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this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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I know I didn't watch it ~~or have any interest to do so~~. But... Were the assumptions I have about it true? In that just like the woke craze a few years back, its message backfired by essentially smacking the pendulum from where ever it was between masculism and feminism, to the extreme edge of feminism. This, to the point it becomes toxic, and making it what it seems now, the butt of a joke?
I also understand the primary purpose of the movie was likely for repopularizing the line of toys. It still had some form of message.
ETA: this was an honest question and in no way was implying any disrespect to women, the feminism movement, or the woke culture. I've just seen a bit of criticism and countless jokes that make fun of the film, that it becomes nearly impossible to to discern the truth.
Also with Mattel being the primary funding, I assumed that greed took over and they diverged from the original purpose of the product line and just created what seemed like a polarizing story on the outside to help sell.
Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?
Could you define woke?
Narrator: they can't
Opposite of slept.
Acceptance and popularizing of previously stigmatized groups of people and cultures who underwent many social injustices, such as people of a different race, neurodivergants, or LGBTQ to name a few.
A few years ago media really started to shoehorn the culture into script writing to the point a show or movie, rather than just telling a story, made it a platform for culture. While I appreciated that these groups were gaining acceptance, I felt it could too much too soon, and the more closed-minded people would just close off even more.
lol what? I need you to cite some examples bud.
To refute your premise - filmmaking has always about injecting messages into motion pictures. Remember when "It's a wonderful life" was investigated by the FBI for being 'anticapitalist'? Silkwood and Erin Brockovich were all about holding the powerful to account bud. It's part of cinema to use the medium to hold the powerful accountable, to illustrate the fucked up things our society is doing. This isn't new.
Sounds like we shouldn't cater to closed-minded people then. You can't change people that don't want to change, and if they want to be wrong, that's on them.
Barbie is a decent movie with the message that women are people and to treat them like people and not play things. I wouldn't even call that your definition of woke. Now, if the movie started calling for women's hygiene products to be free and had Barbie stealing that shit from Walmart and Target and doling it out to the poor, we can start talking.
Wow, you spelled "not asleep" really wrong
The messages got from it are:
"the patriarchy" is not a good thing, but even the idealized "the matriarchy" has problems too, and whatever we have going on right now isn't really working
a man's value is inherent to himself, it doesn't come from a job or a relationship. (I suppose this applies to women too, but it was Ken who had to learn this lesson).
Men need to support each other more rather than compete with each other
Societal expectations for women are impossible to attain
Unfortunately the movie for me was ruined in the end when they decided to make Barbieland a matriarchy once again.
After both systems failed it would have made sense for them to work and rule together. The sad part is that the movie seemed to work towards that outcome until the very end.
I stopped reading your comment with you used the word woke.
You should give it a spin. I was nothing like I imagined, and I had few preconceptions. Wife and I went, her first American movie theater experience!
As a man, I felt Ken. I got where the guys were coming from. Sometimes I wanted to cheer, "Fuck yeah that's what it's like being a man!"
My wife teared up during America Ferrara's famous rant. Hell, I felt that. I won't link it. You gotta see it in context, but it works on it's own.
It's goofy as fuck, in case I'm making it sound overly dramatic. But it sure puts a screwdriver into American sexual roles and twists.
Anyway, it was better than it had any right to be. I did not expect what I saw and came away with.
I've been sort of interested in seeing it. I was very interested in Oppenheimer when it first came out (since I'm a science nerd), but after seeing some clips from it, I decided I hated it and lost interest in watching the whole movie. Barbie has a good chance of being better/
Oh, well if you saw some clips and decided you hated those...
If you want to watch it then watch it. It's not some groundbreaking movie experience like everyone says it is. It's just a movie for kids and adults about Barbie of all things. It's better than people thought it would be, but it's not like it should've swept the Oscars or anything, and people know that.
They said they saw clips of Oppenheimer and then decided not to see that movie, and that Barbie has a good chance of being better.
Your assumptions aren't true at all. It looks like it's heading that way part-way through the film, when Barbie and Ken are at odds with each other. And then it goes ahead and empowers all the men as well. It's certainly critical of toxic masculinity but I think it's empowering for both men and women overall. Obviously your Ben Shapiro types were offended by it because it's not trying to appeal to incels, and it is woke, but not in a bad, inauthentic way.
I don't think it's really supposed to re-popularise the line of toys either. Sure, people who liked the toys when they were young will probably find details they appreciate, but it's not meant to sell the toys. It's not aimed at the demographic (young girls, typically) who would want to buy dolls. It's not an R-rated film, of course, but I'd say anyone under 12 probably isn't going to get much out of it, and it's probably much more enjoyable for adults overall. It's pretty philosophical and thoughtful, and has quite a lot of metaphors and symbolism that would be lost on younger viewers.
Rather than aiming to sell toys, the film is the product; it's a way to make money with the Barbie brand from audiences outside of the toy-buying demographic. And it achieved that (by being a good film).
Awfully fully formed question-but-really-I-wasn't-interested-anway you got there.
It was more an honest question with an attempt to explain the reasoning behind the preconception and implying an expectation of answers supporting what I've heard.
My OCD tends to bleed over into my writing style. I've just had to grow to accept it.
Hrm, so taking your post serious for a second, you could not be more wrong if you tried.
Including the toy thing, the whole movie basically dunks modern Mattel every time it can, continuously, and only praises the original inventor of Barbie and her ideals for the toy. But specifically not what the modern C-suites made of it.
The movie is also extensively about learning to survive to insane and unachievable expectancies modern society has for women, and at the same time about men learning to define their self-worth from within instead of via competition and rivalry.
It's... damn smart, honestly. Far more so than the movie has any right to be. Left me utterly impressed.
(Oh and "woke" is just the past form of waking, you're using it wrong)
Your assumption could not be more wrong. The movie empowers men and women and is very entertaining at the same time. You should try watching it.
This movie captures the female experience better than any movie I've ever seen. The nuance was amazing. And for those who didn't get the nuance, there is a big speech at the end to bring you up to speed. Plus you get to look at Margo Robbie for 2 hours (if you are into that sort of thing). I recommend checking it out.
Given the responses from multiple people, I'll add it to my list. I just didn't know it story was more thoughtful than I've heard.
It is also very silly and fun. My husband liked it quite a bit. I hope you do too!
"Honest questions" don't use loaded language like "woke".