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BARBIE-ISM
August 9, 2023
Our initial impression: nice
trailer, but do we really want
Dangerbaby objects to one to see a few hours of that?
aspect of the Barbie movie:
she thinks there should've Dangerbaby rapidly converted
been at least one positive from skeptic to extreme fan,
male character, an "ally" of and it's true this movie is
the Barbies. As it stands better than you'd expect.
the movie is open to a
charge of anti-male sexism.
(I gather our conservative friends
are having fun with that line, but Actually, there's one point
I haven't been keeping up with the I might make: the film objects
state-of-the-bullshit.) to the contradictions in
expectations for women: it
leads up to a speech
stepping through some of the
That aspect didn't bother me impossible double-binds women
that much-- the problem that I get stuck with.
have with it is the situation at
the story's close: we have But you know:
Barbie and Ken in existential not-just-women.
crisis, looking for a new center
for their existence, some way of Men are stuck with the
defining what they're about. expectation that that they
can solve any problem,
The trouble here is that there are they'll always tough it
some arbitrary boundaries put on out, buckle down, work
how they're allowed to define harder, find another
themselves: Ken is told flat out option, invent a new
that "Beach" can not be his solution-- Having trouble
purpose in life-- but why not? finding a job? having
Who is to say that's wrong? trouble finding a
girlfriend? What are you
All you can really say is that whining about? Just hustle
you personally don't see the a little harder.
appeal. Maybe you don't
understand why any one would And if anything goes
see the appeal-- The question wrong along the way
is why is your idea about these it is *definitely*
things better than Ken's? "Always your fault."
Ken is essentially told he has to
re-define his existence without
reference to anything else he's There's also nothing particularly
ever cared about, which sounds wrong with Ken deciding that sex
like a pretty good trick. is pretty important to him, though
it's evidently not going to be sex
with Stereotypic Barbie.
What is the film's actual
message, what is it's BARBIE_VS_SEX
stance on Barbie-ism?
What if you're someone who chooses to
do your best to live like Barbie?
The film rejects this out-of-hand as
shallow and impossible, but if you met
someone whose joy in life revolved
around splashing in those shallows in
pink heels-- would you be willing to
dictate to them how they should
live, and what they should really care
about? Maybe Barbie isn't the real
"fascist" on this scene.
"There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine, yeah"
-- Indigo Girls, "Closer to Fine"
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