This is really interesting to hear, as someone who's still trying to decide whether to go and see it. Reading your post, I realised I had been unconsciously hoping for Barbie to be something akin to The Lego Movie, which was made by anarchists, and it really shows in many aspects of the storytelling. I'm still amazed they skewered the authoritarianism of policing with the Good Cop/Bad Cop thing, especially given that it's another licensed feature, and The Lego Group obviously continue to derive considerable revenue from selling police toys...
I would've loved to see the Kens just being gay - like these overlooked dudes turn out to have been having their own party on Doll Fire Island or something. But it sounds a bit like the ways feminist reimaginings pitched at a mainstream audience in the pre-Me Too era could sometimes be very simplistic and on-the-nose in their messaging and humour.
I hope I didn't spoil too much for you. I did have a great time, had my Barbie outfit and everything, but yeah, certain things just did not sit well. I think the overwhelmingly positive commentary is partly because there is so little feminist commentary in mainstream movies, but we're so thirsty for it that we'll take anything we can get! And yes, a Ken only party on Doll Fire island sounds amazing!!! I didn't see the Lego movie I have to admit (despite Lego being another childhood obsession) but Lego and anarchists sounds like the perfect combination!!! :D
Not at all; I always think that if a movie's really interesting then the spoilers are unlikely to render it not worth seeing! And yeah, somehow the movies haven't quite advanced in the way that the discourse has.
There's a fair amount of movies with interesting and complex women protagonists, and it feels easier to find them than it used to be (one thing the streaming era has got right is that you're not frantically trying to find an obscure film's one-week run in the only cinema in your city to give it house room), but when you see a quite simplistic message greeted as if it were doing more than it actually is, you get the sense that somewhere in Hollywood a big reset button gets pressed every time we get a dollop of Girl Power. Like, didn't we all just have this conversation about Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey? (And I really love that movie!)
The studios still haven't figured out women are interested in more than romantic comedies! ;) I highly recommend The Bechdel Cast podcast if you haven't heard it! They discuss all movies, from John Wick to Portrait of a Lady on Fire with an intersectional feminist lens!
I loved reading this, Aisling. So the Barbie thing flew over my head as a kid, and I was handed one and couldn't, for the non-diagnosed autistic kid in me, understand what I was to do with it, so I cut the hair off her head. My dad was in the army, and Action Man appealed to me more, so he got me one too. I find Barbie just too much to deal with from a sexualized stereotype perspective; even the recent Down syndrome doll started me on an autistic rant as I found it a bit disingenuous, but I totally get the nostalgia it brings for many. I don't think I will be going to see it personally, but I enjoyed your insight. I hope the thesis is coming along okay. I loved doing my MA, so I'm tempted to do a PhD, but it will have to wait for now.
Yeah, I think there are a lot of complicated feelings about Barbie, the doll and the movie. She was the only real girly thing that interested me as a child which is something I still don't quite understand! And as for Barbie diversity, it's not the worst but it is a marketing ploy after all! And thank you the PhD is... well, six weeks to go, so I'll let you know after September 29th! ;)
Ahh such a great read!! I haven't seen it and kind of was on the fence about it. I (and other QTPOC!) have complicated feelings about Barbie, so thank you for this review!
Awwww, thank you! Hope there weren't too many spoilers! It wasn't terrible, but it certainly isn't the woke feminist fest it's been marketed as. Also, lots of thoughts about Latinx representation in the movie and America Ferrera's character, but I'm sure someone more qualified than me can speak to that!
I agree with *everything* you say here. I couldn’t quite believe how much of (the) Ken(s) we were seeing and how much of the ‘fun’ came from his implementation of the patriarchy in Barbieland. It was well executed and everything, but wasn’t what I wanted and wasn’t why I saw the film. Politically, it was just so - basic. Thank you for your post!
Oh thank you! I saw no one writing or commenting about it so I just had to get it out there, so glad I am not the only one who felt like this! I think a little of Ken would have been fine, but I still can't fathom how they let him take over the whole movie!!!
This is really interesting to hear, as someone who's still trying to decide whether to go and see it. Reading your post, I realised I had been unconsciously hoping for Barbie to be something akin to The Lego Movie, which was made by anarchists, and it really shows in many aspects of the storytelling. I'm still amazed they skewered the authoritarianism of policing with the Good Cop/Bad Cop thing, especially given that it's another licensed feature, and The Lego Group obviously continue to derive considerable revenue from selling police toys...
I would've loved to see the Kens just being gay - like these overlooked dudes turn out to have been having their own party on Doll Fire Island or something. But it sounds a bit like the ways feminist reimaginings pitched at a mainstream audience in the pre-Me Too era could sometimes be very simplistic and on-the-nose in their messaging and humour.
I hope I didn't spoil too much for you. I did have a great time, had my Barbie outfit and everything, but yeah, certain things just did not sit well. I think the overwhelmingly positive commentary is partly because there is so little feminist commentary in mainstream movies, but we're so thirsty for it that we'll take anything we can get! And yes, a Ken only party on Doll Fire island sounds amazing!!! I didn't see the Lego movie I have to admit (despite Lego being another childhood obsession) but Lego and anarchists sounds like the perfect combination!!! :D
Not at all; I always think that if a movie's really interesting then the spoilers are unlikely to render it not worth seeing! And yeah, somehow the movies haven't quite advanced in the way that the discourse has.
There's a fair amount of movies with interesting and complex women protagonists, and it feels easier to find them than it used to be (one thing the streaming era has got right is that you're not frantically trying to find an obscure film's one-week run in the only cinema in your city to give it house room), but when you see a quite simplistic message greeted as if it were doing more than it actually is, you get the sense that somewhere in Hollywood a big reset button gets pressed every time we get a dollop of Girl Power. Like, didn't we all just have this conversation about Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey? (And I really love that movie!)
The studios still haven't figured out women are interested in more than romantic comedies! ;) I highly recommend The Bechdel Cast podcast if you haven't heard it! They discuss all movies, from John Wick to Portrait of a Lady on Fire with an intersectional feminist lens!
I loved reading this, Aisling. So the Barbie thing flew over my head as a kid, and I was handed one and couldn't, for the non-diagnosed autistic kid in me, understand what I was to do with it, so I cut the hair off her head. My dad was in the army, and Action Man appealed to me more, so he got me one too. I find Barbie just too much to deal with from a sexualized stereotype perspective; even the recent Down syndrome doll started me on an autistic rant as I found it a bit disingenuous, but I totally get the nostalgia it brings for many. I don't think I will be going to see it personally, but I enjoyed your insight. I hope the thesis is coming along okay. I loved doing my MA, so I'm tempted to do a PhD, but it will have to wait for now.
Yeah, I think there are a lot of complicated feelings about Barbie, the doll and the movie. She was the only real girly thing that interested me as a child which is something I still don't quite understand! And as for Barbie diversity, it's not the worst but it is a marketing ploy after all! And thank you the PhD is... well, six weeks to go, so I'll let you know after September 29th! ;)
Ahh such a great read!! I haven't seen it and kind of was on the fence about it. I (and other QTPOC!) have complicated feelings about Barbie, so thank you for this review!
Awwww, thank you! Hope there weren't too many spoilers! It wasn't terrible, but it certainly isn't the woke feminist fest it's been marketed as. Also, lots of thoughts about Latinx representation in the movie and America Ferrera's character, but I'm sure someone more qualified than me can speak to that!
I agree with *everything* you say here. I couldn’t quite believe how much of (the) Ken(s) we were seeing and how much of the ‘fun’ came from his implementation of the patriarchy in Barbieland. It was well executed and everything, but wasn’t what I wanted and wasn’t why I saw the film. Politically, it was just so - basic. Thank you for your post!
Oh thank you! I saw no one writing or commenting about it so I just had to get it out there, so glad I am not the only one who felt like this! I think a little of Ken would have been fine, but I still can't fathom how they let him take over the whole movie!!!