farcastHER

I watched Barbie for the first time last night and I don’t know what to think… and I like to think!  What were people’s reaction to the movie?

Tradfi coder by day, hacker by night. Doesn’t know night from day. Freelance scribe. Dad cook. Dog butler.  Happy Grandpa. Draws badly.

i enjoyed it. maybe i midwitted it. but i had some straight lols and was surprised to see mattel roast themselves so hard 

the Ken scenes were also a hilarious exploration on masculinity 🤷‍♂️

CEO at Google • co-founder & rectangle mover at /icebreaker • icbk.me/j4ck.fc • /swagcaster • DJ sixsix

That's a good take. As a straight movie it had some flaws, but it was entertaining. Of course we think we have to assess it to see how successfully it delivered a feminist message (being a mainstream movie with ANY such message is a win in my books) but the win will be when we just view women focused films as normal.

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Love that insight. Obviously I’m a “bloke” and also tend to be overly focused on a single dimension. This is why I ask.

eg. Will F's talk about how the board were all 'sons of mothers, nephews of aunts...etc'. Would go over many heads (esp men) but is such a common narrative.
The whole 'horse' thing I thought was genius, as well as Ken only being relevant as Barbie's side kick. It was better at illustrating the issue vs any solution.

Good points- there were some strong narratives. The fundamental issue I had was that for Barbie’s to accede control temporarily to Ken’s; they instantly flipped to old roles with no struggle. The whole premise was they were instantly convertible back to those roles; that it could be undone on a whim of a Ken.

💯 and then equally stupid that this could be ‘undone’ as easily. But comedy I guess? The fact my 16yr old boy went and liked it was also a win. Did you take it as ‘anti men’ out of interest? I didn’t see it - I was concerned the Kens never had anywhere to live ?? Not very equal at the end.

Same with the construction workers etc...I like to think no-one thinks that was supposed to be representative, but it wasn't very subtle. Again I'd argue this movie has been dissected where a 'male lead' film never is. The win is a female director & female led movie made a ton of money. What gets paid gets valued.

Yes, altho in Ken's case I thought his role was to 'mimic' a sterotypical woman (only good at being pretty) not BE a sterotypical man if you know what I mean? As with the suits, they had to be sterotypes or the joke couldn't land. They were there to illustrate the joke - ie. it wasn't trying to discuss 'masculinity'?

The main male roles were Ken, a Himbo, unreconstructed suits dominated by an alpha male, Allen who was a rejected attempt at getting a nerd into Ken world, and the dad whose only virtue was learning his wife’s language badly. In other words, it reincarnated toxic stereotypes.