig to cast Gosling and use his Sigma-Meme impact which he didn't create but was a side product of his cinematic past.
@@yuakai1995 you're right, this other aspect of his past performances does exist and, indeed, adds to it.
Gosling's Ken initially puts you in mind of his romance-genre characters, just a charming himbo with great musical chops - until the mask starts to break and through the cracks we see a dreadfully familiar brutality.
And apropos of that 'Sigma Man' phenomenon, this Ken performance is like a microcosm of watching male loved ones grow up and become wrapped up in toxic masculinity and associated extremisms.
ryan is also a great choice in hollywood for romantic movies. bro was in a lot of romantic movies back in the day, like the notebook, la la land, crazy stupid love, blue valentine... so him being the lover in this film is mostly based off of that history too.
I don’t know about that. Goslings characters were more or less a depiction of a broken man that people in today’s world twisted into the ideal image of masculinity and what masculinity truly is. When it feels more like a representation of the harshness of masculinity and the parts of masculinity that just aren’t safe for anyone. But maybe you’re referring to something more meta? Like Greta Gerwig understands how many view Goslings characters now and it more or less matters what the characters are viewed as instead of what they’re intended to be?
@@iloopedaround2798 that's correct, I'm talking about the meta perspective (& I wouldn't diametrically oppose that with intentional writing).
A movie-going audience who are familiar with the large movies of the past 10-20 years sees Gosling!Ken and is initially primed to view him in the light of the actor's romcom characters - and when Gosling!Ken's cracks start to form, they (or at least, I) would be invariably reminded (again, on a meta level) of the other much darker of his characters and all the film-literary weight they bring with it.
It is the value of having an actor who is typecast in such a specific dichotomy; and it strikes me as a purposeful choice that makes use of the film landscape that's come before it.
I also found it very telling that america ferrera’s character towards the end of the movie talks about making a Barbie that isn’t a doctor or a lawyer or an necessarily extraordinary woman but an ordinary woman who can choose to be whatever she wants. Will Ferrell ceo says that dolls like that won’t sell but then another exec tells him that it’ll make a lot of money and he’s suddenly onboard.
Not only did I find it kind of ironic that the movie wants Mattel’s ceo to seem like a bumbling profit driven joke but also a champion of women and little girls dreams, but also because Mattel’s less gimmicky/concept driven and more “ordinary” Barbies haven’t been selling as well with little girls and andult collectors alike since around the 2010’s.
In part because we’re all glued to screens like broey said haha, but also because a lot of people with nostalgia for Barbie and other dolls and toys in the same niche have been craving that whimsy of older releases and not just nostalgia or branding they want creativity. Even at the end of the movie Mattel is still headed by a boring man in a pink tie and the offices are full and gray.
I just found it funny as a person who knows a lot about Barbie and her history and keeps up with the dolls but doesn’t buy them anymore that it felt like they were trying to argue that their newer business model was more feminist as if feminism has to be plain and boring and lacking any sort of nuance
It makes you feel like if you don’t like the newer Barbie dolls even though they’re criticized for being cheap and un-creative you must just hate women and same goes for the movie.
Still love Greta gerwhig, still love Barbie, still love pink
But I felt really underwhelmed after just watching this movie as a 20yr old who’s been really anticipating this movie and has always been obsessed with the dolls and never really grew out of my Barbie phase.
Mattel as a character in this movie writes itself as lovable allies to women but also entirely clueless men and defensive about it; sincere, but also cynical capitalists, bumbling and intimidating, benevolent girl power grandmother God, and possibly a metaphor for societal pressure put on Ken to define himself by a relationship (?). It all made it So confusing and muddled.
Like I wanted to watch the Barbie movie not the Lammily movie
THANK YOU I am the only one of my friends who has been feeling underwhelmed and critical of Barbie, who just felt like the story was bland in addition to all of the by now well trod critiques about lukewarm feminism and capitalism. I deeply appreciate getting to hear such well organized and researched and supported critique!!
I did like the movie for the jokes and Barbie exploring what it means to be human, but I felt a bit disconnected from the movie as a whole. I think you hit the nail on the head for me when you mentioned how the movie was spoon-feeding a message rather than telling a cohesive story. I think that's why the humanity thruline appealed to me - it was the one element of the movie that WASN'T spoon-fed to the audience tbh
i hate when people call other girls 'pick me' or say they have internalized misogyny just because they dont like things like barbie. you have no idea if other women are doing it for attention or not, so it comes off less like supporting femininity and more like bashing other women for daring to be masculine
It’s also not even necessarily an issue of masculinity or femininity, you can like feminine things and girly movies and still not want to sit through a literal movie length toy ad lol
I’m not surprised that people have that take. The internet have taken deep and nuance topics to superficial simple hot takes, and people eat that up
its odd cause the person who is misogynist and making fun of women is the one calling others "pick me"
It’s so unserious and gender essentialist.
Idg how people who do this think they’re helping feminism, the idea that serious topics are for men and women only like pink and romcoms is something women in the industry have had to fight against for years.
I'm convinced that women who jump at any chance to call other women pick-me's without any evidence do so because they're projecting.
The woman they've accused of being a pick-me has simply said "I enjoy/do not enjoy x." They only mean it as a statement about themselves, and there isn't an implied judgment about women who feel differently.
But the other woman DOES intend an unspoken judgement of others when she says what she enjoys. And so she assumes that everyone else must think and act just as she does.
This is the only way I can think of to make sense of how casually they throw the term around.
The movie also doesn't understand many of Barbie's controversial dolls, the reason pregnant barbie was discontinued WASN'T cause a pregnant doll was seen as weird, but from people complaining that the doll wasn't wearing a wedding ring and "promoting" teen pregnancy, even though it wasn't, there are plenty of pregnant dolls out there, many doll collectors still make material to make their barbies look pregnant, nobody actually cares if a barbie doll is pregnant, also the camera barbie was controversial due to the FBI thinking it can be used to stalk children, but the film just makes a joke about how weird it is that barbie has a camera in her back, it also jokes about Ruth's tax fraud, but never mentions the plagiarism allegations with the original barbie's design, it's acting like it gets the criticisms, but it doesn't, even with seemingly easy targets
My lecturer gave my whole class the link to this video as a point of reference for what is expected if we chose to make a video essay
On barbie day, I spent the whole afternoon getting all dressed up. Not necessarily because I’m a huge barbie fangirl (at least not more than the average), but because I love an excuse to wear a costume. Then I drank too much water and had to pee like 1/3rd of the way into the movie, but I didn’t wanna miss it so I just held it in the whole time.
As I ran to the bathroom the moment the credits rolled, I loved the movie. I cried multiple times throughout but I’m kind of embarrassed I did that? I’ve been telling myself that maybe most of my brainpower must’ve been focused on my bladder, but really it was probably just another lapse in self awareness as a privileged white woman in the target demographic for this film. On the way home, my friends were discussing their criticisms of the film and I was ashamed to realize that the critical part of my brain had apparently been turned off. I’m usually pretty quick to figure out what I don’t like about a piece of media and I take what’s probably a little too much pride in being able to come up with an opinion of my own before I hear it from someone else. As I listened to my friend voice her gripes with the film, I felt dumb.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, cynicism isn’t the worst thing in the world. It might not be as fun as turning your brain off and spending money, but it’s really important right now to stay sharp. I’m sorry people online were so hostile to you. The points you made in this video were spot on.
Their defensiveness is understandable but that doesn’t make it correct. You maintained a clear head even through a tsunami of advertising that was directed squarely at your demographic. Props to you.
You know it's also okay to like the movie, right? There are things I would have changed about it, but in the end, I still enjoyed it. 🤷♀️
Why are you guilt tripping yourself over liking a movie? Just because you like Barbie and your critical brain has been turned off while watching it, doesn't mean that you're suddenly a privileged white woman that doesn't see beyond her own worldview. Don't self-flagellate. It's perfectly fine to just enjoy a movie without constantly being critical of every aspect. Life is too short for us to constantly give a shit about every problem in this world. If someone else or your friends try to make you feel like you're a bad person just because you liked Barbie, then fuck them!
@@psychedelicyeti6053 You're right. I should've been more careful with my phrasing. I don't regret enjoying it, in fact I'm thankful for as much dopamine as I can get. I just regret turning off the critical side of my brain. Usually I'm able to do both. This time it felt like I fell for the advertising or something and lost a piece of my usual self.
Idk, I thought it might make anyone kicking themselves or feeling isolated for their cynicism feel a little better about it. This wasn't meant as shade to anyone that liked the movie. One can both enjoy art and critique it.
definitely no need to feel ashamed! the film made me tear up on two separate occasions, and i laughed a ton.
i didn't turn off my critical brain but i ignored it on purpose until i got deep into the film. and i don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to like something enough that you switch it off, even if its advertising or something. it was the most hyped movie of the year and a whole even -- with everyone getting dressed and hyping it up online. it's understandable
realising or learning things, now or later, doesn't matter so long as we do so eventually ! i hope you dont feel dumb anymore
Jesus lol
I also felt like the themes in this movie were super muddled due to all of the conflicts that gertwig introduced into the plot. i mean, there was the criticism voiced by ariana greenblatt's character about how Barbie upholds an unrealistic standard of beauty, the mattel boss villains, the relationship between the mom and the daughter, barbie being misaligned with america ferrera's character, ken making barbieland a patriarchy, etc., and the movie struggles to wrap all of these different conflicts up in a conclusive way.
i feel like this could maybe be due to the super short runtime?? or mattel breathing down gertwig's neck?
@@QuesadillaQuest808 sooo true! i forgot about this plot point entirely, but I totally agree- if the movie had stuck to one concept (ex: existential dread or gender politics but NOT BOTH), it would've been much better for it
with the trailer i expected mattel to be relevant to the plot but they literally did nothing but react to barbie's existence.
i also totally believed it was going to be about the theme of existential dread and perhaps link to feelings of growing up so i was also confused by the plot of setting up a patriarchy in barbieland
I can't believe you brought up The Most Popular Girls in School. I thought I dreamt that because no one ever knows what I'm talking about when I bring it up.
Also great video. There are such conflicting thoughts because I enjoyed the movie so much and there were meaningful themes that I felt so connected to (all the parts that had to do with being human, like another commenter pointed out- her looking at the old woman, and looking around at all the people in the park as she's seeing these different emotions for the first time). But at the same time knowing even if the movie is "criticizing" capitalism and Mattel, people are still going to go out to buy anything Barbie related.
And the mother-daughter moment started so good and went to nothing immediately. And I hated the on-the-nose rant they gave America sooo much.
This was extremely cogent and insightful. I love your take on not only Barbie but modern day society. You seem wise beyond your years. The comment you made about the need for media literacy and being clear on when you’re being sold some thing is beyond priceless. That seems to be something that no one says. We are living in scary times where it has become apparent to me in the last 3 to 4 years that people literally just don’t think for themselves and don’t question what they are being told and sold and fed. This was very refreshing.
omg thank you. I loved going to the cinema with my friends and dressing all pink, it was a great evening, I wish all summers had a big movie moment like this. can't wait to do it all again in 2024 for the Wicked movie lol but i've grown so irritated in the past few weeks because it feels like criticising this movie is inherently anti-feminist. corporations like Mattel and WB have infinitely more power than activist groups and scholars could ever dream of having, so when they make something "feminist" it makes a much more giant splash in the cultural landscape. Barbie -and pop corporate feminism in general- gets to define what feminism is and looks like for millions of people, i'm genuinely worried about the message that it's putting out there. i'm tired of feeling like i'm simultaneously promoting anti-feminist messages and robbing all my friends of every fun experience at gunpoint when i say that the plot of the movie was rushed and the writing was way too didactic.
however, ryan gosling is a national treasure and i will defend his performance with my very life
edit: congrats on joining nebula
Right, like feminism isn’t about fighting for paid maternity leave (the US is one of only 2 countries in the world that doesn’t have this) or giving women enough financial security that none of us will ever be forced to resort to sex work, it’s about buying pink clothes and Barbie merch… vom
Thank you! This is what I wish I could say. No one in my circle will tolerate a word being said against the film or the franchise. It's painful to witness how readily they'll close their eyes and ears in exchange for a bit of fun.
@@intrusive-th0t
That is what corporate wokeness is about; steer conversation away from any issue that might affect the bottom line, like minimum wage or parental leave. If this is divisive and controversial and feels existential to both sides of that controversy then all the better - that will keep the populace distracted for longer!
@@Larissa-eo3pt
Do you think it is the fun that motivates them or the virtuousness? If they genuinely believe that anyone not liking the film is anti-feminist and therefore deplorable that creates an Emperor's New Clothes situation in which no one wants to admit they don't like it.
@@markpostgate2551 It's the fun and the validation they enjoy for being hyperfeminine. Both of which are fine by the way. But they praise the film for its feminism right up to the point when someone like me points out that it wasn't that feminist, actually. At which point they exclaim "It was never supposed to be feminist! Geez lighten up! Just let people enjoy things!"
I see your point about the Emperor's New Clothes situation. There are so many ways to be wrong about this movie in the eyes of its rabid fans, even someone like me whose politics are mostly approximal to theirs.
I really like this idea that the movie is catering to women's nostalgia rather than girls. I had similar discomforts watching the film. At the time I sort of framed it as 'This movie is more interested in the top-down analysis of what Barbie is intended to mean than the bottom-up analysis of how girls actually use and play with Barbies as an active process (Despite Barbie being toy designed after a doll designer noticed girls weren't playing with baby dolls as intended [I believe the list I found had her list them talking to the dolls, dragging them with them by the legs and using one as makeshift hammer. It's one of the reason Barbie dolls are MUCH more durable than fashion dolls of the same era which were mostly porcelain or paper]). I think I got my hopes up with the way the first half of the movie implicitly raised some of these issues (drawing attention to the reason Barbie's float, the lack of water in the shower or the cup; through the existence of Weird Barbie and the way Ken is sort of sidelined) but in the second half of the film that's largely not revisited with the solution being another Top-Down one. I was really disappointed with the fact Gloria and Sasha's plots don't really engage with why they feel the way they do about Barbie, or how that might have changed as Sasha grew up. Which is a shame, girl culture really isn't taken seriously enough and tends to only pop up in media analysis when it's people upset at girls doing things 'wrong' or as a resource to turn girls into responsible adults and while I ended up liking the movie (I'm a bit of a sucker for ridiculous aesthetics that aren't also cringe humour) I really wished they could have nailed down some of those points from earlier in the film.
I'm also very not hyped for the Mattel cinematic universe. When I first saw the announcement, I thought it was a parody of Marvel and I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't.
I don't need a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie when I have Real Steel.
Women rather than girls. I'm a man and this was my exact problem with the film. Actually no it wasn't. But the audience being unclear was a tiny part of why I didn't like it
My God what you said about the top down and bottom up approach is so true. Why couldn't we have a movie about how girls play with barbies?
it is very dismissive of every single problem it raises, it calls barbie fascist and bad for people's body image, points at it in a self aware tone and that is all it does, i also am conflicted about the ken aspect of the movie, because if we are meant to side with the kens, then them losing their revolution and getting back into the old sexist system just with more confidence is a really bad way to do feminism. but if we are meant to be against them, then it leaves the responsability to change the "redpilled" men on women and then to forgive them and undestand them, which is a really weird message that a movie "about feminism" is mostly centered on how men should be forgiven for sexism and it doesn't even really explore the ways the patriarchy actually affects men if that's what it wanted to do, alan would have been a chance to do that but he's not explored at all.
also wtf why was there no queer representation in a BARBIE film, come on
@@cactus2260 I agree with everything here and I appreciate you for saying it. And to your last point, they cast McKinnon - who is WELL KNOWN for being queer - as weird Barbie and one of her first lines was showing horny interest in Ken's genitalia or lack thereof. Ridiculous.
I saw a reel where a woman said she and her mom didn't like the barbie movie and one comment said " oh so you're not a girls girl"
The discourse in a nutshell fr
I think the reason people are defensive is just because it is so unfortunately rare we get a really female led film like this and its success is actually promising on that front! And I did have fun with the barbie movie!! But I also.... agree with everything you said in this video. I'm less cynical about it probably because my job doesn't center media criticism like yours does lol
even if it was the pits it'd be worth a go cause we're crying out for films about women by women
@@pearlbarley4767 yet Barbie was about men, Ken, and the patriarchy. It's like if men rarely get films about themselves but then just make a film about why women bad. Kinda ridiculous
@@treborkroy5280 Yeah tbh it was a big mistake to focus more on the Patriarchy than the women themselves. Ken gets a better arc than Barbie lol
Its really nice to see an in-depth criticism of Barbie from a leftist, feminist perspective! Ive felt similarly about the movie but you articulated a lot of the scrambled thoughts ive had in a very clear way.
I think there's a difference between "Ken is annoying and entitled and shallow because he's a doll that doesn't understand the nuances of relationships" and "ken is a victim of capitalistic romance approach and he feels deserving of a relationship with barbie because they're "Sold together" which is the underlying problem with enforcing gender rolls in products as it becomes the expected outcome for forking over $20", and Barbie certainly talks about one of those
But wasn't Ken ALWAYS Barbie's boyfriend? Not male friend, specifically boyfriend. I was re-watching old Barbie commercials and there was definitely an air of romance to their relationship (though he was always an accessory to her life, not the focus of her life). I was actually sad that he was portrayed as a hanger-on that Barbie didn't even really like.
@stebe5999
“Enforcing gender rolls” 😂
@@johnmacrae2006 Yep, that's the effect it has. It teaches kids they are abnormal if they are not in relationships, which at best is slightly ignorant and at worst is breeding propoganda
@@nataliekmaguire I think the point in doing that is to showcase the entitlement that some people have towards relationships. Ken thinks that Barbie will like him because "they're made for eachother", but Barbie just isn't interested, even at the end of the movie when he confesses to her. It's a real experience that people have; no one deserves your time and affection if you don't want to give it to them. The trope of "getting the girl" is slightly damaging when it becomes an expected outcome of giving something, including money, time, and affection. That's the capitalistic romance-"I gave you something now pay me my due or else I'll spite you/stalk you/threaten you"
@@nataliekmaguiresure “always” in the way that both Barbie and Ken were designed into their relationship because of heteronormative patriarchal concepts, despite all claims that Barbie is progressive she was made into a capitalist, patriarchal dream doll. Ken is just another accessory, perpetuating the vapid Prince persona of Disney.
one of the best essays i've seen lately. current, nuanced and unflinching. hits every button it should. great work.
the whole film felt like a long drawn K-pop music video. aesthetically speaking. and you also mentioned it, as long as its artsy and brings out a new aesthetic to embody on social media and in real life, no one is bothered about the real messaging of the film; which in this case was just a touch-and-go on a lot of "important issues concerning women" instead of sticking with one issue and driving it home. great video, Broey. much respect.
I and my friends who watched it with me all felt similarly underwhelmed and disillusioned towards the movie. I think a lot of the problems with the movie for me were a result of the plot taking place in barbie land and in the real world, if it took place entirely in barbie land, then the 'real world' issues with the film would be at an arm's length. But what you get is supposed progress and change in barbie land and the real world in the movie remaining the same. This one moment with will ferrel's character really stood out to me, where he has this throwaway joke line about mass consumption and mass production of barbie dolls being bad for the environment, like okay are we just supposed to pretend that you're not going to be coming out with new barbie dolls and toys for the movie? Like it doesn't actually matter that Mattel as a company is self aware of their role in the real world, because the point ultimately is to just sell more dolls.
Bruh with all due respect wtf did you think the film was supposed to be about?? Like, I thought it was very obviously a story about the innocent optimism of childhood (Barbieland) and growing up and and entering the “real world”… did you think it was supposed to be a film about Barbie posing as a political leader to enact great systemic change, or what??
@@alexbennet4195 yeah that's clearly exactly what i expected
@@malt00 I can’t even tell whether you mean that sarcastically lol
*My friends and I--The pronoun goes second.
Sorry a Barbie movie , a toy is supposed to changed the world you sound like the far right that are saying companies will now adopt the feminist agenda.
Toy movies,superhero movies, fairy tale movies, movie about video games are made to sell more of their products, did you watch the Lego movie or Mario bros for political or societal change??
i breathed a sigh of relief watching this. like it’s a depressing situation but at least somebody is finally calling it what it is
Hard out! The movie was so vapid. It was a total disgrace and to see so much praise is just baffling.
I'm very glad you made this video and expressed your thoughts.
You captured an idea I've thought about before. The way Ma Dong-seok became big after Train to Busan, and it seemed like the apex of that popularity was him appearing in Eternals. Then directors like Chloe Zhao and Nia Dacosta eventually making Marvel movies. Something about the success of artistically-driven directors and projects giving leeway to them working on big-budget IPs, as if that's the thing most worth aspiring to. Basically what Ursula K. Le Guin talked about with creating art vs. commodity.
My teenage daughter said after watching the movie that it was probably the best film about Barbie anyone could make, which sums it up: well done Greta and Noah, it's good, but it's still a commercial. Same with The Lego Movie, but that was unexpectedly good.
the barbie-level marketing machine will continue to be the norm. I work at a marketing agency and I’ve already heard multiple clients looking for a movie next year to cling to like brands did for the barbie movie. the “lesson” they learned: brands should attach themselves to movies every chance they get.
I mean that isn't really new. Sure, it was very in your face with the Barbie movie, but product placements/collabs with movies & a marketing budget the same size or sometimes even more than the movie's cost has been going for decades now ...
@@goodial product partnerships have existed for a long time sure, but there’s especially been demand/insistence from brands (not movies) to jump onto a movie like the Barbie movie. It’s one thing for it to be something that exists, it’s another to have every single brand you work with demand to attach themselves to a movie within the span of a month. these movies/cultural events will go from one big moment a year to multiple times a year.
@@nat2501 I see. Thank you for the more in-depth explanation!
How I learned to stop worrying and love Barbie is a GREAT tittle considering Barbenheimer.
"now is when studios are capitalizing on our arrested adolescence" DUDE, YES.
I agree with you especially about brand revitalization propaganda taking the wind out of sincere artistic intentions. Forgive me using this space to write my own thoughts, too.
I came away confused about people cheering this on as a strong Feminist film. The imagined world completely devoid of misogyny is a lovely vision, but the criticism of patriarchy was almost non-existent. Misogyny is called out and the double standards women are held to are addressed in a single impassioned monologue, and that is the tool used to 'wake up' the Barbies. But for all the times "Patriarchy" is said, there's no real discussion of what it is or how it harms both men and women. This was very confusing to me when so much time is given to men and patriarchy mentioned so often.
Ken is made sympathetic wandering homeless and without a sense of identity due to gender inequality. But the Kens are quickly turned into an adversary because the magic word "patriarchy" casts a spell for power to immediately flip 180 in their favor. Ken's existential crisis runs parallel to Barbie's as the heart of the story, and so for a satisfying conclusion, it's important they both get the answer to their question: "Who am I? What do I need to be to deserve love?" In the end, his answer being, "You're not an accessory" fit his specific situation but felt incomplete for the broader social commentary the movie seems to want to have.
Patriarchy doesn't just harm women by robbing them of their right to power and agency. Patriarchy assigns gender to actions, presentation, even feelings. For men, the answer to the question, "What do I need to be to be worthy of love?" is a lifelong gauntlet of contests- who collects the most valuable things (women being objectified and included in this tally), who is the smartest, the most athletic, who can conquer and stand alone at the top, or at least near it. All the mansplaining, showboating, and stepping on women are attempts to raise his ranking in these contests and become more worthy of love and respect from his fellow men. Men are punished if they do not participate 'correctly' and seek power over women and other men (I kept waiting for Allan to be used to convey this idea, but nothing). This teaches and enforces misogyny as the rule of the land.
The movie nods to some of this with men feeling insecure or jealous of each other, but Ken's specific insecurity is because he was literally made to be an accessory and relegated to non person in his society without Barbie. Pressure from Patriarchy threatening him with punishment for incorrect self expression is not clearly demonstrated. The real world doesn't seem to send him home with newfound homophobia or misogyny. He hides his feelings even before exposure to reality, presumably because of the toxic positivity of Barbieland.
Will Ferrell's declaration that he wants to be tickled is the closest thing to acknowledging how patriarchy robs men of full access to their own lives but unless you already know feminist theory, it's just a throwaway joke on what a goofy little guy he is. Patriarchy is never Ken's demon in this movie. Gender inequality is, and in Barbie's world, even the narrator chuckles at the end about how that inequality is fine for now, because it's a refreshing reversal compared to the real world. I understand the refreshment of that fantasy, and I'm not even saying the movie should have explained patriarchy and toxic masculinity, though it certainly set aside the time and space to do so. I just can't see it the way some of the internet seems to- as if it were a meaningful feminist text that must be protected from criticism for its service to our cultural dismantling of patriarchy.
I liked it. But I didnt think it was perfect nor did I make it my personality.
A cool thing that happened, was that someone greeted my brother by saying, oh hey barbie. I loved that for him.
He typically dresses feminine and in pink. So for him it was a regular day lol.
Okay so I keep seeing people say that Barbie's message about men is 'men are harmed by the patriarchy, too!' and I feel like I'm going crazy, but, like. Is it, really...?
Like... the Kens in Barbieland are second-class citizens, right? They don't hold any positions of power or own property maybe? (Barbie straight up doesn't even know if Ken is homeless or not. Or seem to care.) So they're equivalent to women IRL. That's explicitly confirmed at the end, where the narrator jokes that eventually they'll reach the same level of power women have IRL. So the Kens are an oppressed group. Who learn that things can be better (from very flawed sources, of course), and try to change things so they're on top. And it goes horribly. And then they learn that it's actually better to return things mostly to how they were? That they're happier if they stay second-class citizens?!
Also, Ken was unhappy with the status quo from the very beginning, long before he encountered the patriarchy. So it seems like the matriarchy was what harmed him, initially. The patriarchy probably actually made things better for him overall.
So. I'm not really sure how you can even say the movie had a coherent message about patriarchy. The setting just conflicts with it too much. It presents a world where men are secondary to women, but then still wants to portray them as whiny, privileged babies. And I think that as a result it actually gives pretty damn shitty messages about power and oppression.
I just watched this movie yesterday and even though it is late, i would like to add something. i went in not expecting much and in a weird way the Barbie Movie exceed my expectations but also underdelivered. I found the development of Ken really intriguing, his path, even if a little goofy, seemed deeper than expected and i can see men and even women leaving the movie with the message of i am "Kenough" ringing in their heads. On the side of Barbie, however i thought a lot of great plot points and lessons where set up at the beginning, only for them to land flat in the most sad, kind of predictable way.
Maybe that me just having no perspective but that's how Barbie will probably be remembered by me.
I saw the movie last night--spent all day dressing up and was careful not to watch anything about it beforehand--and then after it was done I came home and cried. Growing up I was always embarrassed to be so excited about Barbies. It's crazy how young I was when I picked up on the shaming of girly toys. And now, hearing about this movie and seeing EVERYONE shout their love for the Barbie line, it felt like a win, like now I can publicly "reclaim" my childhood loves with full acceptance. (And if we're lucky, the movie will revitalize the dying Mattel brand and they can make more dolls for young kids like me.) I was so ready to be transported and have the big movie of the century help me reconcile my internal struggles with femininity and careers and relationships. In the end, it seemed the answer was, "I dunno, just go be a human in the messed up world I guess?" And I was so ashamed that I had expected a revelatory life answer from a hollywood movie.
it’s so interesting to see all the different things this film meant to people. I was also disappointed by it and I didn’t even have the expectations you did.
God I hated this too! My feelings weren't as strong as yours but when Gloria was introduced I totally thought the film was going to do something along what you described! Reconcile with femininity, what it means to "do it all", how Gloria is designing really kickass Barbies but they're weird, for Barbie really really weird, but then literally nothing happens with that. Nothing. Her big deign is "normal Barbie". Girl! You 👏🏻 are 👏🏻 not 👏🏻 normal 👏🏻! You're (Gloria) going through a common experience (the separation from your daughter, the pressure of adulthood, the desire to return to childhood) but that's not your baseline?? Normal Barbie would've maybe resonated with Midge being more in the plot maybe? Ugh. There's just so many, EASY things they could've done.
I hope you aren't still feeling ashamed of yourself for wanting the movie to tackle what was important to you though! Movies CAN do that! We can experience media that does heal or reveal something to us/about us. Barbie just didn't deliver and that really sucks, I'm sorry that your letdown was so hard.
Mattel? Dying? Last time I checked they're still going well, especially with the new generation of monster high
Omg you described that perfectly!!! I grew up using Barbies and other "play pretend" outlets as a form of escapism from the real world (which isn't always a healthy coping mechanism, but a coping mechanism that helped me get through life nonetheless lmao). The fact that the movie ended with Barbie choosing to be a human -- though it makes sense and is meaningful within the context of her story -- did leave me feeling hollow. I think I was hoping for a movie focused on using imagination as an escape from irl social hierarchies (like patriarchy), so I felt a bit blindsided and disappointed when the movie's main focus Was irl social hierarchies
Don't feel ashamed💐 You deserved a revelatory experience❤!
i really liked the kens and it kinda made me sad that they were the campiest part of the movie. i feel like it could have been so wonderfully and truly camp if it wasn't made by mattel
The Kens were one of the most enjoyable parts of the film. They brought the camp energy the movie needed more of.
i liked it i think mainly cause i had zero expectation and thought it was pretty funny but i think a lot of people are filling in the gaps themselves to make it deeper than it was
I loved this. I don’t have any clever comments to add that you didn’t already say in the video. I watched this immediately after “Showgirls Redemption” which really spoke to my heart. Happy to be a subscriber now!
I do think that America's character had a lot more to do in the script and it got cut out for more Ken stuff.
Which is what you want for a supposedly feminist film, right? Don't just take screen time away from the Latina, but make sure to give it to a white actress. And steal some of that time away and don't give it to any of the POC actors among the Kens, no. It's aallll about the white dude and his masculinity crisis.
I haven't seen anyone else talking about the fact that Ken is an incel. I can't believe what we've been sold in the form of this character. They made the white male incel the heart of the film, made him nonthreatening and sweet like a mildly unruly puppy, and concluded his arc with him finding solace in the company of other incels, just as disenfranchised as they were at the start. There were so many possibilities for Ken's existential crisis, and they went with making him a representation of THE most threatening demographic to all women and turning him into a sweet, de-valued, misunderstood guy? Seriously?
I thought the opposite. I thought this movie was going to be a Barbie Wizard of Oz. Now I'm learning the script went through many rewrites and I'm guessing the mother & daughter came in later. There was a lot more to explore with them.
“Hitting all the necessary talking points, so we have nothing left about it to criticize and everything left to buy.” SO VALID and WELL PUT.
totally agree on every point made in this video, fantastically communicated. people in my friend group were so hyped about it because of the camp capitalism (fantastic term) and would not consider any criticism. it actually gave me some gender dysphoria because of how associated it was within my social group with girlhood -- a girlboss ,squeaky clean, consumer-focused version of girlhood that is so antithetical to my own experience of girlhood (a violent, hungry, and bloody thing).
it was so incredibly frustrating to see so few people discussing the over capitalist themes. the cartoonish depiction of the CEOs and the "super funny" bit about the daughter calling barbie a fascist was soooo underhanded and evil and i can't believe how many people it fooled with that. one of my friends was laughing about the prospect of barbie being called a fascist when that was exactly what mattel wanted: the audience to equate claims of fascism towards the company to be directed at their concept of the poor innocent barbie doll so they will be absolved of any responsibility for the mass amounts of human suffering due to their labor conditions. truly so despicable.
also i definitely agree that the writing was subpar. the mother daughter relationship plot line fell so flat and was so unbelievable. like there was no actual bonding only the results of bonding. and the feminist speech was laughable to me because it was so clearly trying to appeal to the widest audience by discussing the most baseline issues of intersectional feminism while still reigning it in enough to not shake the capitalist foundation in anyway.
I love this review. I was so excited to go see the film n left the cinema feeling dissatisfied but not really understanding why. Yes there were some amazing element which I loved, but you put your finger on a lot of things that were bothering me subconsciously. Great insights!!!!
America Ferrera's monologue which was supposed to this "deep callout of the impossible standards of being a woman" was the the most lukewarm, inoffensive, regurgitated monologue ever. The bg music got all dramatic to get people to tear up, but her monologue was just meh.
(I love LOVE Ferrera though, thats why i was disappointed)
it gave big "tumblr white feminism text post on 2013" where sexism=impossible standard to be perfect and pretty, and not= intersectional systemic oppression and violence
and i love her too, who else would be amy from superstore??
YES! I swear, I've read this monologue almost verbatim somewhere on Tumblr in 2013. And I wasn't seeking this content back then, it was just this first wave of "we can market this!", Beyonce's "Flawless" etc. It was everywhere. It felt like a thousand times chewed gum. I understand that in the movie it's not a speech for academia, but Jesus... "Being a girl is hard and confusing from the authors of Water is wet"
fr, like i understood the intent but the execution of the message they were going for just fell completely flat. feels recycled 🥲
@m_shhh4596 Yall do sound like academic snobs.
The Production Design and Costume Design were just impeccable.
i dont care it was barely a movie
If the technical aspects are what stands out in a movie it's not a movie, it's a tech demo
Yes, and all that technical proficiency and hard work was used to set up MCU clone #24.
@@1998Cebola Fair criticism as the whole is more than the sum of it's parts, although International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) - who represent the costume and production designers - have been equally abused throughout the motion picture industry to the point where they were striking for adequate meal and rest breaks after regularly working 14+ hour work days in 2021... never mind what's happened to the digital artists who work on all those Marvel films under grueling conditions...
@@e.malloy7530 I have nothing but respect for the people who are the ones making everything work and, as a socialist, I always support unions.
This exactly voiced my nagging feeling when I left the Barbie movie. I couldn't put voice to it until now. I felt like a misogynist for not wanting to have fun
You’ve vocalized all the things going through our heads while seeing the film - but don’t have the bandwidth in-the-moment to process. I just saw it for the 2nd time today, not because I loved it so much the first time, but because it gave me an opportunity to spend time w my niece and sister whom I haven’t seen for a very long while. The first time I saw it was in double-feature day where some friends and I did the Barbenheimer double-feature… for me, that day and today it’s more about time spent w friends and family to chat about the film afterwards and experience something together :) The phenomenon the Barbie movie has created, the dressing up in pink to go to the theatres is a fun cultural outcome that’s fun too see, but with all the angles you’ve thoughtfully covered, it’s like getting all dolled up in pink, but sitting in the theatre with a ‘wedgie’. 💕🥴
i loved the part about the corporations absorbing all the artists so they can't critique from outside. super fascinating
i thought it was just me who left the theater feeling like i wasn't getting it. I enjoyed the movie, but I feel like I expected something completely different from Gerwig. Your analysis really helped me defeat that insecurity of misunderstanding. TYSM!
It's like you read my mind
then researched and articulated the thoughts in a much better way😅
It's my first visit to your channel, subscribing today.
Agree. I’m mexican, now distant from news and social media, didn’t knew much about the current industry context. Some astrologers found coincidences with the release of Barbie doll in the 50s and this movie as they both were released around the same Venus in Leo retrograde (which repeats every 8 years) and Greta Gerwig was born (EDIT) during a Venus retrograde in Virgo that soon afterwards transited to Leo with a Leo Sun. And there’s a parallel between Barbie movie plot with the ancient myth of Inanna, an allegory inspired from the travel of Venus through the retrograde cycle. In a new episode on the Astrology Podcast they talk about it.
I’m glad I watched your video this morning as I was considering going to the cinema and have a date with myself watching Barbie. Instead I will TORRENT it.