One of my complaints about the movie is that it was constantly putting out the message that Barbie being used as a beauty standard for women is society's fault, it seems that Mattel is trying to push the blame away from itself.
The thing I found super weird was that the Barbieland ended as a matriarchy. It felt like they set up these two extremes at the beginning of a matriarchal Barbieland and a patriarchal real world and I thought they would end the movie by showing that the real answer is actually an society where men and women are equal. The movie surprised me by basically just ending with Barbieland in the same place that it was before. In my opinion, they really missed an opportunity for unity here and this really made me feel like simply being a man made me an enemy in the filmmakers' eyes.
Yeah i think the idea was to show how slow progress was for the women in regards to our history with equality, but i can see how that would also shake some things up, basically saying that the barbies didn’t learn from there mistakes and basically forcing the kens to wait so the barbies can selfishly keep all of their power, but again i also see the metaphorical side of it - im seeing more and more how this movie is dividing people lol
I tried to enjoy the movie but... it just didn't click for me. When it bombards you with the Feminist messages and your anti-feminist section really put a lot into perspective, it became less about a film and more about yet another preachy movie. plus, the fact that Ken was the most popular character in a *feminist* film... let that just speak for itself
yeah that’s fair, i personally enjoy ryan gosling just being goofy, but if you’re someone who doesn’t, then you probably found it to be super preachy and probably annoying lol, definitely wasn’t a perfect movie
@@yo_grrtt I just feel like it tried to hard, and as you pointed out, a lot of the resolution just undermines the original message. I don't like preachy feminist movies to begin with but inconsistency bothers me more than anything.... still though, that Barbenheimer weekend was a blast
@@tobluetoblack totally agree , they have some work to do if there’s going to be a barbie sequel lol, and yeah i watched barbenheimer back to back and it was a great time i won’t lie
What I liked about the movie was that neither side was the ultimate good or ultimate bad and both Kens and Barbies did some not-so-savory things. Pretty surprised that the Barbieland didn't end up as an equal opportunity paradise.
I have so many gripes with Barbie. But overall I enjoyed this movie. However It doesn’t tackle the complexity’s of feminism. It is not just one ☝️ idea. Feminism is a general topic and most general audiences may not know the nuances🤔! Great video 🎉
thanks man! i completely agree, there’s a lot more that needs to be said and it’s an extremely broad topic - i hope there will be more positive discussions in the future with it tho
I really couldn’t get behind the movie cause it tried to play both extremes. It tried to play the repressed part but also made the men in the movie incredibly incompetent even after the Kens managed to take over Barbie land. And then at the end it went back to status quo. It wasn’t a movie about equality or feminism, the message (at least to me) was that women need to be in power. Instead of cooperation and equality it turned society into gender based competition
The only thing good about Barbie was costume design, setting, some music and obviously Ryan Gosling. other than that the some of the jokes were trying so hard to be funny when it was kinda cringe, the plot was rushed, the main issue with this movie it chooses messaging over the plot of the story, they tried so hard how "super feminist" this movie is (which basically proves this film wasn't satire how people claim it to be since they took the themes of this movie very seriously, you can look at the interviews from casts and director, if they knew what they were doing this film would've made fun of both sides of the spectrum). As someone who grew up with Barbie, yes the doll is known to be a "feminist icon" she can be anyone she wants however this movie tries to portray the kens were only used as accessory which isn't true since the ken dolls did have occupation and there have been ads of these dolls participating in different activities with Barbies and other female dolls, the matriarchal aspect of Barbieland didn't seem accurate. One of the main things I couldn't stand with this movie is obviously the monologue, probs bc I don't seem to relate to the mother but the speech isn't "so powerful" how people claim it to be, the speech felt all over the place coming out of no where, I have argued that little women (also directed by Greta) has much better speech about womanhood compared this film, it was more subtle and relatable. I think one of the main reasons why topic of feminism in media seems to be divisive is not only because people come to have strong opinions of it but you have writers and directors don't seem to know to represent the theme of feminism, there are some feminist movies that don't seem to be divisive which is little women, legally blonde, Mulan, Clueless, the love witch, Orlando, wonder woman etc all of these movies that seem choose plot first over the messaging and characters seem to be relatable and story is universal (but that's just my opinion on it). If this film wanted to have a female perspective, I don't know if this is naive to say but Mattel or WB could've hired any female director who knew about the source material and lore behind barbie universe. I don't think this movie is a "masterpiece", I think this is an enjoyable movie with flaws, movies have to be flawless in order to be a masterpiece Also the catcalling scene where the movie tried to portray how "men harass women", men weren't the only people starring at Margot Robbie if people payed attention to the scene
yeah i think you have some valid points here, my apologies if i couldn’t cover every aspect of the film and how it contributes, but i do like the take on little women too, i think it’s a better film and it certainly feels much more real in terms of a coming of age story for women as well as a “woman’s place in the world”
To your point about plot over messaging I completely agree. This is why Brianne of Tarth is like easily top 5 game of thrones characters. They focused on her story and the struggle of being human. Not woman. She was just struggling being human as a woman which put a specific but not overbearing twist on her story.
One of my biggest problems with the movie, is yes, the portrayal of men, but the reason why is that... yeah, I do think it was smart to reverse the roles, but it didn't get where it neeed to be. Just like I won't connect to a patriarchal dude in a movie, I won't feel for him, and I'll connect with women in the movie more. I ended up connecting with kens more than barbies, because they were the ones carrying the role the movie is supposed to talk about, and there isn't much development towards it. I didn't really feel for barbies. I maybe felt for the main barbie, but not even that much, and I found myself connecting to the mom, daughter, and kens a lot more
yeah i think the focus of the film was off, i saw a lot of female viewers leaning more toward liking kens too because they’re more fun and funny and the barbies were more just trying to keep ken’s out of power basically, didn’t make them very desirable or likeable characters
I understand that there was a need to condense all of this into a movie, but I just felt the narrative was far too one sided and rushed. You never got any other viewpoint other than "matriarchy good, patriarchy bad" and that just made me dislike the movie
I think the movie is trying too hard to force a certain perspective. It doesn't show you things, it tells you what should you think. It is simply preachy. Nevertheless I find your perspective interesting and well put. Very good video.
