I just watched Barbie and I hated it and have no one to talk to about it. I didn't even hate it for the reasons I thought I would. SPOILERS LIKE CRAZY. The fact that the Barbie plan to take power back from the Kens involved concealing their strength and intelligence, pretending to be dumb and weak and ignorant in order to trick the Kens …
I just watched Barbie and I hated it and have no one to talk to about it. I didn't even hate it for the reasons I thought I would. SPOILERS LIKE CRAZY. The fact that the Barbie plan to take power back from the Kens involved concealing their strength and intelligence, pretending to be dumb and weak and ignorant in order to trick the Kens into fighting themselves, that's the same shit they've been pushing at us my whole life! They tell you not to come at him directly, they say men need to be managed, they can't be told things like adults. Women may not be in positions of power, but you're the power behind the throne, because you manipulate the men, they say. Such toxic horseshit. I wish they'd set fucking fire to Ken, I'm so angry about this stupid movie and I kind of was hoping that I would enjoy it even though it is corporate propaganda, and I'm angry at myself about that.
I do think that was deliberate and Gerwig was trying to reflect the absurdity of that back to us, but it fell flat for sure. No subversion of norms detected!
NONE at all! Why are there so many articles calling the movie subversive??!! I didn't like how the movie wants to ostracize pregnant Midge, anything that's "weird", Growing Up Skipper, cellulite, etc. It's shoring up everything it pretends to subvert. I left the theatre feeling sad.
I like your suggestion that another ending would see all women move to Barbieland.
The fact that we’re talking about it in this way is a win for Gerwig. She made a movie people want to talk about even if it upsets/offends them. I just wish at the very end, way after the really good truths about life were told, she’d stopped and not preached any more. It would have been more powerful.
Definitely a win for Gerwig and Mattel! A loss for feminism and the rest of us lol. If I were to rewrite the ending I'd have Barbie and the "real" women chose to become dolls again & retreat into the "safety" of Barbie Land. Feels like more of a reflection of American rn, where many women are retreating to "trad" norms and/or retreating into objectification ("beauty") — AKA rejecting their humanity — as a way to deal with the horror & uncertainty of post-Trump/post-Roe conservatism
Barbie should have been a horror movie. Then everything would fall into place. I actually, hmm, I think if someone just went through it and put a horror soundtrack over the whole thing, it would be a much tighter piece of art.
I mean I really don't think so! She's been very clear in her interviews that this is the movie she wanted to make. I don't think we need to make excuses for Gerwig or her marketing choices, or assume she would have chosen better if she could — she is a millionaire celebrity at the helm of a $145-million film with plenty of power and agency. She knew what she was doing, and she made the movie she wanted to make, and she marketed it the way she wanted to market it. She's not some powerless person bending to the whims of Hollywood!! She is Hollywood.
I just watched Barbie and I hated it and have no one to talk to about it. I didn't even hate it for the reasons I thought I would. SPOILERS LIKE CRAZY. The fact that the Barbie plan to take power back from the Kens involved concealing their strength and intelligence, pretending to be dumb and weak and ignorant in order to trick the Kens into fighting themselves, that's the same shit they've been pushing at us my whole life! They tell you not to come at him directly, they say men need to be managed, they can't be told things like adults. Women may not be in positions of power, but you're the power behind the throne, because you manipulate the men, they say. Such toxic horseshit. I wish they'd set fucking fire to Ken, I'm so angry about this stupid movie and I kind of was hoping that I would enjoy it even though it is corporate propaganda, and I'm angry at myself about that.
Anyway. Oppenheimer, huh?
I do think that was deliberate and Gerwig was trying to reflect the absurdity of that back to us, but it fell flat for sure. No subversion of norms detected!
No subversion of norms detected, bless you for putting it into words.
NONE at all! Why are there so many articles calling the movie subversive??!! I didn't like how the movie wants to ostracize pregnant Midge, anything that's "weird", Growing Up Skipper, cellulite, etc. It's shoring up everything it pretends to subvert. I left the theatre feeling sad.
I like your suggestion that another ending would see all women move to Barbieland.
The fact that we’re talking about it in this way is a win for Gerwig. She made a movie people want to talk about even if it upsets/offends them. I just wish at the very end, way after the really good truths about life were told, she’d stopped and not preached any more. It would have been more powerful.
Definitely a win for Gerwig and Mattel! A loss for feminism and the rest of us lol. If I were to rewrite the ending I'd have Barbie and the "real" women chose to become dolls again & retreat into the "safety" of Barbie Land. Feels like more of a reflection of American rn, where many women are retreating to "trad" norms and/or retreating into objectification ("beauty") — AKA rejecting their humanity — as a way to deal with the horror & uncertainty of post-Trump/post-Roe conservatism
Barbie should have been a horror movie. Then everything would fall into place. I actually, hmm, I think if someone just went through it and put a horror soundtrack over the whole thing, it would be a much tighter piece of art.
Good points. Wonder if that was her original ending and Hollywood told her to rewrite it?
I mean I really don't think so! She's been very clear in her interviews that this is the movie she wanted to make. I don't think we need to make excuses for Gerwig or her marketing choices, or assume she would have chosen better if she could — she is a millionaire celebrity at the helm of a $145-million film with plenty of power and agency. She knew what she was doing, and she made the movie she wanted to make, and she marketed it the way she wanted to market it. She's not some powerless person bending to the whims of Hollywood!! She is Hollywood.
You are spot on.