The whole incompetent but harmless man in power bit played by Will Ferrel really rubbed me the wrong way since that was exactly the play used by Boris Johnson to improve his popularity for the UK prime minister elections. These types of men are undoubtedly incompetent but are not at all harmless, and I’m so sick of them being portrayed as a goofy joke.
Yes why is incompetence seen as better than flat out immoral? The first still does harm they just aren't aware of it, so the same results would still apply 🤔
This! When characters and portrayals depict this sort of thing it so hard for me to not just walk away. Im done with it. What's worse, though, is when in real life, like with Boris Johnson or Trump, people say they are too incompetent to do real harm.
@@gRinchY-op5vr It's seen as better because one can always have the potential to learn and grow from incompetence if said incompetence is challenged. Not so with immorality. For example, I (as a transmasc NB who uses "they/them" pronouns) will not hold it against anyone who misgenders me upon initially meeting me when I'm not presenting as masculine/androgynous. I *will* hold it against people who continue to misgender me going forward despite knowing my preferred pronouns, because that's just plain malicious. Put simply, incompetence is frustrating but potentially curable (at least up to a point). Immorality is infuriating and permanent. One can be incompetent without being immoral, and writing someone displaying incompetence off instantly without at least giving them a chance to improve themselves ultimately does far more harm to everyone than good because it's part of what helps push people down the right-wing pipeline.
@@gRinchY-op5vr "why is incompetence seen as better than flat out immoral?" actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea "the act is not culpable unless the mind is guilty". I guess😒EDIT: However, criminal negligence is indeed recognized.
@@knavishknight I think 'intent' is overappreciated in discussions on ethics. Which is convenient, because it's hard to prove. Y'know, when someone does or says something bigoted but it gets handwaved as 'they don't mean it that way'. I mean, intent matters, but so do consequences. Those should probably matter quite a bit more, in fact.
Mattel is selling a "Weird Barbie" doll. That alone makes it clear that the corporate entity doesn't understand the point of anything in this film. I also felt the shadow of corporate approval on the movie, and I wish they'd cut Will Ferrell's part down a LOT because I couldn't stand him, and I thought his presence in every scene he was in made the movie worse. That being said, I still loved this movie and will watch it again when it's streaming. As a Gen Xer, the existential angst spoke to me SO loudly that I actually cried a couple of times, and Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, and Ryan Gosling were all pure gold in this.
I'm not a Gen X'er but my favourite part of the film despite its shortcomings were the middle aged women in the audience laughing and enjoying the shit out of some of the more... shallower pop feminist jokes in the film. Not that shallow is necessarily a bad thing, but watching it in theatres with an audience who really enjoyed the film made me enjoy it more as I watched it
I thought that was weird. Like the whole point of the "Weird Barbie" is that she's the favorite toy of a little girl who did all kinds of things like they played. The most they should have done was make a kit specifically to make a "weird barbie" so children can make their own versions of her. (Kinda like Wreck This Journal)
The Barbie movie's attitude towards its own mythology reminds me of the live action Disney remakes: "Yeah, we know people have criticisms , but instead of actually addressing them or even doubling down on what these stories are REALLY about, we're just gonna make self-aware jokes and not change anything"
I loved the movie but had the same thought. It's perfect branding to bring back cynical adults. I think it's worth noting also that Mattel was not only depicted as harmless buffoons, but actively redeemed through the Ruth Handler character affirming the company's supposed feminism and giving Barbie her Pinocchio moment. The movie relies heavily on lampshading, but beyond that also ultimately presents Mattel as benevolent. I mostly love it for the camp, production values and general talent on display rather than the politics being especially radical (it's soft liberal feminism with just enough reflexiveness to get away with the limitations of that). I reckon people who enjoy the aesthetic appeal but want something more radical should check out queer cinema if they haven't, But I'm a Cheerleader springs to mind, or John Waters' work. Side note: I'm glad you were able to recognise your imposter syndrome to put out analysis, because this was needed. It doesn't have to be the flashiest thing to be substantive analysis, and it's absolutely not strike breaking to actively criticise art/entertainment. In terms of production values it's as polished as it needs to be to make the points well.
I think this is probably part of a larger conversation to be had about strong anti-capitalist themes in shows and movies produced by massive corporations and streaming services like Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Netflix etc. Maybe 5 or 10 years ago, you could argue that there was a subversive angle it to, but now it’s just corporations attempting to corner an artistic market that is (at least superficially) ideologically opposed to them, because they likely see no actual threat to the system in allowing works with those themes to be produced.
Yeah, recuperation is a real problem that needs serious attention. It happened to Nirvana. It happened with feminism. It happened with the LGBT rights movement. We need to wrest our politics back from corporations.
I remember when gay marriage was legalized seeing so many shops selling to gay couples with male/male and female/female manequine displays in their shops. It certainly complicated my feelings about it. The tide had turned so that it was more profitable to serve LGBT groups and corporate responded to the change in tide. But I knew these people were the worse. They didn’t care one way or the other about a group that had been oppressed gaining a basic right, they just decide the public tide had turned enough that it was profitable to embrace it. But ifbthe tide changed tomorrow, they would just re-adjust again. And I’ve never known how to have peace with that…or if I should.
@@TheDawnofVanlife The most hilarious was Marks and Spencers produced an LGBT sandwich - it was lettuce, guacamole, bacon and tomato. 😂 I bet you think I am making this up! This was real. I said to a gay friend of mine, "when you pushed for better representation did you ever imagine you would be represented as guacamole?"
Sasha's very valid critiques of Barbie as a brand being steamrolled, and her sort of "conversion" to liking Barbie, really killed the idea that this is a subversively feminist movie for me. The overshadowing idea that all women MUST be feminine and MUST like Barbie smacks of corporate "girlboss" feminism. I still really liked Barbie as a piece of camp cinema, and tbh as a breath of fresh air in a media landscape that has been overly "gritty" and "realistic" throughout the 2010s. I think it was a very good, fun, and well-made movie! It just missed the mark for me as a "revolutionary" feminist film.
As someone who wears hyperfemme clothing as a hobby, I actually took away from the movie's climax and ending that "real, modern women don't dress this way!" and THAT annoyed me. I don't wear what I do because I'm some socially brainwashed stereotype, I wear it because I think frills and pastels are fun, yet this type of feminine presentation is treated as something to be fixed and toned down when we should be encouraging people to dress however they like. It's so interesting how the same subject matter can manage to hit different people so wrong, lol.
I loved it but it actually took me a LONG while to love it... Maybe because too much funny stuff was going on, etc. I remember just being "eh, it was ok" with my friends. But when I summarized the movie for my mom (who didn't watch the movie) and said "And then, Barbie realized she didn't want to be Barbie anymore", I just started crying afterwards lmao.
My opioion of it did seem to go up as the hours and days went by since I watched it. I think there was a part of me that was ready to nit pick over ever element and state to myself, 'this aspect could be done better', or, 'there's too much monologuing here'. But on reflection the overall thing worked really well and I should just let myself enjoy it for what it is.
This is something that's been bugging me a lot lately. In the UK we A LOT of content, both fiction and late night panel shows that poke fun at the UK government, the royal family, big celebrities, corporate elite. And it's been brilliant for decades, some of the most hilarious, witty intelligent comedy and commentary shown weekly on TV (often Channel 4, but the BBC do it a lot too). But it really hit me recently, how this sort of plays us all. Makes us feel like we're getting one over on those that abuse us, but really they're letting it happen, it distracts us, makes us less likely to do something about it. It's like having a court jester, he can stand there and insult the king, we can all laugh along and feel good about ourselves for a few moments, all while the king is robbing us blind and keeping us subjugated.
It's a big reason I don't watch any content like that (on top of the fact I just don't find that type of comedy that funny and don't watch TV in general) but my parents do and have watched those shows since before I was born, my whole life. and don't get me wrong I'm grateful to live in a country where people can say these things while a lot of places can't- that's not what I'm talking about. but criticising the government is a basic human right, this stuff is crumbs to me. I'm just like. how long can you watch this stuff being talked and joked about week after week for years and years before you get up and *do* something about it, other than laugh? Because personally this stuff doesn't make me laugh, it makes me angry.
My issues with Barbie were more on a story level, in the sense that I feel it had a much more engaging and interesting story to tell that got buried... interesting that you mention that the America Ferrera speech landed with you, when one of my issues was that I never felt like her character fully earned that speech because we didn't spend enough time getting to know her and her life. If I had been the one making this movie, I would have scrapped everything regarding Mattel and the CEO (nothing about that worked for me), kept Barbie in the real world longer interacting with Gloria and Sasha, bonding with them and getting to know their environment (which is something Greta Gerwig excels at, see Lady Bird and Little Women as examples of her expert handling of just letting women interact), and pushed the climax of Ken discovering patriarchy to maybe just the last half hour of the movie. There was still a lot about this movie I really enjoyed and admired (the design of the Barbie world, the unabashed camp value, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, many of the jokes), but it ultimately underwhelmed me because of how much of the story it was telling me rather than showing me...
YEAH and after my mom and I watched it, she commented something like “why did her telling them about women in the real world fix their brainwashing? They’ve never experienced it!”
Barbie is a movie that is probably as good as it can be…and it still could’ve been better. I totally agree that the capitalism of the film definitely hindered me from really getting into it. It didn’t help that I found the feminist commentary to be very base-level and didactic. As much as I thought the cast were outstanding, the characters they played were also pretty thin and lacking depth. I can’t lie. I *did* laugh at the “Note to the filmmakers” narrator joke, though.
9:00 "it didnt work on me because I know why they did it" I felt I knew where this was going and was happy to be right. More and more this is me. Ive tried explaining it to others but I didnt articulate it nearly so well as you. Im glad to know it isnt just me. Its really weird being in the crowd where a bunch of people are excitedly exclaiming "did you see that!?" and others, confused, ask what they missed while you sit there othered becuase yes, you saw it, but unlike the others you arent excited.... and here is a great example of my failure to articulate. Sadly my ability to communicate well is limited to good days and with my health most days arent good. So anyway. Thank you for the video and little me feel im not weird for this view.
Margot Robbie was the perfect person for the “feeling ugly“ bit. It illustrated that even the most traditionally beautiful person can see herself as ugly, and when she does so, she is wrong. Just like anyone.
That's why the impact of that was squashed when the movie called attention to how society would see it. Lampshading a sincere emotional moment of vulnerability by pointing out that she's too pretty to deliver the message was really deflating.
I agree, it quite accurately demonstrates how our own negative self image is usually not at all how the world sees us. If most people vocalized to most other people things like "I feel ugly," or "I feel stupid" those other people are immediately going to say "no you aren't" and most of them will mean it.
Absolutely agree. Also, seeing conventionally attractive people repeatedly called "ugly" has really stripped the word of any meaning for me. I just can't take it seriously as an insult anymore. It's kinda freeing.
I liked it. I wouldn’t necessarily use terms like “subversive” but it’s a lot deeper in its messaging than the average studio blockbuster. Would I call it a great movie? I think that remains to be seen, at least for me personally. So far it’s my third favourite film of the year, with my tops being Asteroid City and Oppenheimer. I thought it was funny, the actors were good in their parts, the production design was nice. It was just a good, fun movie. As for the issues raised here… eh, I think I’m just numb to corporations trying to gain favour will not improving themselves at this point.
I really liked the movie but this is exactly the thing that bothered me about it, thank you for putting it so well into words! I left the theater feeling like "i loved it, but......" and THIS was the But in question. Also it was especially annoying to try and find actual valid criticism of the movie, cause it felt like it was either men being mysoginistic about it, or people praising it like it has no flaws, so I'm happy when i see some real good commentary of Barbie like this
I definitely noticed the critics you made while I was watching the movie. Mattel corporate was by far my least favorite part of the film, and I rolled my eyes hard at the lampshade on how beautiful Margo Robbie is. However, they didn’t diminish the truly joyful parts of the film (which is the majority). America was definitely the star (and heart) of this film. Her speech had me on the verge of tears and I really didn’t expect that from the Barbie movie. The moment on the bench with the old woman is also a standout. As well as the montage at the end showing the joys of girlhood. We don’t see that as often as we should. The focus is so often on how difficult girlhood is, which it is, but it is also frequently joyful and we should depict that as well!
Once again the Spectacle wins by appropriating and commodifying the opposition to it. This has been on my mind for a while since the overwhelming success of "Barbie," I'm very glad you did a video on it. Thanks!
Completely with you. I liked the patriarchy commentary as it stood. I didn't like the capitalism commentary for exactly the reasons you've stated. But I knew full well as I did in she hulk and when any other blockbuster makes a statement that this is only the message and content the corporation was happy signing off on, the artistic vision with enough suit signatures to make them happy.
Two things that bothered me about the Barbie movie were: 1) The screen time allotted to the executives vs. the teenager (sorry I forgot her name)--as if a teenage girl (lead character) is somehow more generic than a band of 2-dimensional executives, and 2) the fact that the happy ending involved the Barbies getting their separate female world back, the executives getting the real world (& their outsized power in it) back, and 1 Barbie getting to participate in the real world but have no real power in it. That is not a happy ending!
I went into Barbie expecting a very different film to the one that we got. The trailer that I saw gave me the impression that Mattel would be oblivious to the existence of Barbie World until Barbie showed up in LA and that the main story would be similar to that of Ted 2, with Will Ferrell’s character realising the marketing potential of a living Barbie doll and trying to capture and replicate her. I was also expecting there to be a connection between Barbie World and Mattel similar to the connection between Royston Vasey and the real life Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Mark Gatiss in League Of Gentlemen Apocalypse, with Ken’s take over being caused by Mattel deciding that Ken dolls were more profitable than Barbie dolls and Barbie discovering that her world would cease to exist if the company went under, thus making them, and by extension capitalism, a “necessary evil.”
I didn’t actually feel like Gretta “got away” with anything, because when you analyse Barbie as a brand its been shying away from the stereotypical Barbie image for a long time now. From stuff like its Inspiring Women collection with dolls such as Ida B. Wells and Jane Goodall, to videos on their RUclips channel talking about the “Sorry reflex”, depression, breathing exercises, etc. (and this sort of stuff has been going on for at least the past decade) Knowing all of this prior to watching it made it feel more like this is the final nail in the coffin for the old Barbie image.
The thing about the movie for me was the ending. (This is more about plot and patriarchy.) After the Vote scene, Barbie looked a little concerned, like she wasn’t sure they just did the right thing. I thought she was going to stand up and say something like “Actually we should make it equal,” but she didn’t. In the end, she got her bittersweet ending of becoming a human and gaining all the implications of it. She got what she wanted. While the Kens in Barbieland were left in a world which still had an unfair system. It is individualistic rather than societal, and so it’s easy to forget, or for some not even realize, that it’s not *really* a happy ending, because it makes you cry and then laugh. Idk I think I could word this better but yeah.
I haven’t seen the film yet and am not super keen to do so, but will get to it eventually I’m sure. I heard that it’s “Feminism 101” and for a lot of people, that’s what they need - but some of us look at it and don’t see anything new. The idea that people causing harm (like CEOs) are just ignorant and a bit silly and don’t mean to hurt others is actually VERY dangerous. I survived a lot of abuse in my life, from my first relationship to multiple immediate family members. The more I heal, the more I cannot without a doubt deny that these people KNOW what they are doing. Anyone who doubts it is just playing into their game and probably hasn’t experienced abuse first hand and just hopes that it isn’t as bad as it seems. No, the truth is that it is much worse than they are showing on the surface. We can’t take down the patriarchy while simultaneously being like “those who benefit from capitalism the most don’t MEAN to do bad things. They just need to learn.” No, every human rights issue feeds off of capitalism and needs capitalism to thrive. This isn’t much of a step further from “when men are sexist, they don’t MEAN it, they just are a bit silly and slow. Dopey men” Tell that to a rape survivor. No, that’s not how power dynamics work, not ever. It’s good that it’s introducing people to Feminism 101 but it’s missing a lot of key pieces for our collective liberation. I’m not surprised though. The clips I saw looked too clean and shiny and Hollywood; something felt off to me. I heard online that after watching the film, a lot of ppl (men and women) finally decided to leave unhealthy relationships. I think that is a huge win. Thanks again for ur insights. I really enjoy you sharing them.
I'll be honest, I'm older than Vera and I don't remember ever having seen America Ferrera in anything before. I know she was in Ugly Betty but I never actually watched it. She is amazing (and actually dares to take on racism as well as sexism, which I found to be a very courageous move). I loved the movie, it hits me where my feminism lives. I have rarely found any media that calls out sexism and racism to this degree and it is good at it. Not perfect, not everything it should be, and it certainly shouldn't be as alone on this issue as it is, but I loved it. Husband and I both saw it twice and agree on how much we love it. I do hope it actually opens the door for more actual critiques of sexism and racism in mainstream media. (I don't know it will, but I hope it does.)
I never watched Ugly Betty, but I loved her (and a bunch of other folks) in Superstore. While the show had many of the standard silly aspects of large ensemble sitcoms, I really loved it for its sly intelligence and subtexts, surprising funny (and sometimes cringy!) nailing of working in retail (the frequent background bits were hilarious), and critique and exposure of class issues, including the challenges of unionizing. Definitely worth a watch, in my 2¢ opinion!
@@literaterose6731Ugly Betty was so good! Especially after Vanessa Williams joined the cast and relished in chewing the scenery (it was that type of show)!
The idea that they can make bank off of more IP movies without understanding what made the Barbie movie a success really reminds me of the gaming industry, where they copycat each other all the time without understanding what it was that made the original fantastically successful.
Thank you for the video, Vera! It is something I mentioned in other analysis/review videos about the Barbie (2023) movie trying to be more sincere and realistic about its themes: it does not matter how much progressive its core message is, the movie is still a product, and you have to pay for it in order to see the message. At the best, the Barbie movie is progressive under corporative boundaries, and, at the worst, it is performative progressiveness. I will admit that it is funny to see bigots "clutching their pearls" about the movie's success despite its "wokeness" (so much for "go woke, go broke", huh?), but, at the end of day, most of this financial success will end in the pockets of CEOs and executives of the corporations involved. Corporations are not our friends and they do not care about us. They will try to sell everything for profit, including anti-capitalist and anti-corporative ideas, even if it is counterintuitive. First example of that: Mattel released a limited edition of the "Weird Barbie" doll, what goes against the entire point of the character. And the second example: studios are gearing to produce Barbie sequels and spin-offs about secondary characters. Heck, Mattel is planning to develop movies about at least TWELVE of their toy brands. In other words, the corporations/studios are learning all the wrong lessons about the Barbie movie's success, and they are trying to do the same again, and again... Subversion stops of being subversion when it becomes the norm.
I agree with everything you said. After having watched the film, I felt that I liked it, but there was something missing, and I couldn't quite put it into words, other than "You can tell it's essentially a long Barbie ad" - your video puts into words what I've been feeling
25:40 This is a part that I'm surprised more people don't understand. I've seen it said a lot in reference to Disney now owning Simpsons especially, thinking the show won't/can't criticize the corporation because "Disney wouldn't let their brand/image be tainted" - Disney's just like Fox in this sense, they're happy to let minor, pithy criticisms fly by because it sells that product and helps their brand by making it appear like they're more "woke" or "hip" or whatever will appeal to whatever demographic they're shooting for with that move. Of course, part of my anger with this misunderstanding about how Disney will work is that people continually think it's only focused on kids and would only ever put out kid/family friendly content (this is an argument I see especially pertaining to Marvel & Star Wars, with "shock" or skepticism Deadpool could be rated R) - it has long used sub studios (does anyone remember Touchstone and Miramax?) to release things that aren't quite their brand because (say it with me) it can make them money.
I think you might also be missing that this is a movie for girls (and boys) who grew up as fans of Barbie and it wrestles with all the complicated issues of playing with Barbie and liking it. It literally has Barbie Lore for Barbie fans. Just the way a Marvel film might have Easter Eggs for Comic Book fans of the series, while making their own shape that is film specific or even criticizing things about the culture surrounding it's fandom. For adult fans who grew up playing with Barbie, a lot of it hits different for us. And I honestly feel like this Barbie Movie is far more for Adult Barbie/Ex-Barbie fans more so than kids. I love it because it really did attack all the complicated angles of Barbie. I loved Barbie, I started writing because of Barbie and similarly 1:6 Scale dolls (as diversifying my world was hard, including adding more distinctive boys/males to the fold). The stories I made up with my Barbie dolls and 1:6 scale counterparts were the first stories I wrote down putting pen to paper. Being a non-Feminie AFAB woman, I always felt like I had to be ashamed of "liking" Barbie dolls and that I had to justify my love of the doll as I became a pre-teen because she was "anti-feminist" or I was suppose to "like boy things" (as a boyish girl) or see her as promoting unrealistic body standards (as a female bodied person I was suppose to hate a peice of plastic for this, and I never felt like I should look like Barbie) or whatever. I saw her as the perfect puppet to make stories with and that's why I liked her. There wasn't a better source for adult based "lets pretend". I really feel like the mom played by America Ferrera was ME. A woman with a complicated relationship with Barbie who absolutely looks NOTHING like classic Barbie (i AM black AND plus sized all my life) and never expected to look like Barbie but I liked playing Vet Barbie because I wanted to be a Vet. During the movie, I won't lie, I was fan girl-ing about the life-size Barbie toy recreations that were soooooo accurate in the film and gushing over things I either owned in the past or wanted in the past. It was the first doll that really embraced girls playing "grown up" and not "mommy" and I don't think that is given enough credit for how different that was at the time, with all the complications of the time period it was done. That bit is true. But Barbie was also a "fashion doll" so it was always a battle between is she "really" an astronaut or just "modeling an astronaut outfit". But the original G.I. Joe, the one that was 1:6 scale, the same size as Barbie, who was also a "fashion doll doesn't get as much criticism for being the same thing for boys. (literally "it's not a doll, it's an action figure" thing was invented to cover the whole men letting their boys/sons play with "dolls" thing and cobra was invented much later to give G.I. Joe someone to fight in the cartoon. the Original "Joe" was a singular doll you bought additional costumes for. I actually thought the Kens were kinda complicated and I liked that. It didn't really have a clean answer to anything concerning the Kens. just like the real world is still wrestling with patriarchy, the Barbie world still hasn’t figured out fairness to Ken. One world isn’t better, they are just as bad as each other. I always wanted more boys and mixed in 1:6 scale Solider Action figures in my play. I think the whole Barbie issue isn't a clean issue and that's okay. It was much better than I expected. Honestly, I only went to see it because of conservative outrage about it. And for me the Barbie costumes, which are joked about in the movie in various ways, were also her strength in fantasy play. I could dress her up to be any (adult) thing I wanted and I thought about that more than her waist size. But Barbie criticism made me think I had to be more critical of her waist and boob size. This was a movie for Barbie fans and wrestles with all our complicated feelings being Barbie fans..... It also gonna sell a lot of toys, but for me that doesn't make it any lesser for all the ways it hit right to this old Barbie fan.
I didn't come out of Barbie loving it either for much the same reasons but tbh me watching it late too probably had the most effect. I spent 1-2 months seeing people online and my IRL friends praising this movie's progressive politics and even as I tried to temper my expectations, I still ended up being let down when I finally watched this pop feminism, 2015 buzzfeed video of a movie. Like if I had gone in blind I would've been pleasantly surprised -- it does have a lot to say for a high profile, major studio release. But it's not revolutionary and I shouldn't've expected it to be, really. It really is a movie that benefits from surprise, maybe more so than most comedies as you pointed out. Also, Sharon Rooney was so welcome to see in the movie (love her!) but as a fat bitch myself I found it so weird that they had the audacity to cast a woman her size in the Barbie movie when they have no dolls available even approaching her proportions. Honestly the movie was more diverse than the girls' toy aisle at walmart has ever been on a bunch of fronts (this is still a low bar) and it's weird to see so many people giving Mattel a pass at presenting such a rosy image of its doll line that doesn't reflect their actual products. Like I know things have improved since I was young, but not by that much. It feels dishonest
There’s a line in John laCarre’s Smiley’s People that goes something like: “If you make out your enemy to be too weak or ineffective, you lose your reason for fighting them.” When I took my goddaughter to see Barbie, that line ran through my head during one of Will Ferrell’s scenes. I was more interested in asking her what she thought of the movie than my own reaction, but your video reminded me why I was a bit dissatisfied. Thanks, as always, for providing content that makes me think and laugh. You’ve a gift!
I absolutely knew walking into the film that I'd be walking into Mattel propaganda. I had very low expectations, and so I was thrilled. :) I have no changed thoughts about Mattel, especially recognizing these tricks from... uh... ALL of the Disney remakes??? And a lot of recent Disney original movies too. I have seen some rumors/thoughts from others that the Mattel president was originally supposed to be another escaped Ken and that's why he was so worried about the changes that can happen because he's intimately familiar. It would have fit well, but it's not clear to me if this was something higher-ups said "no" to or if it was just a missed/lost potential. What I was surprised by was how SEEN a lot of the writing and characters and character arcs. In particular, Ken's character arc. A lot of my life was lived in a way to make my family look good. They never understood who I am as a person, and I always describe myself as "a set piece" for family gatherings. They notice I'm not there, but I blend into the background and go unheard and unnoticed when I am there. And then I finally got away from my family, realized I'm a transgender man, and began transition. And like a lot of other transmasc people, I went a little too hard on the masculinity until I figured myself out and finally did things okay and like myself again. Barbie's words to Ken at the end of the movie suddenly stabbed me like a knife because I need to hear similar words from my family. I don't think I ever will, but I felt it. This unfortunately is going to still make Mattel some money off of me. With that connection, I am planning to buy the "I Am Kenough" sherpa hoodie. I can't stop thinking about it honestly. It feels personally affirming... fuck capitalism though.
Every once in a while I think about a line from The World's End which is a slightly hot mess of a movie but does contain some neat stuff... and it's when the protagonists go into yet another pub that looks exactly the same as any other pub because of corporate commodification. "It's gone Starbucks!"
I've noticed this a lot about current trends in Hollywood. Meta-commentary infused narratives are becoming so common, because it acts as a shield that allows you to keep doing the thing in question. I noticed it first when the Lego Movie went meta towards the end. Once upon a time you might have considered the deconstruction of a trope or genre to signal that we're approaching the end of that trope or genre's life span, but now it seems to be a useful trick for keeping it alive, unchanged in any meaningful way.
I found the movie very entertaining, but I had the same issues with it that you brought up here. I started really noticing this trope of corporations allowing themselves to be portrayed as incompetent more after watching The Sin Squad's video about the intensely dark song "Biggering" from The Lorax that was cut and replaced with the upbeat and chipper "How Bad Can I Be". "How Bad Can I Be?", as one might gather from the name, paints the harm the Once-Ler does to the environment as something that arose from his naivety, only having the best of intentions and not seeing any of the harm he was causing until the last tree was gone, whereas "Biggering" was more truthful to how the wealthy truly are...the Once-Ler knew he was doing harm but he saw it as acceptable in the interest of his goal of growing his business bigger and bigger and bigger. Corporations are happy to let people make fun of them as long as it serves the purpose of convincing people that the harm they do comes from ignorance rather than malice. Barbie also served up some great corporate propaganda by no doubt solidifying in the minds of mainstream America the lie that Ruth Handler invented Barbie instead of directly copying her from a doll she bought on a trip to Germany (Bild Lilli) and took to Mattel. Any loss Mattel gets from sheepishly acknowledging that they're like almost every other company in having sexism influence their promotion practices is far outstripped by the movie promoting a much more brand empowering narrative about Barbie's origins and her place in doll history, absolving Mattel of harmful actions they've done that can't be handwaved away as just how things are in society.
For me, the issue I had was that the people in the real world talked and acted too much like the people in Barbieland. Like, it made sense that the Barbies and Kens would be that silly and talk about complex issues in a very blunt and simplified way. But when the real world people aren't that different, it means there's no contrast, no straight (wo)man, which deflated a lot of the humor and much of the larger points they were trying to make. The first and final acts were both great though.
I was just today reminded why it is important to have conversations you might be uncomfortable with, as by the end of hanging out with someone I haven't seen much in recent years, they literally went "goddammit you're making too much sense to ignore, I don't know how to handle this" It started with them commenting something like "you couldn't make a song like this in today's climate" and I asked them to explain what they meant exactly, and we went down an entire rabbithole. At first my head went like yeaaaah I guess so, everyone keeps saying that. An unpopular opinion is not a wrong one, and I think especially valuable when coming from a minority person who can think outside the box a bit 🤔
Putting this before watching, will edit later- Honestly i didn't like that it accidentally played into conservative 'trad wife' style talking points- particularly the belief that "women were perfectly happy being subservient to men until sour grape feminists convinced them they shouldn't be, thats why women aren't happy with the world anymore." I think they really should have shown the barbies being sad or not liking what they were doing and wanting to change it, and then the 'convincing' scene could have been 'bringing them into the plan' instead. Its a small fix that would have done wonders for the movie. ...also the bit at the end where she's seeing a gynecologist was executed well, was funny, but was a bit tone deaf. If only because i could practically feel the people who would twis this good faith joke into transphobic nonsense the second i heard it 🥲
I had the same reaction to the final joke of the movie. When I laughed out loud at it, I realized that I hadn't really been laughing that hard at the rest of the movie. I was amused through much of it, no doubt, but it was mostly cynical amusement (which is a defense mechanism at its heart). The issues brought up are serious, heart-breaking problems our society faces and it becomes a case of 'if I don't laugh, I'll cry'. Also, the corporate portrayals in this movie and the others you mentioned have have begun to feel like something the corporations HAVE to allow because so many people are aware that this is the reality of corporate culture. They can't just pretend to be benevolent and well-meaning anymore, they can't ignore the truth, so they allow these depictions as a way to provide a release for the all-too-aware public, so we can all chuckle while nothing really important changes.
Why are you giving Gerwig a pass on her portrayal of Mattel? If she made the movie she wanted to make as you claim (14:58 and 18:40 mark), the portrayal of Mattel is HER portrayal. At the least, she seems to be a willing accomplice.
My first thought when leaving the cinema was "wow capitalism really does destroy everything". As a feminist I found the movies approach to those themes so painfully lacking in depth it nearly became a parody. Which is not what I was expecting having seen some of Gerwigs other movies, she is capable of more.
You're completely right. It's sad to see how many people are so easily tricked by corporate capitalism or so brainwashed by the patriarchy that they think this movie is outrageous, revolutionary, etc. To me, the message is watered down (to make it more acceptable) and yet so on the nose it sucks all the joy out of what could have been a good movie.
I think the point was not the bits of the film being self-deprecating and hitting modern film trope. The best part of the movie was being in a group and looking at each other in *those* moments and the utter silence in the cinema at certain parts. I didn't feel it was especially subversive at all - maybe some of way Ken played out by the end was at least handled in a more subtle way than I expected. The movie is fantastic, and nothing's perfect, but the bits that hit hardest were the little reflective 4th-wall-breaking moments of self-revelation and the chats and tears we had in the car on the way home. Childhood and motherhood and complicated relationships and existential dread all mixed in with bright colours and daggy laughs. Not a lot of films are able to do that and whatever cynical attitudes and critiques we can throw at it, Greta still pulled off something pretty special
Yup. I was cynical even before the recent matrix film, basically any film that endorses or is supported or payed by an entity I consider that whatever subversion may be in that medium, it's as you say, greenlit, and thus void. (GREAT VIDEO THANK YOU FOR COVERING THIS TODAY!!!)
I think the tactic is even more insidious than you say in this video. To me, this movie was Mattel selling and proffiting from critique of Mattel. Not only does this render the critique toothless, it is *benefitting* from doing the things being critiqued. Depressing.
I was concerned when I heard details about all the praise for this film, especially when the rage merchants became the face of negative opinions toward it. Thank you for confirming my fears about the potential cinematic universe.
I am very interested in your reaction to that last joke. I am glad it landed for you! I was discussing Barbie w my mother in law and she said that one reason she didn't like it was that last joke came across as transphobic to her, equating "real womanhood" to a set of genitals that requires the gynecologist. I disagreed w her in that I don't think the movie overall was transphobic: it included a trans actress and it showed gender roles/performance and gender-based oppression applied despite none of the Barbies or Kens having any genitals (as the movie tells us). However I could see how that joke could be construed as transphobic.
This criticism is so insightful. People in power are extremely skilled at maintaining their power under the guise of being powerless. I remember in the late 90s/early 2000s television ads started portraying families in which the wives/mothers were intelligent and competent, and the husbands/fathers were complete dumbasses. Men started complaining that "society" looked down on them and women were treated as "superior" because women were always "the smart one" on TV. A lot of women I knew didn't like this, either, and felt men were being mistreated by "the media." I remember a friend wondering why a company would make an advertisement like that. It seemed pretty obvious to me that companies _liked_ these ads, not because it made women look good, but because it made men (particularly white men) look too bumbling and ridiculous to be harmful. They wanted people to think, "How could men (including the executives of these companies) be exploitative or abusive when men are such idiots? If a man can't even recognize a bad deal on car insurance, how could he possibly be a danger to women or other marginalized people? And isn't it mean that some people are blaming these well-meaning, but foolish white guys for all the bad stuff going on in the world? Look, they're just like little babies who can't take care of themselves, not malicious perpetrators of 'r*pe culture like all these feminists are claiming." After I realized this was a tactic, I stopped thinking it was harmless, cute, or a misguided attempt to elevate women. People knew what they were doing - maybe not consciously, but men with power certainly felt it was necessary to convince people they were too incompetent and ignorant to do any real damage to women. And modern women were too smart to let a man hurt them, anyway. Maybe some less powerful men didn't like this message, but it was serving the interests of some people in power, and those people weren't women.
I really feel you in that the further into my forties I get, the less tolerant I am of corporations being all nod nod, wink wink. But the other thing that made me think the Barbie film was good but not great was that I found the level of feminist critique depressingly basic. I think my fourteen year old self in the 90s would have found it basic, and here we are nearly thirty years later (😮) still with this being the pop culture take. Jeeeeez. I did laugh a bunch while watching it though, but not always in the same places as others in the cinema I went to, which was interesting (didn't take notes, but the main one that stuck out was when the daughter says something like, 'yes! Go white saviour Barbie!', and I cackled in an otherwise pretty silent room).
I haven't watched it... mostly because I'm cynical enough to believe the iconic BS would bug me as a corporate cash grab. Like, the entire time. No matter how well done, knowing it was ultimately made to sell more dolls wouldn't get out of my brain.
I haven't watched it either and I don't have a big problem with it being a cash grab and to sell merch (other films do it that I like), unless it's hugely gratuitous but it's part of it. I'm definitely not the target audience for that merch either. I've considered watching it when it becomes free but I still can't get beyond the fact that it's Barbie, even if it is as good as folks say. So, I have a different main reason to you but it seems we're in a similar headspace.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I really enjoyed the movie a lot and found parts of it very powerful, but definitely agree with these criticisms - the Margot Robbie narrator line definitely made me wince, probably the weakest moment of the film for me. Not a huge fan of Will Ferrell either. The only bit of the corporate parts that I really liked was the tandem bike lol
I found something similar (though not exactly the same) when Andor came out and people were falling over themselves because of how radical and subversive it was. Like "wow how did they manage to sneak all this anticapitalist stuff in, Tony Gilroy is a genuis!" As if Star Wars isn't a massive franchise that Disney isn't handling incredibly carefully.
I appreciate how well you lay out how your opinions were formed and informed. It really helps me to think about my own critiques. I am still thinking about your presentation on Doyle vs Watson. Good stuff, as always.
I loved the movie. But any scenes with the corporate suits were the weakest in the film. It definitely seemed like if it had followed a more conventional narrative arc, Will Farrell's character would have been ousted in favor of America Ferrara taking over as CEO. But the fact that the suits felt so de-fanged, and the fact that there was no comeuppance at the end, seemed out of place in a movie whose criticism of the patriarchy was otherwise so incisive. But yeah...it did go through layers of corporate approval. Showing the suits as silly buffoons is one thing. So is passively pointing out that there have only been two female CEOs at Mattel. But ousting the incompetent, all-male c-suite would probably have provided a message that didn't work for Mattel--even if, ultimately, it would have made more narrative sense.
Wow, I really enjoyed the movie, but also really appreciated your thoughtful critique! I think you gave voice to some of the things I hadn’t been able to put my finger on about it. I’d still say it’s a good movie, but also, you’re 100% right that WB and Mattel should implement changes instead of just poking fun at the issue. Thanks for being you. ❤
I've seen the movie twice, and I'm not sure whether I like it or not, TBH. I think comments here are right, the camp side of it is fun. I definitely liked the earlier part of the movie far more than about the midway point onwards. I really don't get the Will Farrell character AT ALL. He's evil, he's putting her in a box! He's good, he says money isn't important, so who cares about the Mojo Dojo Casa House! He's bad, he led everyone on a high-speed chase! No, wait, he DOES care about money, it's the only reason he likes "Regular Barbie." Wait, what's the DEAL with the character, anyway??? I also recommend verilybitchie's video on Barbie and it's plastic feminism, too.
12:47 If anything, She-Hulk confronting the AI could be surprisingly prescient, especially given what the Hollywood studio execs are trying to pull off in the face of writers' and actors' demands 👀👀. That said I don't know how strong of a staying power that scene has, MCU fans seem to jump on the latest Marvel shows right as it comes out (I mean, people on the internet nowadays generally just don't dwell longer on fandoms as it used to be, but MCU fans seems to be even more so... 😐) Speaking of Corporate Cloud hovering over the Barbie Movie™, I guess my gripe at it is more directed at how they presented the history of dolls in their movie. Ofc they presented the Mattel-approved version of it - "Barbie was the _first fashion doll_ ever" (not true), "Barbie was the first _adult doll_ ever" (also not true), there are more but these two are what sprang into my mind as I type this comment. This may be trivial (doll history? Pshaw, like that's world-changing 🥴🤪🙃), but I care about people knowing things as accurately as possible (as I think you do too, Vera), and in this case it's about doll history. I also think that this gripe isn't just to be laid on Mattel, it's also to be laid on Greta Gerwig as well, who when it comes to films with historical materials, claims to be historically accurate, yet when the film in question is under closer scrutiny it turns out that she sacrificed historical authenticity to storytelling in it 😐😒. I was watching Oppenheimer then, tried to pull a Barbenheimer but I didn't manage it, since I didn't really plan for it to begin with 🤪. Oh well, maybe I'll catch up on it later 🤷🏽 Love your surgical levels of analysis as always Vera, keep on rockin' ✨🔥
We are now at a point where the men with the power don't care if they are exposed, called out and criticised because no matter what, they are untouchable. i think that this bodes ill for the future in every aspect of life.
Just to be clear this is not a criticism of this particular video, I just needed to air out my frustration :) I am a bit sick of the "little girls have body issues because of barbie" I don't think we give children enough credit. Like yeah, in the early 00's I was 7 and I knew that it's a doll. I hope this argument is a vit more nuanced - it criticizes Barbie as a shorthand for a larger societal trend, or at least I hope so? But I hear it from left and right at this point and I can't anymore.
Yess I hate this entire discourse from people who don't have a basic understanding of how mental disorders work. Body issues more often than not stem from feeling a lack of control, yeah they can probably be reinforced by the media, but they are not caused by it. And anyone of any gender can suffer with it- I am not a woman and have never engaged with Barbie in my life but I still have body issues. I also suffer with OCD symptoms and in my experience these come from a similar place in my brain, bordering on being part of the same thing (not a doctor, just my experience) but I don't see Barbie being blamed for anyone's OCD lmao
I definitely LIKED the movie, but I kind of agree that the movie is kinda basic in terms of the feminism and that America Ferrera was the best part of this movie. And personally, I think it needed more gay. I basically wanted Ken to find a gay nightclub instead of the patriarchy.
There was something similar in the Netflix animated show Big Mouth, where Nick complains to the head of Human Resources, and the head was played by a live-action Nick Kroll, who is Nick's voice actor and creator of the show.
In the bit about Baribie not feeling pretty, my question is how can they bring up this very real problem with Barbie and Hollywood differently? How do they fix it?
I think it's a good representation of how, in order to get funding for art/pet projects and reach a wide audience, you have to pander to capitalist system. If they wanted to make an indie Barbara movie without backing from mattel or big studio funding, they could have provided a different message. It would be dark. It would be less funny. It would be less pretty. No big names.
This!! It was definitely this feeling of, I like them poking fun at themselves but when I left the film I found myself thinking... well what are they gonna do about it? Nothing, obviously. Pay lip service and that's about it. Which is what is disappointing and prevents me from being able to enjoy the film to its fullest. Maybe it's an age thing? Or feeling like you don't fit into society fully in the first place?
Supernatural did the criticism-of-the-brand/show thing for nine years! (It started in Season 4’s “Monster at the End of the Book.) I think they did an excellent job because sometimes it was an apology for bad episodes and sometimes it was just really good lamp shading. Was it to make more money? Yeah, but it was really good television.
I always feel a lot of conflict when it comes to certain ideas being presented through certain entities. For example: Should the a Frida Kahlo barbie have been made? Because Frida Kahlo was a communist and someone who did not fit or support barbie-like white beauty standards, etc...so it is on some levels inherently weird to have a barbie version of her. And you're never going to get the most honest depiction of what she was about from Mattel. On the other hand...would/does the existence of this doll reach a wider audience (wider than a more "indie" doll might) who might then be curious to learn more about Frida? Maybe. Similarly, this movie seems to say some stuff that a lot of people feel like they need (or pisses off some people who need to be pissed off). The form of the movie that exists is thus far better than what MIGHT have existed as a Barbie movie. But, as you say, once you spot the "we're going to 'critique' ourselves but not change anything" pattern, it is hard not to be cynical.
I liked the movie a lot, but you brought up some really good points I hadn’t thought about before, and I have to say I agree with everything you said. Really interesting analysis.
I recently found Council of Geeks and have been going through the videos and I wish I'd found this video when Barbie first came out! This is exactly how I felt! I don't like the "let's make a self-aware joke" trend in pop culture. I read years and years ago an essay about how K-Pop is beloved because it is not ashamed of being pop unlike the western pop artists that feel semi-apologetic about it. Barbie feels like the movie version of it. In my eyes, it tried to make everyone happy and that's why any messages it tried to convey fell flat.
Will Farrell is a big reason why I haven't seen this movie, plus I agree with you about the dangers of making powerful people look less dangerous. "You can make fun. But you can't make them villains." "If you know it's bad, then why are you doing it?" "That's a real issue! And they made it a joke." I have a morbid, irreverent sense of humor - and I like some clean classic jokes - but everything I've heard and seen about the presentation of the suits in this film is either cringe or (cricket sounds) to my mind. Might I have found this movie novel and subversive 25 years s ago? Maybe, but certainly not now. 27:40 "I don't want you to laugh at yourself. I want you to change what you're doing." 👏🥳💯 "Because you're not a person. You're a company." 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 "I will laugh at you. But not on your terms." Yes, Vera! 👩🎤🤘👏🥳💜💜💜 "Unless you're going to change your behavior to go with that laughter, I don't care." ❤️👍
15:20 completely agree that they didn’t “sneak” anything by them. A throw-away line… maybe someone fucked up and missed it. But the whole concept of bumbling suits being the joke did NOT go under 🙄. Not to mention they pay attention to every detail when it has to do with their likeness. ie- Rodger Rabbit, the two studios owning Micky Mouse and Bugs bunny pissed and moaned that the other studio NOT get a single CELL more screen time than one another. Or the scene from Wreck-It Ralph at the villains support group with all the video game characters. The major game companies were lying about the height of their villain characters so they appeared bigger than one-another. So a movie as big as Barbie didn’t go without being heavily scrutinized. As for your commentary about the “not being surprised about making fun of corporations” anymore. I totally agree. I was already suspicious of that when Futurama did it after their first reboot. When Prf Farnsworth bad-mouths the evil people at Box Studios being stupid for letting them go. Then all of the tv shows (simpsons, family guy, American dad… being the ones at the top of my head) where they make a direct criticism of NOW being owned by Disney and it being a shitty thing. No way everyone’s making the same jab. Especially because each show had an existing critical joke of Disney already pre-takeover.
Thank you for pointing that trend out there. I had seen Matrix Resurrections, She-Hulk and Barbie and noticed what was happening that, but I never connected the dots. I still love Resurrections and Barbie as films though and have a deep respect for Lana Wachowski and Greta Gerwig as filmmakers. I also liked She-Hulk well enough.
As a European, I found it odd that it was being hailed as this amazing piece of feminist art. Its surface level anti patriarchy that's not bringing anything new to the conversation and is just existing to sell you stuff. When I was in the US I couldn't believe how much is actually designed just to sell you products and this movie is no different. There are plenty of feminist movies out there that are actually groundbreaking and not told through the lens of American consumerism.
You do have a valid point, Vera. My issue with the movie is tangent to when you said "the suits are still there at the end". I felt like there wasn't enough change to be had at the end, structurally or systematically speaking. Like you said, the company is still the same way it's always been, unchallenged. But so is Barbieland, I felt, where the Barbie go back to their positions and the Kens get scraps of participation, I'd feel better about it if I'd seen they had struck something more collaborative and equal, you know, truly feminist? I'd love to have seen Kens doing things around alongside the Barbies. It seems like both our qualms with the movie come down to the maintenance of the status quo in one way or another..
Great review Vera- so much has to be changed but is it possible in our corporate world ?? As a woman who grew up loving and then realizing I had to give up Barbie, you are not too harsh but fair❣️
I totally agree with your criticisms. I had SUCH a good time at the movie, but I thought it was a cleverly made piece of PR/advertising for Barbie. Every little bit of "self-awareness" was specially included to further the overall goal of making/keeping the Barbie brand relevant and marketable in a new way.
I have a deep appreciation for this video and the ZP clip you threw in. That mans issues aside, he's a snappy writer. I also had the same issue with this movie where im really into Barbie and Ken having journeys of self discovery, but the movie doesnt HAVE an answer for patriarchy, doesnt pretend to have an answer and just tacitly allows the brands be "the good guys" even though capitalism is major component of the patriarchy. Matrix Resurrections doesnt have WB executives as cute, lovable joke characters. They arent seen at all, they just dictate something awful. Also all of Matrix 4 felt like getting away with something cause theres basically no way thats the movie WB money men wanted.
I didn't like it either. I didn't hate but I thought it was weird and at times incoherent. I will probably watch it again when it's on streaming as based on other commentary, I missed some stuff mostly because I didn't play with dolls much as a kid.
I definitly liked the movie but I definitely did get the feeling of wanting more to it at the same time. honestly it felt like a interesting version of barbie land made for this movie but not MY barbie land I guess? which I think would have been fine if we hung in the human world more as a focus but it just made me want to question the lore more I guess since it kept blipping with the bits of barbie lore I knew as wel as stuff I know from regular life about barbie while also weirdly thinking about the barbie simpsons episode. I kept thinking is she really the only barbie that has left? the CEO's felt odd to me and even more so when I found out there ARE ladies on the board right now. it also felt odd to me because Ken's were treated like normal characters in the lore I know(from the animated movies) and they were still cool...really is hard to beat the nutcracker XD even though i get its the way little girls might play with the doll. it definitely wasn't perfect, but it was fun and I think its a good conversation starter movie because it touched on alot of topics and metaphors depending on how you interpret stuff in it. I honestly thought it was a interesting parody on the voting situation in real life that were are dealing with...how we thought things were fine and we had all our rights and made so much progress, we got complacent and were kept in the dark how how alot of progess has been getting rolled back without us noticing til it literally seemed like overnight alot of our rights got rolled back(like roe v wade)...much like barbie was out then when she came back suddenly the kens were incharge through proper voting and were planning on using the system to vote the ability to vote or make the progress happen back away. but also in the end they wer able to solve the issue by going to the polls in droves and changing it back once they didn't give up/give into it. like how in reality things feel like they suck but we can make alot of good surprisingly visible changes if we all head to the polls. and points to how girlpower can be fun but its a reminder to include people. can't have proper eqaity feminism without the guys as well being included. kthe ken's representing dudes who still have a expectation for a purpose(like the romance) and then feeling that void or like something is wrong but can't articulate it. and a reminder guys have feelings9which i thought was obvious til i heard some people's arguments online). the reminder you still need to work to get anyjob no matter the gender in real life. being influenced though by some toxic stuffwhile trying to find that answer. and how the ken's want to fill tha void and that taking over everything oesnt actually make them feel better either even if it seems it would. it also kindof reminded me of ladies in the real world as well who for a long time did have the expectation of having a guy much like ken's expecting to have a barbie). how ladies couldnt own properly and had less opportunities and some dudes just didnt notice or think about that sincethe ladies seemed happy just like how the ken's done seem to have any houses/just don't have property is just how that world works...making me think of how it had been normalized in the past to where no one questioned it. and howthat did put pressure on ladies to try to find a guy just as it put extrapressure on the ken's with the barbies. the fact barbie didnt even think about where ken lives or not much like how dudes didnt really think about ladies lives at times. how yeah if barbie had noticed/cared about ken more and let him play his boyfriend role where she actually loved him...he probably could have been secure under those circumstances even if something nagged at him something was wrong deeo down(like beach)...much like how lots of ladies lived good lives without alot of rights and stuff because they had their barbie to give them a house and purpose(what they had been told was their purpose)...but of course much like in real life not all relationships are like that. i like how ken much like ladies realizing theyhave the potential to be respected and have power was riding that high but also its hard when you don't know how to gain those skills. It also kindof reminded me of how some people fear that ladies will take over everything on some high of power and that ladies in power will take away rights much like the ken's did. but it reminded me even the most agressive feminist where they get close to kindof hating on dudes isa reactionary response. like how the kens went WAY to hard on getting their own rights theystarted taking other people's away to let them know how they had been hurt/to make the other understand(like how barbie didnt get it til ken stole her house and used her words about not being included)... but also a clear point is the ken's didnt actually enjoy patriarchy and living that way either...much like how ladys don't ACTUALLY want to take over teh work and dont want to stela people's rights...making a point that being in charge wasnt the core of what ken had wanted...which was acknowledgment and being treated with respect/appreciated as well as teh chance to do other things. and also how it can be scary when the previous role of boyfriend or wife/girlfriend seems so simple and how that stillhad influenced the ken's subconsiously and they werent actually indipendent yet much like how in real life the previous mentality is still there. also lowkey how the kens were trying to get attention and seeing other ken's as rivals evne when they seemed normal on the surface at the begining reminded me of how some ladies did have the 'all ladies are rivals' thing like the kens and how working toegterh is important...but also how ken acted was not just to impress barbie but because of the other ken much liek how ladies will respond in ways due to comparing ourselfs or just wanting the approval of otehr girls as well. and how allen is actually suppoused to be ken's friend...but there is only one allen...showing how teh regualr world didnt care about ken having friends....jst how ladies need to focus on frienhship to. it honestly makes me think its a way to help dudes understand that ladies wanting all our rights IS understandable andthat if we over compensate to hard to the other side ist more of a defense mechanism there ratehr than actual hate muhc like how the kens went too hard but we understood where ken was coming from and his mistakes in handling it. though even thesupreme court thing really got to me a bit XD and to fix the ken situation much like in real life we got to start somewhere and build up. though honestly I thought they were going to reveal the business people were secretly kens or allens that had escaped barbie land that think they are in charge while mattel is actually distracting them. of just genuinely being kens or allens that had escaped. they felt weirdly simple...nd honestly it made me want to know what happened to the 'stacy' or kelly' who had snuck out s a baby sister before. though honestly I feel like this movie felt like a play/musical that would hit harder in person and we'd be more forgiving of it not getting to do everything as perfectly as possible with room to improve.
I always find your analyses insightful and they ring true. I can't disagree with the things you've said, even though I also loved the movie. And you're right about America Ferrera! Her character really resonated with me as a fellow mom, and I loved her. I hope people take your nuanced criticism for the complex piece it is, without getting that all-or-nothing attitude. The movie can have good and bad aspects. I still loved it.
I am not sure I feel well of the companies. I felt amazing about Greta. I am with you on my opinion of Will, so that was never going to make me feel better about the companies.
My answer to that question was just "the third act" - I was enjoying it but towards the point where everyone returns to Barbieland I thought "okay, we're done soon, right?"
I do understand Vera.s point because whenever Goop gets mocked on SNL or Stephen Colbert, Gwyneth Paltrow just happens to show up the next episode to do the "See, I'm in on the joke!" bit and that annoys me to no end. I'm more forgiving of the Barbie movie in this regard because clearly the corporate folks have underestimated the intelligence of the audience and they will find out the hard way, as they should.
Thank you for the analysis❤ I'm yet to see the movie (and yeah, i feel like I've seen a half of it through osmosis on social media), so i don't have my personal opinion on it, but i see your point about it being approved by corporations so not really being subversive and yeah, sadly, this is the only way. The movie either has to be done completely independently, but it's likely to be impossible because of copyright and lack of finances, or it has to bend to the will of corporations. In this scenario, they probably did the best they could.
you made me realize that i too had a lot of enjoyment leak out of the experience because saw the punchlines to all the best bits before i've seen the movie. besides that, i don't have the same type of connection to barbie-as-a-childhood-toy that the movie tries to speak to, i think.
You raised some really good points! The suits really did nothing for me other than provide an in story reason for a fun musical chase scene turned car commercial.
I'm generally a lot more cynical of the Barbie movie as a whole. It felt very introductory. I'm not the best person to be saying this as a man but I feel like conversations teenagers were having in 2013 on tumblr who had just gotten past the "girl power" stage of pop feminism and barely started looking at patriarchy as a system, were a step above the movie in the feminist aspect. And it sort of undermined itself constantly. The way that men fall for patriarchy because they're either goofy and don't realize what they're doing, or because they're uncivilized knuckle draggers. The way that the stand-in for criticisms against Barbie (America Ferrera's daughter) was portrayed as an mean and hypervigilant yet well meaning "sjw" caricature who was unfairly turned against Barbie, who did nothing wrong (she. is. a. toy.). The way that, despite women's insecurities being portrayed as sympathetic and in need of systemic societal changes, they still all hinged, within the narrative, on not being as "perfect" as Barbie. And when America Ferrera's character proposed the idea of "the Regular Barbie who's just trying to get by", there was still, within the narrative, almost a notion that that barbie would in fact be inferior to Stereorypical Barbie. Inferior in a relatable and realistic way which was the appeal, but still definitely inferior. Stereotypical Barbie's "perfection" itself was never challenged as a social construct. The movie presented things as if she genuinely was the image of a perfect woman, but that women just shouldn't be expected to be perfect. And... what? That still validates existing hierarchies of gender normativity, just in a more relaxed "no big deal if you're not as good as her" way. Like, I feel like we should be challenging the very idea that Stereotypical Barbie *is* perfection *at all* in a movie presented as a subversion of the Barbie brand's trappings. But the movie, and the narrator, consistently referred to as perfect. As fully perfect, isolated from any societal norms, and that society's norms only force her perfection onto "regular women", rather than her perfection being manufactured by those norms in the first place. It was very odd
I liked it, but found the first half better than the second half. The stuff in the "real" world had more comedy for me. The second had some good laughs too, but not as many. While I agreed the message and understood what it was saying, I wouldn't have minded a bit more stuff in Barbieland. It just felt a bit disjointed to me. Also wasn't sure what the point of having Will Ferrel in it was. Sure, he had some laughs here and there, but his role felt like it could have been played by ANY funny men. It just seemed like a bit of a waste. More cameo than actual character, if that makes sense. Also, some stuff felt unexplored. For example, Ferrel says Barbie in the "real" world could cause MASSIVE changes ... and yet the only change is that Ken is more popular now. That's it. All I'm saying is that they could have done more with the concept. Lastly, I was a touch confused by how Barbie became a human. I know it didn't HAVE to be explained, but it just felt a bit confusing to me. Hope my thoughts came through clear here :)
Maybe I'm so jaded that I've come full circle, and it doesn't bother me any more. The owners let themselves be lampoon because it perpetuates the illusion that people have some control
The whole incompetent but harmless man in power bit played by Will Ferrel really rubbed me the wrong way since that was exactly the play used by Boris Johnson to improve his popularity for the UK prime minister elections. These types of men are undoubtedly incompetent but are not at all harmless, and I’m so sick of them being portrayed as a goofy joke.
Yes why is incompetence seen as better than flat out immoral? The first still does harm they just aren't aware of it, so the same results would still apply 🤔
This! When characters and portrayals depict this sort of thing it so hard for me to not just walk away. Im done with it. What's worse, though, is when in real life, like with Boris Johnson or Trump, people say they are too incompetent to do real harm.
@@gRinchY-op5vr It's seen as better because one can always have the potential to learn and grow from incompetence if said incompetence is challenged. Not so with immorality. For example, I (as a transmasc NB who uses "they/them" pronouns) will not hold it against anyone who misgenders me upon initially meeting me when I'm not presenting as masculine/androgynous. I *will* hold it against people who continue to misgender me going forward despite knowing my preferred pronouns, because that's just plain malicious.
Put simply, incompetence is frustrating but potentially curable (at least up to a point). Immorality is infuriating and permanent. One can be incompetent without being immoral, and writing someone displaying incompetence off instantly without at least giving them a chance to improve themselves ultimately does far more harm to everyone than good because it's part of what helps push people down the right-wing pipeline.
@@gRinchY-op5vr "why is incompetence seen as better than flat out immoral?" actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea "the act is not culpable unless the mind is guilty". I guess😒EDIT: However, criminal negligence is indeed recognized.
@@knavishknight I think 'intent' is overappreciated in discussions on ethics. Which is convenient, because it's hard to prove. Y'know, when someone does or says something bigoted but it gets handwaved as 'they don't mean it that way'. I mean, intent matters, but so do consequences. Those should probably matter quite a bit more, in fact.
Mattel is selling a "Weird Barbie" doll. That alone makes it clear that the corporate entity doesn't understand the point of anything in this film. I also felt the shadow of corporate approval on the movie, and I wish they'd cut Will Ferrell's part down a LOT because I couldn't stand him, and I thought his presence in every scene he was in made the movie worse. That being said, I still loved this movie and will watch it again when it's streaming. As a Gen Xer, the existential angst spoke to me SO loudly that I actually cried a couple of times, and Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, and Ryan Gosling were all pure gold in this.
I'm not a Gen X'er but my favourite part of the film despite its shortcomings were the middle aged women in the audience laughing and enjoying the shit out of some of the more... shallower pop feminist jokes in the film. Not that shallow is necessarily a bad thing, but watching it in theatres with an audience who really enjoyed the film made me enjoy it more as I watched it
I thought that was weird. Like the whole point of the "Weird Barbie" is that she's the favorite toy of a little girl who did all kinds of things like they played.
The most they should have done was make a kit specifically to make a "weird barbie" so children can make their own versions of her. (Kinda like Wreck This Journal)
@@vvitch-mist20Exactly! I think this proves Gerwig DID sneak the meaning under the corporate overlords!
Ferrel is barely in the movie, lol.
@@etherealtb6021
A poorly placed character can fuck the vibe of a movie.
The Barbie movie's attitude towards its own mythology reminds me of the live action Disney remakes: "Yeah, we know people have criticisms , but instead of actually addressing them or even doubling down on what these stories are REALLY about, we're just gonna make self-aware jokes and not change anything"
I loved the movie but had the same thought. It's perfect branding to bring back cynical adults. I think it's worth noting also that Mattel was not only depicted as harmless buffoons, but actively redeemed through the Ruth Handler character affirming the company's supposed feminism and giving Barbie her Pinocchio moment. The movie relies heavily on lampshading, but beyond that also ultimately presents Mattel as benevolent.
I mostly love it for the camp, production values and general talent on display rather than the politics being especially radical (it's soft liberal feminism with just enough reflexiveness to get away with the limitations of that). I reckon people who enjoy the aesthetic appeal but want something more radical should check out queer cinema if they haven't, But I'm a Cheerleader springs to mind, or John Waters' work.
Side note: I'm glad you were able to recognise your imposter syndrome to put out analysis, because this was needed. It doesn't have to be the flashiest thing to be substantive analysis, and it's absolutely not strike breaking to actively criticise art/entertainment. In terms of production values it's as polished as it needs to be to make the points well.
I think this is probably part of a larger conversation to be had about strong anti-capitalist themes in shows and movies produced by massive corporations and streaming services like Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Netflix etc. Maybe 5 or 10 years ago, you could argue that there was a subversive angle it to, but now it’s just corporations attempting to corner an artistic market that is (at least superficially) ideologically opposed to them, because they likely see no actual threat to the system in allowing works with those themes to be produced.
Yeah, recuperation is a real problem that needs serious attention. It happened to Nirvana. It happened with feminism. It happened with the LGBT rights movement. We need to wrest our politics back from corporations.
I remember when gay marriage was legalized seeing so many shops selling to gay couples with male/male and female/female manequine displays in their shops. It certainly complicated my feelings about it. The tide had turned so that it was more profitable to serve LGBT groups and corporate responded to the change in tide. But I knew these people were the worse. They didn’t care one way or the other about a group that had been oppressed gaining a basic right, they just decide the public tide had turned enough that it was profitable to embrace it. But ifbthe tide changed tomorrow, they would just re-adjust again. And I’ve never known how to have peace with that…or if I should.
@@TheDawnofVanlife
The most hilarious was Marks and Spencers produced an LGBT sandwich - it was lettuce, guacamole, bacon and tomato. 😂 I bet you think I am making this up! This was real. I said to a gay friend of mine, "when you pushed for better representation did you ever imagine you would be represented as guacamole?"
Well said my friend
Sasha's very valid critiques of Barbie as a brand being steamrolled, and her sort of "conversion" to liking Barbie, really killed the idea that this is a subversively feminist movie for me. The overshadowing idea that all women MUST be feminine and MUST like Barbie smacks of corporate "girlboss" feminism. I still really liked Barbie as a piece of camp cinema, and tbh as a breath of fresh air in a media landscape that has been overly "gritty" and "realistic" throughout the 2010s. I think it was a very good, fun, and well-made movie! It just missed the mark for me as a "revolutionary" feminist film.
I feel like she didn't like barbie herself but that she saw it as important to her mom and that it wasn't evil or anything like that.
As someone who wears hyperfemme clothing as a hobby, I actually took away from the movie's climax and ending that "real, modern women don't dress this way!" and THAT annoyed me. I don't wear what I do because I'm some socially brainwashed stereotype, I wear it because I think frills and pastels are fun, yet this type of feminine presentation is treated as something to be fixed and toned down when we should be encouraging people to dress however they like. It's so interesting how the same subject matter can manage to hit different people so wrong, lol.
I loved it but it actually took me a LONG while to love it... Maybe because too much funny stuff was going on, etc. I remember just being "eh, it was ok" with my friends. But when I summarized the movie for my mom (who didn't watch the movie) and said "And then, Barbie realized she didn't want to be Barbie anymore", I just started crying afterwards lmao.
Understandable
My opioion of it did seem to go up as the hours and days went by since I watched it. I think there was a part of me that was ready to nit pick over ever element and state to myself, 'this aspect could be done better', or, 'there's too much monologuing here'. But on reflection the overall thing worked really well and I should just let myself enjoy it for what it is.
This is something that's been bugging me a lot lately. In the UK we A LOT of content, both fiction and late night panel shows that poke fun at the UK government, the royal family, big celebrities, corporate elite. And it's been brilliant for decades, some of the most hilarious, witty intelligent comedy and commentary shown weekly on TV (often Channel 4, but the BBC do it a lot too).
But it really hit me recently, how this sort of plays us all. Makes us feel like we're getting one over on those that abuse us, but really they're letting it happen, it distracts us, makes us less likely to do something about it.
It's like having a court jester, he can stand there and insult the king, we can all laugh along and feel good about ourselves for a few moments, all while the king is robbing us blind and keeping us subjugated.
It's a big reason I don't watch any content like that (on top of the fact I just don't find that type of comedy that funny and don't watch TV in general) but my parents do and have watched those shows since before I was born, my whole life. and don't get me wrong I'm grateful to live in a country where people can say these things while a lot of places can't- that's not what I'm talking about. but criticising the government is a basic human right, this stuff is crumbs to me. I'm just like. how long can you watch this stuff being talked and joked about week after week for years and years before you get up and *do* something about it, other than laugh? Because personally this stuff doesn't make me laugh, it makes me angry.
Definitely! @@j-skullz
My issues with Barbie were more on a story level, in the sense that I feel it had a much more engaging and interesting story to tell that got buried... interesting that you mention that the America Ferrera speech landed with you, when one of my issues was that I never felt like her character fully earned that speech because we didn't spend enough time getting to know her and her life. If I had been the one making this movie, I would have scrapped everything regarding Mattel and the CEO (nothing about that worked for me), kept Barbie in the real world longer interacting with Gloria and Sasha, bonding with them and getting to know their environment (which is something Greta Gerwig excels at, see Lady Bird and Little Women as examples of her expert handling of just letting women interact), and pushed the climax of Ken discovering patriarchy to maybe just the last half hour of the movie. There was still a lot about this movie I really enjoyed and admired (the design of the Barbie world, the unabashed camp value, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, many of the jokes), but it ultimately underwhelmed me because of how much of the story it was telling me rather than showing me...
YEAH and after my mom and I watched it, she commented something like “why did her telling them about women in the real world fix their brainwashing? They’ve never experienced it!”
Barbie is a movie that is probably as good as it can be…and it still could’ve been better.
I totally agree that the capitalism of the film definitely hindered me from really getting into it. It didn’t help that I found the feminist commentary to be very base-level and didactic.
As much as I thought the cast were outstanding, the characters they played were also pretty thin and lacking depth.
I can’t lie. I *did* laugh at the “Note to the filmmakers” narrator joke, though.
9:00 "it didnt work on me because I know why they did it" I felt I knew where this was going and was happy to be right. More and more this is me. Ive tried explaining it to others but I didnt articulate it nearly so well as you. Im glad to know it isnt just me. Its really weird being in the crowd where a bunch of people are excitedly exclaiming "did you see that!?" and others, confused, ask what they missed while you sit there othered becuase yes, you saw it, but unlike the others you arent excited.... and here is a great example of my failure to articulate. Sadly my ability to communicate well is limited to good days and with my health most days arent good. So anyway. Thank you for the video and little me feel im not weird for this view.
Margot Robbie was the perfect person for the “feeling ugly“ bit. It illustrated that even the most traditionally beautiful person can see herself as ugly, and when she does so, she is wrong. Just like anyone.
That's why the impact of that was squashed when the movie called attention to how society would see it. Lampshading a sincere emotional moment of vulnerability by pointing out that she's too pretty to deliver the message was really deflating.
I agree, it quite accurately demonstrates how our own negative self image is usually not at all how the world sees us. If most people vocalized to most other people things like "I feel ugly," or "I feel stupid" those other people are immediately going to say "no you aren't" and most of them will mean it.
Absolutely agree.
Also, seeing conventionally attractive people repeatedly called "ugly" has really stripped the word of any meaning for me. I just can't take it seriously as an insult anymore. It's kinda freeing.
This is a good statement.
@@psychotophatcat Yes.
I liked it. I wouldn’t necessarily use terms like “subversive” but it’s a lot deeper in its messaging than the average studio blockbuster. Would I call it a great movie? I think that remains to be seen, at least for me personally. So far it’s my third favourite film of the year, with my tops being Asteroid City and Oppenheimer. I thought it was funny, the actors were good in their parts, the production design was nice. It was just a good, fun movie.
As for the issues raised here… eh, I think I’m just numb to corporations trying to gain favour will not improving themselves at this point.
I really liked the movie but this is exactly the thing that bothered me about it, thank you for putting it so well into words! I left the theater feeling like "i loved it, but......" and THIS was the But in question.
Also it was especially annoying to try and find actual valid criticism of the movie, cause it felt like it was either men being mysoginistic about it, or people praising it like it has no flaws, so I'm happy when i see some real good commentary of Barbie like this
I definitely noticed the critics you made while I was watching the movie. Mattel corporate was by far my least favorite part of the film, and I rolled my eyes hard at the lampshade on how beautiful Margo Robbie is. However, they didn’t diminish the truly joyful parts of the film (which is the majority).
America was definitely the star (and heart) of this film. Her speech had me on the verge of tears and I really didn’t expect that from the Barbie movie. The moment on the bench with the old woman is also a standout. As well as the montage at the end showing the joys of girlhood. We don’t see that as often as we should. The focus is so often on how difficult girlhood is, which it is, but it is also frequently joyful and we should depict that as well!
Once again the Spectacle wins by appropriating and commodifying the opposition to it. This has been on my mind for a while since the overwhelming success of "Barbie," I'm very glad you did a video on it. Thanks!
Capitalist integration, baby!
Completely with you. I liked the patriarchy commentary as it stood. I didn't like the capitalism commentary for exactly the reasons you've stated. But I knew full well as I did in she hulk and when any other blockbuster makes a statement that this is only the message and content the corporation was happy signing off on, the artistic vision with enough suit signatures to make them happy.
The narration pointing out the issue of who is delivering the message is as bad as marvel making a joke about abusing visual effect artists
Two things that bothered me about the Barbie movie were: 1) The screen time allotted to the executives vs. the teenager (sorry I forgot her name)--as if a teenage girl (lead character) is somehow more generic than a band of 2-dimensional executives, and 2) the fact that the happy ending involved the Barbies getting their separate female world back, the executives getting the real world (& their outsized power in it) back, and 1 Barbie getting to participate in the real world but have no real power in it. That is not a happy ending!
I went into Barbie expecting a very different film to the one that we got.
The trailer that I saw gave me the impression that Mattel would be oblivious to the existence of Barbie World until Barbie showed up in LA and that the main story would be similar to that of Ted 2, with Will Ferrell’s character realising the marketing potential of a living Barbie doll and trying to capture and replicate her.
I was also expecting there to be a connection between Barbie World and Mattel similar to the connection between Royston Vasey and the real life Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Mark Gatiss in League Of Gentlemen Apocalypse, with Ken’s take over being caused by Mattel deciding that Ken dolls were more profitable than Barbie dolls and Barbie discovering that her world would cease to exist if the company went under, thus making them, and by extension capitalism, a “necessary evil.”
NGL this is a more compelling premise than the actual one's, what could have been if this were the premise instead... 👀👀
I didn’t actually feel like Gretta “got away” with anything, because when you analyse Barbie as a brand its been shying away from the stereotypical Barbie image for a long time now. From stuff like its Inspiring Women collection with dolls such as Ida B. Wells and Jane Goodall, to videos on their RUclips channel talking about the “Sorry reflex”, depression, breathing exercises, etc. (and this sort of stuff has been going on for at least the past decade)
Knowing all of this prior to watching it made it feel more like this is the final nail in the coffin for the old Barbie image.
The thing about the movie for me was the ending. (This is more about plot and patriarchy.)
After the Vote scene, Barbie looked a little concerned, like she wasn’t sure they just did the right thing. I thought she was going to stand up and say something like “Actually we should make it equal,” but she didn’t.
In the end, she got her bittersweet ending of becoming a human and gaining all the implications of it. She got what she wanted. While the Kens in Barbieland were left in a world which still had an unfair system.
It is individualistic rather than societal, and so it’s easy to forget, or for some not even realize, that it’s not *really* a happy ending, because it makes you cry and then laugh.
Idk I think I could word this better but yeah.
I haven’t seen the film yet and am not super keen to do so, but will get to it eventually I’m sure. I heard that it’s “Feminism 101” and for a lot of people, that’s what they need - but some of us look at it and don’t see anything new.
The idea that people causing harm (like CEOs) are just ignorant and a bit silly and don’t mean to hurt others is actually VERY dangerous.
I survived a lot of abuse in my life, from my first relationship to multiple immediate family members. The more I heal, the more I cannot without a doubt deny that these people KNOW what they are doing. Anyone who doubts it is just playing into their game and probably hasn’t experienced abuse first hand and just hopes that it isn’t as bad as it seems. No, the truth is that it is much worse than they are showing on the surface.
We can’t take down the patriarchy while simultaneously being like “those who benefit from capitalism the most don’t MEAN to do bad things. They just need to learn.”
No, every human rights issue feeds off of capitalism and needs capitalism to thrive. This isn’t much of a step further from “when men are sexist, they don’t MEAN it, they just are a bit silly and slow. Dopey men”
Tell that to a rape survivor. No, that’s not how power dynamics work, not ever.
It’s good that it’s introducing people to Feminism 101 but it’s missing a lot of key pieces for our collective liberation.
I’m not surprised though. The clips I saw looked too clean and shiny and Hollywood; something felt off to me.
I heard online that after watching the film, a lot of ppl (men and women) finally decided to leave unhealthy relationships. I think that is a huge win.
Thanks again for ur insights. I really enjoy you sharing them.
I'll be honest, I'm older than Vera and I don't remember ever having seen America Ferrera in anything before. I know she was in Ugly Betty but I never actually watched it. She is amazing (and actually dares to take on racism as well as sexism, which I found to be a very courageous move). I loved the movie, it hits me where my feminism lives. I have rarely found any media that calls out sexism and racism to this degree and it is good at it. Not perfect, not everything it should be, and it certainly shouldn't be as alone on this issue as it is, but I loved it. Husband and I both saw it twice and agree on how much we love it. I do hope it actually opens the door for more actual critiques of sexism and racism in mainstream media. (I don't know it will, but I hope it does.)
I never watched Ugly Betty, but I loved her (and a bunch of other folks) in Superstore. While the show had many of the standard silly aspects of large ensemble sitcoms, I really loved it for its sly intelligence and subtexts, surprising funny (and sometimes cringy!) nailing of working in retail (the frequent background bits were hilarious), and critique and exposure of class issues, including the challenges of unionizing. Definitely worth a watch, in my 2¢ opinion!
@@literaterose6731Ugly Betty was so good! Especially after Vanessa Williams joined the cast and relished in chewing the scenery (it was that type of show)!
She's also the voice of Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon.
The idea that they can make bank off of more IP movies without understanding what made the Barbie movie a success really reminds me of the gaming industry, where they copycat each other all the time without understanding what it was that made the original fantastically successful.
Been a fan of America Ferrera since Real Women Have Curves, which we watched in Spanish class back in high school.
Thank you. I was having a hard time putting my finger on exactly why Barbie felt so hollow to me but you nailed it.
Thank you for the video, Vera!
It is something I mentioned in other analysis/review videos about the Barbie (2023) movie trying to be more sincere and realistic about its themes: it does not matter how much progressive its core message is, the movie is still a product, and you have to pay for it in order to see the message. At the best, the Barbie movie is progressive under corporative boundaries, and, at the worst, it is performative progressiveness.
I will admit that it is funny to see bigots "clutching their pearls" about the movie's success despite its "wokeness" (so much for "go woke, go broke", huh?), but, at the end of day, most of this financial success will end in the pockets of CEOs and executives of the corporations involved. Corporations are not our friends and they do not care about us. They will try to sell everything for profit, including anti-capitalist and anti-corporative ideas, even if it is counterintuitive. First example of that: Mattel released a limited edition of the "Weird Barbie" doll, what goes against the entire point of the character. And the second example: studios are gearing to produce Barbie sequels and spin-offs about secondary characters. Heck, Mattel is planning to develop movies about at least TWELVE of their toy brands. In other words, the corporations/studios are learning all the wrong lessons about the Barbie movie's success, and they are trying to do the same again, and again... Subversion stops of being subversion when it becomes the norm.
I agree with everything you said. After having watched the film, I felt that I liked it, but there was something missing, and I couldn't quite put it into words, other than "You can tell it's essentially a long Barbie ad" - your video puts into words what I've been feeling
25:40 This is a part that I'm surprised more people don't understand. I've seen it said a lot in reference to Disney now owning Simpsons especially, thinking the show won't/can't criticize the corporation because "Disney wouldn't let their brand/image be tainted" - Disney's just like Fox in this sense, they're happy to let minor, pithy criticisms fly by because it sells that product and helps their brand by making it appear like they're more "woke" or "hip" or whatever will appeal to whatever demographic they're shooting for with that move. Of course, part of my anger with this misunderstanding about how Disney will work is that people continually think it's only focused on kids and would only ever put out kid/family friendly content (this is an argument I see especially pertaining to Marvel & Star Wars, with "shock" or skepticism Deadpool could be rated R) - it has long used sub studios (does anyone remember Touchstone and Miramax?) to release things that aren't quite their brand because (say it with me) it can make them money.
I think you might also be missing that this is a movie for girls (and boys) who grew up as fans of Barbie and it wrestles with all the complicated issues of playing with Barbie and liking it. It literally has Barbie Lore for Barbie fans. Just the way a Marvel film might have Easter Eggs for Comic Book fans of the series, while making their own shape that is film specific or even criticizing things about the culture surrounding it's fandom. For adult fans who grew up playing with Barbie, a lot of it hits different for us. And I honestly feel like this Barbie Movie is far more for Adult Barbie/Ex-Barbie fans more so than kids.
I love it because it really did attack all the complicated angles of Barbie. I loved Barbie, I started writing because of Barbie and similarly 1:6 Scale dolls (as diversifying my world was hard, including adding more distinctive boys/males to the fold). The stories I made up with my Barbie dolls and 1:6 scale counterparts were the first stories I wrote down putting pen to paper.
Being a non-Feminie AFAB woman, I always felt like I had to be ashamed of "liking" Barbie dolls and that I had to justify my love of the doll as I became a pre-teen because she was "anti-feminist" or I was suppose to "like boy things" (as a boyish girl) or see her as promoting unrealistic body standards (as a female bodied person I was suppose to hate a peice of plastic for this, and I never felt like I should look like Barbie) or whatever. I saw her as the perfect puppet to make stories with and that's why I liked her. There wasn't a better source for adult based "lets pretend". I really feel like the mom played by America Ferrera was ME. A woman with a complicated relationship with Barbie who absolutely looks NOTHING like classic Barbie (i AM black AND plus sized all my life) and never expected to look like Barbie but I liked playing Vet Barbie because I wanted to be a Vet. During the movie, I won't lie, I was fan girl-ing about the life-size Barbie toy recreations that were soooooo accurate in the film and gushing over things I either owned in the past or wanted in the past.
It was the first doll that really embraced girls playing "grown up" and not "mommy" and I don't think that is given enough credit for how different that was at the time, with all the complications of the time period it was done. That bit is true. But Barbie was also a "fashion doll" so it was always a battle between is she "really" an astronaut or just "modeling an astronaut outfit". But the original G.I. Joe, the one that was 1:6 scale, the same size as Barbie, who was also a "fashion doll doesn't get as much criticism for being the same thing for boys. (literally "it's not a doll, it's an action figure" thing was invented to cover the whole men letting their boys/sons play with "dolls" thing and cobra was invented much later to give G.I. Joe someone to fight in the cartoon. the Original "Joe" was a singular doll you bought additional costumes for.
I actually thought the Kens were kinda complicated and I liked that. It didn't really have a clean answer to anything concerning the Kens. just like the real world is still wrestling with patriarchy, the Barbie world still hasn’t figured out fairness to Ken. One world isn’t better, they are just as bad as each other. I always wanted more boys and mixed in 1:6 scale Solider Action figures in my play. I think the whole Barbie issue isn't a clean issue and that's okay. It was much better than I expected. Honestly, I only went to see it because of conservative outrage about it.
And for me the Barbie costumes, which are joked about in the movie in various ways, were also her strength in fantasy play. I could dress her up to be any (adult) thing I wanted and I thought about that more than her waist size. But Barbie criticism made me think I had to be more critical of her waist and boob size. This was a movie for Barbie fans and wrestles with all our complicated feelings being Barbie fans..... It also gonna sell a lot of toys, but for me that doesn't make it any lesser for all the ways it hit right to this old Barbie fan.
Thank you for this well thought out honest comment. It haven't heard many people pointing that out and it resonates with me a lot.
@@hiddenechoes 💗
I didn't come out of Barbie loving it either for much the same reasons but tbh me watching it late too probably had the most effect. I spent 1-2 months seeing people online and my IRL friends praising this movie's progressive politics and even as I tried to temper my expectations, I still ended up being let down when I finally watched this pop feminism, 2015 buzzfeed video of a movie. Like if I had gone in blind I would've been pleasantly surprised -- it does have a lot to say for a high profile, major studio release. But it's not revolutionary and I shouldn't've expected it to be, really. It really is a movie that benefits from surprise, maybe more so than most comedies as you pointed out.
Also, Sharon Rooney was so welcome to see in the movie (love her!) but as a fat bitch myself I found it so weird that they had the audacity to cast a woman her size in the Barbie movie when they have no dolls available even approaching her proportions. Honestly the movie was more diverse than the girls' toy aisle at walmart has ever been on a bunch of fronts (this is still a low bar) and it's weird to see so many people giving Mattel a pass at presenting such a rosy image of its doll line that doesn't reflect their actual products. Like I know things have improved since I was young, but not by that much. It feels dishonest
I didn't really think I was gonna like it but I ended up love Barbie, I think because I went in with no expectations that I just loved it.
There’s a line in John laCarre’s Smiley’s People that goes something like: “If you make out your enemy to be too weak or ineffective, you lose your reason for fighting them.” When I took my goddaughter to see Barbie, that line ran through my head during one of Will Ferrell’s scenes. I was more interested in asking her what she thought of the movie than my own reaction, but your video reminded me why I was a bit dissatisfied. Thanks, as always, for providing content that makes me think and laugh. You’ve a gift!
I absolutely knew walking into the film that I'd be walking into Mattel propaganda. I had very low expectations, and so I was thrilled. :) I have no changed thoughts about Mattel, especially recognizing these tricks from... uh... ALL of the Disney remakes??? And a lot of recent Disney original movies too. I have seen some rumors/thoughts from others that the Mattel president was originally supposed to be another escaped Ken and that's why he was so worried about the changes that can happen because he's intimately familiar. It would have fit well, but it's not clear to me if this was something higher-ups said "no" to or if it was just a missed/lost potential.
What I was surprised by was how SEEN a lot of the writing and characters and character arcs. In particular, Ken's character arc. A lot of my life was lived in a way to make my family look good. They never understood who I am as a person, and I always describe myself as "a set piece" for family gatherings. They notice I'm not there, but I blend into the background and go unheard and unnoticed when I am there. And then I finally got away from my family, realized I'm a transgender man, and began transition. And like a lot of other transmasc people, I went a little too hard on the masculinity until I figured myself out and finally did things okay and like myself again. Barbie's words to Ken at the end of the movie suddenly stabbed me like a knife because I need to hear similar words from my family. I don't think I ever will, but I felt it.
This unfortunately is going to still make Mattel some money off of me. With that connection, I am planning to buy the "I Am Kenough" sherpa hoodie. I can't stop thinking about it honestly. It feels personally affirming... fuck capitalism though.
Every once in a while I think about a line from The World's End which is a slightly hot mess of a movie but does contain some neat stuff... and it's when the protagonists go into yet another pub that looks exactly the same as any other pub because of corporate commodification.
"It's gone Starbucks!"
I've noticed this a lot about current trends in Hollywood. Meta-commentary infused narratives are becoming so common, because it acts as a shield that allows you to keep doing the thing in question. I noticed it first when the Lego Movie went meta towards the end. Once upon a time you might have considered the deconstruction of a trope or genre to signal that we're approaching the end of that trope or genre's life span, but now it seems to be a useful trick for keeping it alive, unchanged in any meaningful way.
I found the movie very entertaining, but I had the same issues with it that you brought up here. I started really noticing this trope of corporations allowing themselves to be portrayed as incompetent more after watching The Sin Squad's video about the intensely dark song "Biggering" from The Lorax that was cut and replaced with the upbeat and chipper "How Bad Can I Be". "How Bad Can I Be?", as one might gather from the name, paints the harm the Once-Ler does to the environment as something that arose from his naivety, only having the best of intentions and not seeing any of the harm he was causing until the last tree was gone, whereas "Biggering" was more truthful to how the wealthy truly are...the Once-Ler knew he was doing harm but he saw it as acceptable in the interest of his goal of growing his business bigger and bigger and bigger.
Corporations are happy to let people make fun of them as long as it serves the purpose of convincing people that the harm they do comes from ignorance rather than malice. Barbie also served up some great corporate propaganda by no doubt solidifying in the minds of mainstream America the lie that Ruth Handler invented Barbie instead of directly copying her from a doll she bought on a trip to Germany (Bild Lilli) and took to Mattel. Any loss Mattel gets from sheepishly acknowledging that they're like almost every other company in having sexism influence their promotion practices is far outstripped by the movie promoting a much more brand empowering narrative about Barbie's origins and her place in doll history, absolving Mattel of harmful actions they've done that can't be handwaved away as just how things are in society.
For me, the issue I had was that the people in the real world talked and acted too much like the people in Barbieland.
Like, it made sense that the Barbies and Kens would be that silly and talk about complex issues in a very blunt and simplified way. But when the real world people aren't that different, it means there's no contrast, no straight (wo)man, which deflated a lot of the humor and much of the larger points they were trying to make.
The first and final acts were both great though.
31:11 you would’ve thought they had learned from the Lego movie (although I suppose you could argue the Lego movie is the reason this film exists)
I was just today reminded why it is important to have conversations you might be uncomfortable with, as by the end of hanging out with someone I haven't seen much in recent years, they literally went "goddammit you're making too much sense to ignore, I don't know how to handle this"
It started with them commenting something like "you couldn't make a song like this in today's climate" and I asked them to explain what they meant exactly, and we went down an entire rabbithole.
At first my head went like yeaaaah I guess so, everyone keeps saying that. An unpopular opinion is not a wrong one, and I think especially valuable when coming from a minority person who can think outside the box a bit 🤔
Putting this before watching, will edit later- Honestly i didn't like that it accidentally played into conservative 'trad wife' style talking points- particularly the belief that "women were perfectly happy being subservient to men until sour grape feminists convinced them they shouldn't be, thats why women aren't happy with the world anymore." I think they really should have shown the barbies being sad or not liking what they were doing and wanting to change it, and then the 'convincing' scene could have been 'bringing them into the plan' instead. Its a small fix that would have done wonders for the movie.
...also the bit at the end where she's seeing a gynecologist was executed well, was funny, but was a bit tone deaf. If only because i could practically feel the people who would twis this good faith joke into transphobic nonsense the second i heard it 🥲
I had the same reaction to the final joke of the movie. When I laughed out loud at it, I realized that I hadn't really been laughing that hard at the rest of the movie. I was amused through much of it, no doubt, but it was mostly cynical amusement (which is a defense mechanism at its heart). The issues brought up are serious, heart-breaking problems our society faces and it becomes a case of 'if I don't laugh, I'll cry'.
Also, the corporate portrayals in this movie and the others you mentioned have have begun to feel like something the corporations HAVE to allow because so many people are aware that this is the reality of corporate culture. They can't just pretend to be benevolent and well-meaning anymore, they can't ignore the truth, so they allow these depictions as a way to provide a release for the all-too-aware public, so we can all chuckle while nothing really important changes.
Why are you giving Gerwig a pass on her portrayal of Mattel? If she made the movie she wanted to make as you claim (14:58 and 18:40 mark), the portrayal of Mattel is HER portrayal. At the least, she seems to be a willing accomplice.
My first thought when leaving the cinema was "wow capitalism really does destroy everything". As a feminist I found the movies approach to those themes so painfully lacking in depth it nearly became a parody. Which is not what I was expecting having seen some of Gerwigs other movies, she is capable of more.
honestly I'd pick barbie princess and the pauper or Rapunzel over the live action
You're completely right. It's sad to see how many people are so easily tricked by corporate capitalism or so brainwashed by the patriarchy that they think this movie is outrageous, revolutionary, etc. To me, the message is watered down (to make it more acceptable) and yet so on the nose it sucks all the joy out of what could have been a good movie.
I think the point was not the bits of the film being self-deprecating and hitting modern film trope. The best part of the movie was being in a group and looking at each other in *those* moments and the utter silence in the cinema at certain parts. I didn't feel it was especially subversive at all - maybe some of way Ken played out by the end was at least handled in a more subtle way than I expected. The movie is fantastic, and nothing's perfect, but the bits that hit hardest were the little reflective 4th-wall-breaking moments of self-revelation and the chats and tears we had in the car on the way home. Childhood and motherhood and complicated relationships and existential dread all mixed in with bright colours and daggy laughs. Not a lot of films are able to do that and whatever cynical attitudes and critiques we can throw at it, Greta still pulled off something pretty special
Yup. I was cynical even before the recent matrix film, basically any film that endorses or is supported or payed by an entity I consider that whatever subversion may be in that medium, it's as you say, greenlit, and thus void. (GREAT VIDEO THANK YOU FOR COVERING THIS TODAY!!!)
I think the tactic is even more insidious than you say in this video. To me, this movie was Mattel selling and proffiting from critique of Mattel. Not only does this render the critique toothless, it is *benefitting* from doing the things being critiqued. Depressing.
I was concerned when I heard details about all the praise for this film, especially when the rage merchants became the face of negative opinions toward it. Thank you for confirming my fears about the potential cinematic universe.
I am very interested in your reaction to that last joke. I am glad it landed for you!
I was discussing Barbie w my mother in law and she said that one reason she didn't like it was that last joke came across as transphobic to her, equating "real womanhood" to a set of genitals that requires the gynecologist. I disagreed w her in that I don't think the movie overall was transphobic: it included a trans actress and it showed gender roles/performance and gender-based oppression applied despite none of the Barbies or Kens having any genitals (as the movie tells us). However I could see how that joke could be construed as transphobic.
This criticism is so insightful. People in power are extremely skilled at maintaining their power under the guise of being powerless.
I remember in the late 90s/early 2000s television ads started portraying families in which the wives/mothers were intelligent and competent, and the husbands/fathers were complete dumbasses. Men started complaining that "society" looked down on them and women were treated as "superior" because women were always "the smart one" on TV. A lot of women I knew didn't like this, either, and felt men were being mistreated by "the media." I remember a friend wondering why a company would make an advertisement like that. It seemed pretty obvious to me that companies _liked_ these ads, not because it made women look good, but because it made men (particularly white men) look too bumbling and ridiculous to be harmful. They wanted people to think, "How could men (including the executives of these companies) be exploitative or abusive when men are such idiots? If a man can't even recognize a bad deal on car insurance, how could he possibly be a danger to women or other marginalized people? And isn't it mean that some people are blaming these well-meaning, but foolish white guys for all the bad stuff going on in the world? Look, they're just like little babies who can't take care of themselves, not malicious perpetrators of 'r*pe culture like all these feminists are claiming."
After I realized this was a tactic, I stopped thinking it was harmless, cute, or a misguided attempt to elevate women. People knew what they were doing - maybe not consciously, but men with power certainly felt it was necessary to convince people they were too incompetent and ignorant to do any real damage to women. And modern women were too smart to let a man hurt them, anyway. Maybe some less powerful men didn't like this message, but it was serving the interests of some people in power, and those people weren't women.
I really feel you in that the further into my forties I get, the less tolerant I am of corporations being all nod nod, wink wink. But the other thing that made me think the Barbie film was good but not great was that I found the level of feminist critique depressingly basic. I think my fourteen year old self in the 90s would have found it basic, and here we are nearly thirty years later (😮) still with this being the pop culture take. Jeeeeez. I did laugh a bunch while watching it though, but not always in the same places as others in the cinema I went to, which was interesting (didn't take notes, but the main one that stuck out was when the daughter says something like, 'yes! Go white saviour Barbie!', and I cackled in an otherwise pretty silent room).
I haven't watched it... mostly because I'm cynical enough to believe the iconic BS would bug me as a corporate cash grab. Like, the entire time. No matter how well done, knowing it was ultimately made to sell more dolls wouldn't get out of my brain.
I haven't watched it either and I don't have a big problem with it being a cash grab and to sell merch (other films do it that I like), unless it's hugely gratuitous but it's part of it. I'm definitely not the target audience for that merch either. I've considered watching it when it becomes free but I still can't get beyond the fact that it's Barbie, even if it is as good as folks say. So, I have a different main reason to you but it seems we're in a similar headspace.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I really enjoyed the movie a lot and found parts of it very powerful, but definitely agree with these criticisms - the Margot Robbie narrator line definitely made me wince, probably the weakest moment of the film for me. Not a huge fan of Will Ferrell either. The only bit of the corporate parts that I really liked was the tandem bike lol
I found something similar (though not exactly the same) when Andor came out and people were falling over themselves because of how radical and subversive it was. Like "wow how did they manage to sneak all this anticapitalist stuff in, Tony Gilroy is a genuis!" As if Star Wars isn't a massive franchise that Disney isn't handling incredibly carefully.
I was more forgiving of Andor because ultimately it was anti-fascist and it’s anti-capitalism was at best secondary to that.
I appreciate how well you lay out how your opinions were formed and informed. It really helps me to think about my own critiques. I am still thinking about your presentation on Doyle vs Watson. Good stuff, as always.
I loved the movie. But any scenes with the corporate suits were the weakest in the film. It definitely seemed like if it had followed a more conventional narrative arc, Will Farrell's character would have been ousted in favor of America Ferrara taking over as CEO. But the fact that the suits felt so de-fanged, and the fact that there was no comeuppance at the end, seemed out of place in a movie whose criticism of the patriarchy was otherwise so incisive. But yeah...it did go through layers of corporate approval. Showing the suits as silly buffoons is one thing. So is passively pointing out that there have only been two female CEOs at Mattel. But ousting the incompetent, all-male c-suite would probably have provided a message that didn't work for Mattel--even if, ultimately, it would have made more narrative sense.
Wow, I really enjoyed the movie, but also really appreciated your thoughtful critique! I think you gave voice to some of the things I hadn’t been able to put my finger on about it. I’d still say it’s a good movie, but also, you’re 100% right that WB and Mattel should implement changes instead of just poking fun at the issue. Thanks for being you. ❤
I've seen the movie twice, and I'm not sure whether I like it or not, TBH. I think comments here are right, the camp side of it is fun. I definitely liked the earlier part of the movie far more than about the midway point onwards. I really don't get the Will Farrell character AT ALL. He's evil, he's putting her in a box! He's good, he says money isn't important, so who cares about the Mojo Dojo Casa House! He's bad, he led everyone on a high-speed chase! No, wait, he DOES care about money, it's the only reason he likes "Regular Barbie." Wait, what's the DEAL with the character, anyway???
I also recommend verilybitchie's video on Barbie and it's plastic feminism, too.
12:47 If anything, She-Hulk confronting the AI could be surprisingly prescient, especially given what the Hollywood studio execs are trying to pull off in the face of writers' and actors' demands 👀👀. That said I don't know how strong of a staying power that scene has, MCU fans seem to jump on the latest Marvel shows right as it comes out (I mean, people on the internet nowadays generally just don't dwell longer on fandoms as it used to be, but MCU fans seems to be even more so... 😐)
Speaking of Corporate Cloud hovering over the Barbie Movie™, I guess my gripe at it is more directed at how they presented the history of dolls in their movie. Ofc they presented the Mattel-approved version of it - "Barbie was the _first fashion doll_ ever" (not true), "Barbie was the first _adult doll_ ever" (also not true), there are more but these two are what sprang into my mind as I type this comment. This may be trivial (doll history? Pshaw, like that's world-changing 🥴🤪🙃), but I care about people knowing things as accurately as possible (as I think you do too, Vera), and in this case it's about doll history. I also think that this gripe isn't just to be laid on Mattel, it's also to be laid on Greta Gerwig as well, who when it comes to films with historical materials, claims to be historically accurate, yet when the film in question is under closer scrutiny it turns out that she sacrificed historical authenticity to storytelling in it 😐😒.
I was watching Oppenheimer then, tried to pull a Barbenheimer but I didn't manage it, since I didn't really plan for it to begin with 🤪. Oh well, maybe I'll catch up on it later 🤷🏽
Love your surgical levels of analysis as always Vera, keep on rockin' ✨🔥
We are now at a point where the men with the power don't care if they are exposed, called out and criticised because no matter what, they are untouchable. i think that this bodes ill for the future in every aspect of life.
Just to be clear this is not a criticism of this particular video, I just needed to air out my frustration :) I am a bit sick of the "little girls have body issues because of barbie" I don't think we give children enough credit. Like yeah, in the early 00's I was 7 and I knew that it's a doll. I hope this argument is a vit more nuanced - it criticizes Barbie as a shorthand for a larger societal trend, or at least I hope so? But I hear it from left and right at this point and I can't anymore.
Yess I hate this entire discourse from people who don't have a basic understanding of how mental disorders work. Body issues more often than not stem from feeling a lack of control, yeah they can probably be reinforced by the media, but they are not caused by it. And anyone of any gender can suffer with it- I am not a woman and have never engaged with Barbie in my life but I still have body issues. I also suffer with OCD symptoms and in my experience these come from a similar place in my brain, bordering on being part of the same thing (not a doctor, just my experience) but I don't see Barbie being blamed for anyone's OCD lmao
I definitely LIKED the movie, but I kind of agree that the movie is kinda basic in terms of the feminism and that America Ferrera was the best part of this movie. And personally, I think it needed more gay.
I basically wanted Ken to find a gay nightclub instead of the patriarchy.
There was something similar in the Netflix animated show Big Mouth, where Nick complains to the head of Human Resources, and the head was played by a live-action Nick Kroll, who is Nick's voice actor and creator of the show.
In the bit about Baribie not feeling pretty, my question is how can they bring up this very real problem with Barbie and Hollywood differently? How do they fix it?
I think it's a good representation of how, in order to get funding for art/pet projects and reach a wide audience, you have to pander to capitalist system. If they wanted to make an indie Barbara movie without backing from mattel or big studio funding, they could have provided a different message. It would be dark. It would be less funny. It would be less pretty. No big names.
This!! It was definitely this feeling of, I like them poking fun at themselves but when I left the film I found myself thinking... well what are they gonna do about it? Nothing, obviously. Pay lip service and that's about it. Which is what is disappointing and prevents me from being able to enjoy the film to its fullest. Maybe it's an age thing? Or feeling like you don't fit into society fully in the first place?
Supernatural did the criticism-of-the-brand/show thing for nine years! (It started in Season 4’s “Monster at the End of the Book.)
I think they did an excellent job because sometimes it was an apology for bad episodes and sometimes it was just really good lamp shading.
Was it to make more money? Yeah, but it was really good television.
America Fererra is god.
Ugly Betty is my soul mate.
I bought a bunch of props from the shouw at auction.
I always feel a lot of conflict when it comes to certain ideas being presented through certain entities. For example: Should the a Frida Kahlo barbie have been made? Because Frida Kahlo was a communist and someone who did not fit or support barbie-like white beauty standards, etc...so it is on some levels inherently weird to have a barbie version of her. And you're never going to get the most honest depiction of what she was about from Mattel. On the other hand...would/does the existence of this doll reach a wider audience (wider than a more "indie" doll might) who might then be curious to learn more about Frida? Maybe.
Similarly, this movie seems to say some stuff that a lot of people feel like they need (or pisses off some people who need to be pissed off). The form of the movie that exists is thus far better than what MIGHT have existed as a Barbie movie. But, as you say, once you spot the "we're going to 'critique' ourselves but not change anything" pattern, it is hard not to be cynical.
I liked the movie a lot, but you brought up some really good points I hadn’t thought about before, and I have to say I agree with everything you said. Really interesting analysis.
I recently found Council of Geeks and have been going through the videos and I wish I'd found this video when Barbie first came out! This is exactly how I felt! I don't like the "let's make a self-aware joke" trend in pop culture. I read years and years ago an essay about how K-Pop is beloved because it is not ashamed of being pop unlike the western pop artists that feel semi-apologetic about it. Barbie feels like the movie version of it. In my eyes, it tried to make everyone happy and that's why any messages it tried to convey fell flat.
Will Farrell is a big reason why I haven't seen this movie, plus I agree with you about the dangers of making powerful people look less dangerous.
"You can make fun. But you can't make them villains."
"If you know it's bad, then why are you doing it?"
"That's a real issue! And they made it a joke."
I have a morbid, irreverent sense of humor - and I like some clean classic jokes - but everything I've heard and seen about the presentation of the suits in this film is either cringe or (cricket sounds) to my mind. Might I have found this movie novel and subversive 25 years s ago? Maybe, but certainly not now.
27:40 "I don't want you to laugh at yourself. I want you to change what you're doing." 👏🥳💯
"Because you're not a person. You're a company." 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
"I will laugh at you. But not on your terms." Yes, Vera! 👩🎤🤘👏🥳💜💜💜
"Unless you're going to change your behavior to go with that laughter, I don't care." ❤️👍
15:20 completely agree that they didn’t “sneak” anything by them. A throw-away line… maybe someone fucked up and missed it. But the whole concept of bumbling suits being the joke did NOT go under 🙄. Not to mention they pay attention to every detail when it has to do with their likeness. ie- Rodger Rabbit, the two studios owning Micky Mouse and Bugs bunny pissed and moaned that the other studio NOT get a single CELL more screen time than one another. Or the scene from Wreck-It Ralph at the villains support group with all the video game characters. The major game companies were lying about the height of their villain characters so they appeared bigger than one-another. So a movie as big as Barbie didn’t go without being heavily scrutinized.
As for your commentary about the “not being surprised about making fun of corporations” anymore. I totally agree. I was already suspicious of that when Futurama did it after their first reboot. When Prf Farnsworth bad-mouths the evil people at Box Studios being stupid for letting them go. Then all of the tv shows (simpsons, family guy, American dad… being the ones at the top of my head) where they make a direct criticism of NOW being owned by Disney and it being a shitty thing. No way everyone’s making the same jab. Especially because each show had an existing critical joke of Disney already pre-takeover.
Thank you for pointing that trend out there. I had seen Matrix Resurrections, She-Hulk and Barbie and noticed what was happening that, but I never connected the dots.
I still love Resurrections and Barbie as films though and have a deep respect for Lana Wachowski and Greta Gerwig as filmmakers. I also liked She-Hulk well enough.
As a European, I found it odd that it was being hailed as this amazing piece of feminist art. Its surface level anti patriarchy that's not bringing anything new to the conversation and is just existing to sell you stuff. When I was in the US I couldn't believe how much is actually designed just to sell you products and this movie is no different. There are plenty of feminist movies out there that are actually groundbreaking and not told through the lens of American consumerism.
You do have a valid point, Vera.
My issue with the movie is tangent to when you said "the suits are still there at the end". I felt like there wasn't enough change to be had at the end, structurally or systematically speaking. Like you said, the company is still the same way it's always been, unchallenged. But so is Barbieland, I felt, where the Barbie go back to their positions and the Kens get scraps of participation, I'd feel better about it if I'd seen they had struck something more collaborative and equal, you know, truly feminist? I'd love to have seen Kens doing things around alongside the Barbies.
It seems like both our qualms with the movie come down to the maintenance of the status quo in one way or another..
Thank you for articulating a particularly "icky" feeling this movie gives me. Great work as always!💜
Great review Vera- so much has to be changed but is it possible in our corporate world ?? As a woman who grew up loving and then realizing I had to give up Barbie, you are not too harsh but fair❣️
I totally agree with your criticisms. I had SUCH a good time at the movie, but I thought it was a cleverly made piece of PR/advertising for Barbie. Every little bit of "self-awareness" was specially included to further the overall goal of making/keeping the Barbie brand relevant and marketable in a new way.
I have a deep appreciation for this video and the ZP clip you threw in. That mans issues aside, he's a snappy writer.
I also had the same issue with this movie where im really into Barbie and Ken having journeys of self discovery, but the movie doesnt HAVE an answer for patriarchy, doesnt pretend to have an answer and just tacitly allows the brands be "the good guys" even though capitalism is major component of the patriarchy. Matrix Resurrections doesnt have WB executives as cute, lovable joke characters. They arent seen at all, they just dictate something awful. Also all of Matrix 4 felt like getting away with something cause theres basically no way thats the movie WB money men wanted.
I didn't like it either. I didn't hate but I thought it was weird and at times incoherent.
I will probably watch it again when it's on streaming as based on other commentary, I missed some stuff mostly because I didn't play with dolls much as a kid.
"Satire should draw blood. The purpose of satire is to DESTROY its target." -- G. Sorrentino
I definitly liked the movie but I definitely did get the feeling of wanting more to it at the same time. honestly it felt like a interesting version of barbie land made for this movie but not MY barbie land I guess? which I think would have been fine if we hung in the human world more as a focus but it just made me want to question the lore more I guess since it kept blipping with the bits of barbie lore I knew as wel as stuff I know from regular life about barbie while also weirdly thinking about the barbie simpsons episode. I kept thinking is she really the only barbie that has left? the CEO's felt odd to me and even more so when I found out there ARE ladies on the board right now. it also felt odd to me because Ken's were treated like normal characters in the lore I know(from the animated movies) and they were still cool...really is hard to beat the nutcracker XD even though i get its the way little girls might play with the doll.
it definitely wasn't perfect, but it was fun and I think its a good conversation starter movie because it touched on alot of topics and metaphors depending on how you interpret stuff in it.
I honestly thought it was a interesting parody on the voting situation in real life that were are dealing with...how we thought things were fine and we had all our rights and made so much progress, we got complacent and were kept in the dark how how alot of progess has been getting rolled back without us noticing til it literally seemed like overnight alot of our rights got rolled back(like roe v wade)...much like barbie was out then when she came back suddenly the kens were incharge through proper voting and were planning on using the system to vote the ability to vote or make the progress happen back away. but also in the end they wer able to solve the issue by going to the polls in droves and changing it back once they didn't give up/give into it.
like how in reality things feel like they suck but we can make alot of good surprisingly visible changes if we all head to the polls.
and points to how girlpower can be fun but its a reminder to include people. can't have proper eqaity feminism without the guys as well being included.
kthe ken's representing dudes who still have a expectation for a purpose(like the romance) and then feeling that void or like something is wrong but can't articulate it. and a reminder guys have feelings9which i thought was obvious til i heard some people's arguments online).
the reminder you still need to work to get anyjob no matter the gender in real life. being influenced though by some toxic stuffwhile trying to find that answer.
and how the ken's want to fill tha void and that taking over everything oesnt actually make them feel better either even if it seems it would.
it also kindof reminded me of ladies in the real world as well who for a long time did have the expectation of having a guy much like ken's expecting to have a barbie). how ladies couldnt own properly and had less opportunities and some dudes just didnt notice or think about that sincethe ladies seemed happy just like how the ken's done seem to have any houses/just don't have property is just how that world works...making me think of how it had been normalized in the past to where no one questioned it. and howthat did put pressure on ladies to try to find a guy just as it put extrapressure on the ken's with the barbies. the fact barbie didnt even think about where ken lives or not much like how dudes didnt really think about ladies lives at times.
how yeah if barbie had noticed/cared about ken more and let him play his boyfriend role where she actually loved him...he probably could have been secure under those circumstances even if something nagged at him something was wrong deeo down(like beach)...much like how lots of ladies lived good lives without alot of rights and stuff because they had their barbie to give them a house and purpose(what they had been told was their purpose)...but of course much like in real life not all relationships are like that.
i like how ken much like ladies realizing theyhave the potential to be respected and have power was riding that high but also its hard when you don't know how to gain those skills.
It also kindof reminded me of how some people fear that ladies will take over everything on some high of power and that ladies in power will take away rights much like the ken's did. but it reminded me even the most agressive feminist where they get close to kindof hating on dudes isa reactionary response.
like how the kens went WAY to hard on getting their own rights theystarted taking other people's away to let them know how they had been hurt/to make the other understand(like how barbie didnt get it til ken stole her house and used her words about not being included)...
but also a clear point is the ken's didnt actually enjoy patriarchy and living that way either...much like how ladys don't ACTUALLY want to take over teh work and dont want to stela people's rights...making a point that being in charge wasnt the core of what ken had wanted...which was acknowledgment and being treated with respect/appreciated as well as teh chance to do other things.
and also how it can be scary when the previous role of boyfriend or wife/girlfriend seems so simple and how that stillhad influenced the ken's subconsiously and they werent actually indipendent yet much like how in real life the previous mentality is still there.
also lowkey how the kens were trying to get attention and seeing other ken's as rivals evne when they seemed normal on the surface at the begining reminded me of how some ladies did have the 'all ladies are rivals' thing like the kens and how working toegterh is important...but also how ken acted was not just to impress barbie but because of the other ken much liek how ladies will respond in ways due to comparing ourselfs or just wanting the approval of otehr girls as well.
and how allen is actually suppoused to be ken's friend...but there is only one allen...showing how teh regualr world didnt care about ken having friends....jst how ladies need to focus on frienhship to.
it honestly makes me think its a way to help dudes understand that ladies wanting all our rights IS understandable andthat if we over compensate to hard to the other side ist more of a defense mechanism there ratehr than actual hate muhc like how the kens went too hard but we understood where ken was coming from and his mistakes in handling it.
though even thesupreme court thing really got to me a bit XD
and to fix the ken situation much like in real life we got to start somewhere and build up.
though honestly I thought they were going to reveal the business people were secretly kens or allens that had escaped barbie land that think they are in charge while mattel is actually distracting them. of just genuinely being kens or allens that had escaped. they felt weirdly simple...nd honestly it made me want to know what happened to the 'stacy' or kelly' who had snuck out s a baby sister before.
though honestly I feel like this movie felt like a play/musical that would hit harder in person and we'd be more forgiving of it not getting to do everything as perfectly as possible with room to improve.
I didn't saw the movie and the only point im interested in is: How played Ncuti Gatwa?
Ncuti was good but only a supporting role comparatively so not much to go off
There are several questions I had about the film especially with Allen and Mattel not the main villains of the film.
I always find your analyses insightful and they ring true. I can't disagree with the things you've said, even though I also loved the movie. And you're right about America Ferrera! Her character really resonated with me as a fellow mom, and I loved her. I hope people take your nuanced criticism for the complex piece it is, without getting that all-or-nothing attitude. The movie can have good and bad aspects. I still loved it.
I am not sure I feel well of the companies. I felt amazing about Greta.
I am with you on my opinion of Will, so that was never going to make me feel better about the companies.
Thank you! I've felt so alone in thinking this movie is not doing what people seem to think it is, and it's not revolutionary.
My answer to that question was just "the third act" - I was enjoying it but towards the point where everyone returns to Barbieland I thought "okay, we're done soon, right?"
I do understand Vera.s point because whenever Goop gets mocked on SNL or Stephen Colbert, Gwyneth Paltrow just happens to show up the next episode to do the "See, I'm in on the joke!" bit and that annoys me to no end. I'm more forgiving of the Barbie movie in this regard because clearly the corporate folks have underestimated the intelligence of the audience and they will find out the hard way, as they should.
I will say the Sonic ones I'll let slide because Sonic and Co. do tend to be mad sassy lol.
Thank you for the analysis❤ I'm yet to see the movie (and yeah, i feel like I've seen a half of it through osmosis on social media), so i don't have my personal opinion on it, but i see your point about it being approved by corporations so not really being subversive and yeah, sadly, this is the only way. The movie either has to be done completely independently, but it's likely to be impossible because of copyright and lack of finances, or it has to bend to the will of corporations. In this scenario, they probably did the best they could.
you made me realize that i too had a lot of enjoyment leak out of the experience because saw the punchlines to all the best bits before i've seen the movie. besides that, i don't have the same type of connection to barbie-as-a-childhood-toy that the movie tries to speak to, i think.
You raised some really good points! The suits really did nothing for me other than provide an in story reason for a fun musical chase scene turned car commercial.
I'm generally a lot more cynical of the Barbie movie as a whole. It felt very introductory. I'm not the best person to be saying this as a man but I feel like conversations teenagers were having in 2013 on tumblr who had just gotten past the "girl power" stage of pop feminism and barely started looking at patriarchy as a system, were a step above the movie in the feminist aspect. And it sort of undermined itself constantly. The way that men fall for patriarchy because they're either goofy and don't realize what they're doing, or because they're uncivilized knuckle draggers. The way that the stand-in for criticisms against Barbie (America Ferrera's daughter) was portrayed as an mean and hypervigilant yet well meaning "sjw" caricature who was unfairly turned against Barbie, who did nothing wrong (she. is. a. toy.). The way that, despite women's insecurities being portrayed as sympathetic and in need of systemic societal changes, they still all hinged, within the narrative, on not being as "perfect" as Barbie. And when America Ferrera's character proposed the idea of "the Regular Barbie who's just trying to get by", there was still, within the narrative, almost a notion that that barbie would in fact be inferior to Stereorypical Barbie. Inferior in a relatable and realistic way which was the appeal, but still definitely inferior. Stereotypical Barbie's "perfection" itself was never challenged as a social construct. The movie presented things as if she genuinely was the image of a perfect woman, but that women just shouldn't be expected to be perfect. And... what? That still validates existing hierarchies of gender normativity, just in a more relaxed "no big deal if you're not as good as her" way. Like, I feel like we should be challenging the very idea that Stereotypical Barbie *is* perfection *at all* in a movie presented as a subversion of the Barbie brand's trappings. But the movie, and the narrator, consistently referred to as perfect. As fully perfect, isolated from any societal norms, and that society's norms only force her perfection onto "regular women", rather than her perfection being manufactured by those norms in the first place. It was very odd
As always you put my feelings into words. Thank you for it dear!❤
I liked it, but found the first half better than the second half.
The stuff in the "real" world had more comedy for me. The second had some good laughs too, but not as many.
While I agreed the message and understood what it was saying, I wouldn't have minded a bit more stuff in Barbieland. It just felt a bit disjointed to me.
Also wasn't sure what the point of having Will Ferrel in it was. Sure, he had some laughs here and there, but his role felt like it could have been played by ANY funny men. It just seemed like a bit of a waste. More cameo than actual character, if that makes sense.
Also, some stuff felt unexplored. For example, Ferrel says Barbie in the "real" world could cause MASSIVE changes ... and yet the only change is that Ken is more popular now. That's it. All I'm saying is that they could have done more with the concept.
Lastly, I was a touch confused by how Barbie became a human. I know it didn't HAVE to be explained, but it just felt a bit confusing to me.
Hope my thoughts came through clear here :)
Maybe I'm so jaded that I've come full circle, and it doesn't bother me any more. The owners let themselves be lampoon because it perpetuates the illusion that people have some control