“barbie truly created the ideal society. women in every career field without question and holding positions of power. wearing pink traditionally hyper-feminine outfits while doing so. modern urban planning that creates walkable utopian cities. unique architectural designs. himbos everywhere. neon colors as far as the eye can see. everyone slaying.”
It is kind of funny that the movie’s ultimate message was that a society with strictly enforced gender roles and a dominant sex is good.
Also where was the queer representation? They showed magic earing Ken but no gay characters? Really??
The Barbie movie was primarily an excuse for Greta to put this epic monologue out into the world.
It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.
You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.
But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful.
You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.
I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.
I have never cringed harder at a movie than during this monologue. I like the rest of the movie though.
If you watched the movie you know that’s exactly not what it said.
I mean by the by it was a funny movie and I liked it. But when you get right down to it, it was a hail-mary attempt by Matel to switch the narrative about their toys being unhealthy for young women’s body image. I’d say thats the only consistent message it had.
What movie did you watch? That’s a terrible take on it. I’m not sure how you could even think that’s the message. That’s like literally the opposite of the movie’s message.
Do you think so? Consider the subtext, not just the genders of the actors.
The conflict of the film is, quite literally, an oppressed sex lashing out at the society that oppressed them and taking control. The resolution is the previously dominant sex regaining control and putting the oppressed sex back in their former, subservient positition.
The movie almost literally ends by asking the audience “Why is this resolution bad?” 💀
I haven’t seen the movies, but I feel like the majority of kids who play with Barbies inevitably make them marry and/or screw each other. I had like 20 female dolls and only two male dolls, so I wasn’t sure how else I was supposed to “pair” them off.
Any exclusionary conformist society can look good on the surface if you ignore the people outside the dominant class. The 50s in America looks idyllic if you ignore black people, women who didnt want to be housewives, leftists etc. Same with barbie world, if you arent a hyper femme straight cis women you probably wouldn’t have a good time there. That was sort of the message of the movie too, if you don’t make your society open to different people or ways of life it will build resentment that can lead to the fall of the society
Sadly much like many Disney movies, Barbie was a vehicle for corporate-approved feminism, but isn’t willing to actually confront the class war.
But no movie studio wants to admit to the class war, even when they overshadow the principal antagonist with capitalism (such as the PoTC example, an undead octopus-faced monster with his heart locked away in a box, overshadowed by the British East India Company).
Taking another page from Monsters Inc. no studio today would include the Scream Extractor in their kids movie.
Rock and UwU!
Just enjoy movies man.
Firstly, some of us media nerds are way into analyzing the fuck out of movies (and books and games and whatever), sorting out what was accidental, what was unconscious and what was willful and intentional, and the differences between fiction that’s meant to reflect IRL, fiction that features codes or conventions for sake of the audience (e.g. sound in space) or fiction that reflects author bias (e.g. Christians as represented in Pure Flix Entertainment cinema).
But yeah, speaking of Pure Flix, some movies are out there to send specific messages or to reflect certain dangerous worldviews, and I’ve seen enough of those to understand that one can’t safely just enjoy movies. A big example is the implication in the MCU (Disney) that the status quo (roughly IRL + superheroes, with civilization carrying on) is good, even though that’s not the case for most of us normies. In fact, Spiderman’s poverty trope was pretty much erased when Iron Man / Tony Stark takes Parker in and makes sure he and relevant family are cared for, and thus out of common precarity. Fucking Disney, man.
Then there’s also the problem with media in general, that a lot of it is subject to Hollywood accounting (the studios and labels cheat the artists and developers) and Hollywood management (infamously crunch in the video game industry, but mistreatment and undercompensation prevails throughout.) So a lot of what we consume comes with some gross baggage.
That said, I do enjoy movies quite a lot.
Sounds like you enjoy thinking about movies.
I do. Wait…are you gatekeeping enjoying movies?
Idk man I’m not the one writing paragraphs about it. Lol
I write paragraphs about everything, though. It’s how I communicate in internet forums. It’s a consequence of doing a lot of compulsive research and being ASD. I also have weird takes, and am expected to explain them. It’s a phenomenon not particular to movies.
Yes. Sometimes it’s tl;dr for some folk but others seem to appreciate it.
Sorry if it bothers you enough that you have to shut me out of your circles.
It bothers me so much I almost gave a fuck. Lucky I dodged that bullet.
You know… Except when the himbos feel marginalized and take over, turning the national anthem into Push by Matchbox Twenty.
“Bimbo” originally referred to men. “Himbo” shouldn’t exist; we should just strip away gender from “bimbo” instead. It’s more inclusive that way.
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Bread
And you can taste that utopia in our dystopic real world so long as you CONSUME every toy and movie and product we make! ඐ
removed literally just missed half the point that a matriarchal system is unjust for the exact same reasons a patriarchal system is and if one bothers you more than the other you should maybe think about why.
Canopus fans in Battletech bother for the same reason. Any criticism about the factions blatant sexism is itself treated as sexism.
i want a world with himbos as far as the eye can see!
I’m currently rebuilding a chicken coop into the Pig Dog Mojo Dojo Casa House, named by my wife. All three pigs and the dog are girls. Two of the piggies are violent lesbian lovers.
I’m Ken, I do Farm.
