MovieChat Forums > Barbie (2023) Discussion > Admirers of this movie

Admirers of this movie

posted 10 months ago by mechajutaro (2788)
4 replies | jump to latest

Like this fella https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/346698-barbie/discuss/64d2797a6d4c97010d525723 are, I've noticed, purveyors of extremely shitty, nonsensical thinking

Quote: "saw Barbie yesterday.

Brilliant.

Not perfect. But then, few movies are. And its blemishes (few in number) in no way compete with/detract from its highlights, which brought tears to a lot of eyes in the theatre because the writers let the audience know they understood the burden, the pain, the trauma, of just being, in this world, for both men and women. As a man who has raised a son and a daughter, I felt for both the Barbies and the Kens.

Anyone taking away that it is somehow misandrist is trapped in the brainwashing of patriarchy. What the movie criticizes is not men, but mores and standards that are bad for men and women, and it did so with a deft combination of art, craft, and some ham-fisted soliloquy/dialog to spell it out for those for whom art and craft are difficult.

And it was not simplistic - there was, at one point, a longing to return to the status quo in which Barbie was comfortable, in power, and she became, kinda, the bad guy, as Ken asked her "how does it feel?" Challenging those in power, regardless of gender, is a painful experience for those in power...until they stop to put themselves in the shoes of those over whom they enjoyed power, those themselves did not have a piece of that action and (hopefully) realize there has to be a better way to do things than simply to enfranchise one group and disenfranchise others.

It also shows that anyone in power tends to want to hold on to that power. That's not a criticism of men, it's a criticism of power. Barbie fell into that same tendency.

And, when Ken found himself in a world in which he was not a second-class citizen, of course he relished it. So, why should women not relish it when they have an opportunity to experience similar? Yet, both of them still had more character development beyond simply retreating to the comfort of sectarianism.

That said, there were also plenty of laughs to be had. It was funny, and fun, beautifully shot, and carried the audience with the right pace to several moments when you could hear a pin drop in the theatre.

I can't imagine a mature viewer not having a good time seeing Barbie — it's garnered the reviews and pulled in all that money for some good reasons (and, those who know me know very well that I do NOT regard box office success as the best indicator of a "good movie", as one of the reasons I built my movie ROI database was to explore the relationship between movie quality and financial performance and could see clearly that the two are frequently divergent).

So, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Barbie, and look forward to level-headed discussions on it here"

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 10 months ago

Cont:
Same dude's second post read:
"My partner had this keen insight to share: "The power dichotomy applies beyond gender. Ours is a society that presumes and prefers ableism, whiteness, richness. The Barbies represent any/all of them; the Kens represent all the marginalized, disenfranchised, "others" who are only afterthoughts in a society geared to celebrate wealth, whiteness, etc.

And she (my partner) is absolutely right. Again, this is not a movie out to get men. It is a critique of power and status quo and those for whom everything works giving nary a thought to those who are accessories to it all - the Ken doll was but an accessory for Barbie, along with her clothes and all the other objects whose purpose was nothing beyond making Barbie look good.

Those in society who exist — in the minds of those in power — as nothing more than fodder to keep feeding the machine that maintains those in power in power are indeed objectified. "Human Resources"? "Head count"? Layoffs while recording record profits? Hello?

You mentioned 'brainwashing of patriarchy', which is interesting as one argument that negative reviewers - males and females - always bring up is that patriarchy is a zombie lie.

BS. Clearly, education has failed since math is so difficult for some.

Women have made up more than 50% of the population for a long time. In the history of the United States, does it make mathematical sense that the candidates for president all came from less than half the population? Never in this country's history was the best candidate a woman? Really? People actually think that a man has always been the best possible candidate in every election ever?

"wElL, oNlY mEn rAn fOr oFfIcE." GMAFB. Is that a function of capability? Or, is it more about men making laws that prevented competition because they were afraid they could not compete on a level playing field, so had to tilt the field in their favor by disenfranchising others who might win if they could run?

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 10 months ago

Cont:

"Look today at all the voter suppression activity, that's an age-old American play to limit access to support a system.

They settle for less than the best because of patriarchy. Canada, too. We've had just one woman as Prime Minister (but still, she did not win an election to be PM. The Right Honourable Kim Campbell won the leadership after the retirement of the then PM, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, credit to her for that. But, in the federal election that followed, she did run, asking Canadians to keep her in office, and the Liberal Party swept the Conservatives out in an historic landslide).

In fact, as large as race and racism looms in America, they actually elected a Black man for president because, even though he was Black, well, at least he was man, and better a man — a Black man — than a woman. But not Canada - always, only, ever, white males. bEcAuSe tHeY aRe tHe bEst wE hAvE? GTFOH.

Sidenote: I'm still trying to determine if next to the baby dolls and Barbies, there are also Bratz dolls in the movie.

I recall no Bratz dolls"

[–] KiwiJim (1575) 10 months ago

Ha! Do you have a beef with this person? Can’t see why else you would need to import “shitty, nonsensical”opinions from other forums, surely there are enough to disagree with right here?

It was too long for me to read in full, and I still haven’t seen the film myself, but it did seem at least this person had an opinion they could elaborate on, which is more than you can say for a lot of the “woke shit” posts this movie has been spammed with since its release all across the internet.

[–] Keelai (35380) 10 months ago

After I saw Barbie, I read an MC comment which described the movie's plot about Ken being an incel. I laughed my head off because it's true. Every time a guy complains about how he can't watch it because it's a chick flick, I want to reply by saying it's really a guy movie about an incel.