Barbie

Stop what?

I'm offering an interpretaion of a film.

I think it was more about oppression of feminine people rather than females.
Highlighted at the end by Barbie finally going to the gynecologist.

What do you want me to stop?

Ken is a he. Doctor is a barbie

And she didnt treat men like irrelevant idiots at all the whole thing is a parody

There wasn't. There was a woman playing the doctor.

Funnily enough the director wouldnt have been able to exclude them from the part due to their gender. I'm sure theres a word for that.

In glad the trans person didnt ruin your enjoyment of the film 🙄

Oh stop it.

The whole film was a trans film:

Feminine presenting people were oppressed, not people with female bodies.

If it has been about female oppression it would have covered puberty, periods, shame, rape, fear of male violence, abortion, contaception, pregnancy, beastfeeding, raising children.

Most of which wouldn't get a PG rating.

So it's Barbie Pink/ Spice Girls type feminism 'Girl Power' 'Girls are the best' 'Down with the patriarchy' type stuff.

All fine but superficial nonsense.

I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. The message I felt probably would ring true with women in their late 30s and beyond who had felt conflicted and pressured by everyday demands. I know it is clumsy in many ways but it started to show show how women were less pigeon holed - encouraging people to go a step further and think that we are just individuals.

I was pleased there was no mention of the trans debate in the movie with just male and females. I didn't know there was as man playing a Barbie until I read about this own MN - I don't think the casting should have allowed this.

OP, honestly go and see it. Part of the points you've made are addressed. Its not just a film where theres lots of different barbies.

Its nloody brilliant.
Or don't , but dont criticise a film you havent seen.

Shes a woman.

I thought it was funny and fun.

I thought the feminist message was a mess though. It wasn't coherent. Theyjust got some simple soundbites in and mentioned 'patriarchy' a lot. I don't think that kind of reductive femisim helps young women. Yes you get a high on your 'girl power' feelings for a bit, but the real issues for young women in the West, and even the Barbies are around how we form and navigate positive realstionships and partnerships with men and how we incorporate motherhood into our lives.

A film which just shows the Kens as irrelevant idiots to be ignored isn't helpful as this isn't how men are, and most women do want decent men in thier lives. And a feminist film that doesn't deal with the real crux of women's vulnerability, our reproductive role, is just pointless too.

Otherwise what is the diffrence between the Barbies and the Kens? Just femininity and masculinity? In that way it is a trans film. The two groups were just different based on their looks, and the girly looking ones were the best ones.
That's just stupid feminism and trans ideology. Why didn't Ken just put on a dress and become a Barbie? The Dr was Barbie because she had a dress on.

I did think at the end when she went to her gynecologist that was finally a nod to this is the real difference for women, what our biology means for us.

But a film which really helps young women think about what the issues of being a women are wouldn't just nod to that at the end. it would make it central.

Having said all of that. I think there are many different interpretations so worth seeing because it poses some interesting discussions.

I'm unclear as to why you "I can barely walk down the street safely"?

because some people who haven't seen it seem to have stronger views and feel very superior to those who have - and have very worthy opinions which belittle those who have paid to see such a non-feminist feminist movie.
Or something.

another poster commenting strongly, when they've not even seen it 😂

It's a great film. No-one is forcing you to see it. Why is this even post worthy ?

YANBU.

I’m so bored of the clever marketing around this movie trying to make people feel that it’s a ‘must see’. I mean if someone is bored and wants a funny film, fine, but it’s been covered a lot in mainstream news and I resent that. All it means is that the producers’ marketing department have convinced journalists that there is something newsworthy and that’s just nonsense. And there is SO much real news on Mumsnet that the BBC etc ignore in favour of this fluff 🙄

Would much rather rewatch Terminator, personally.

There have been quite a few people arguing online that Barbie is secretly gender critical because of the last few minutes where the secret to being a real woman is revealed. The trans character in this take doesn't count as it was just a doll.

However further fuel to that scandal has been added. You may have seen Margot Robbie interview being shared online from 2019 where she talks about wanting to meet JKR as an all time wish.

Take a look at the Graham Norton show 31/1/2020 where Margot talks about her HP fandom in depth:
w

Note this was filmed a month after Dec 2019 where JKR tweeted about her support for Maya and that caused a huge storm.

A recent interview for Barbie reveals Margot listens to Harry potter audio books every night AND plays Hogwarts Legacy and this is now attracting attention.
https://twitter.com/margohgifs/status/1680329206981353472

Obviously for many TRAs playing Howart's Legacy is unforgiveable and people cannot understand how Margot doesn't know that. So meltdowns are occurring.

Margot Robbie outed herself as a gamer, but you may find her game of choice questionable
https://wegotthiscovered.com/gaming/margot-robbie-outed-herself-as-a-gamer-but-you-may-find-her-game-of-choice-questionable/

Just to add further fuel to the conspiracy I don't think anyone has generally noted the studio behind Barbie is of course Warner Brothers, who made the HP movies, who consistently aim to make JKR and of course themselves ever more wealthy, popular and profitable. Barbie being a huge success is good for them. Some profits from Barbie will go into marketing HP and its merchandise and from there money will flow back to the Queen of Terf Island.

It was fun and funny. I found myself really unexpectedly crying at America Ferrara losing her connection with her daughter early on in the film; it spoke to me about motherhood and the feeling of irrelevance.

It was more feminist than the Marvel movies I've taken my kids to (never getting over what they did with Scarlett Johannson's character!) which are also a big merch commercial.

I did think some of the threads felt unfinished - why did the teenage girl end up in a pink dress? What were they trying to say about body image - there is the joke about Margot Robbie reinforcing those beauty standards but it didn't go further? I'd have liked for those strands to have been more fully fleshed out, but it has started a lot of conversations. It sort of tackled the idea of feminist-washing too, in acknowledging that Barbie's faux feminism in being whatever she wants was majorly undermined by her body proportions and what her image says to girls about beauty.

So I think there was more that it could do, but I really enjoyed the film and I'd rather something was out there with feminist ideas not done perfectly than not at all.

@autienotnaughti I did wonder, do they still do those extras on DVDs where the director commentates? Was big in the noughties I remember?! Never appealed to me before but I'd be totally up for it with this film!

Valid point

I read it was deliberate as often secondary male characters have more character analysis than secondary female characters do.

Thank you for this. A really close girlfriend surprised me asking if I would go and see it with her and I felt deeply uncomfortable about it, but love her company so was sort of going along with it because I wondered if I was being a right killjoy and there’s precious little escapism around st the moment. Thankfully we couldn’t find a date we could both do at our local cinema so I managed to get out of it. But you’re right on every level and the whole thing is a feminist-washing hyped up madness. Glad I’m not going.

Yes they didn't come across that well, did they? The film is most definitely not a successful advert.... it's quite hard to describe it! I went in sneering and came out thinking it was brilliant - never having played with barbie as a child if that makes a difference.

OP - watch it if you want. Don't watch it if you don't. But it's really odd to judge a film you haven't seen.

They did it because it was nonsense. Mattel was co-founded by a woman. It's longest term ceo was a woman. It consistently has some of the highest number of women on it's board. There is a lot to be critical of Mattel for but it's not their lack of female representation in powerful company roles. Ruth Handler was a massive tax fraud. They completely stole the idea of Barbie from the German doll Bild Lili and destroyed the smaller German toy company Hauser, putting them completely out of business, when they tried to sue. They now only acknowledge Bild Lili falsely by outright lying that she was a call girl character, when she was based on a comic strip about a feisty office worker. They constantly spout a false history, as they did again in this movie, erasing pioneering creators and business women like Beatrice Alexander, Jennie Graves, Nancy Ann Abbott, etc. That's how they are anti-feminist, not by having a cartoon villain man as their patriarchal ceo.

So it makes a kind of sense to get in and criticise themselves with an easily disproven negative story. That helps to hide the actual shady shit they did and are still doing.

What do we think about the movies use of "programming" or perhaps brainwashing?

The Barbies are programmed to run a Matriarchy. Later in the film Ken over turns this and installs a Partriachy at which point the Barbies have been reprogrammed. Then, during the revolution, Barbies are rescued and re-programmed again.

The Kens, however, seem to always have kernel which stays the same. Albeit repressed under the Matriachy and then rampant in the Patriachy, they don't undergo any such programming or brainwashing, they simply respond to the environment they are in.

If anything, the men are portrayed as being themselves, whereas the women are told what to be and how to behave.

Did I get the wrong end of the stick from the movie? Does anyone agree or think differently about the cinematic device of "programming" being used differently for the female and male characters?

If you read the Barbie wiki Alan/Allan has had quite a busy life, and was married to poor pregnant discontinued Midge!
https://barbie.fandom.com/wiki/Allan

Yes I was really surprised Mattel let them do it too, it was quite critical.