Barbie review: A brisk satire that mocks the men’s rights movement

I grew up in a household with Barbie dolls and a feminist zeal. with my little pony cherry muffin, and (most importantly) a huge collection of Shera action figures, my mom gave me and my sister Barbie dolls for “imaginative play.” As much as my mother encouraged us to play video games, she encouraged us to play with our hands. Of course, eye coordination and potential careers in STEM are also taken into account. Our television habits were also with feminism in mind.watched and watched again Sierra: Princess of Power But I knew very little about He-Man, and just like Ken, I thought he was irrelevant. However, as she grew up and met other children, she found herself living on the opposite side of the land. Everyone else knew Hee Man better than She-Ra. The female-dominated world of Barbie, Sierra, and My Little Pony was a farce. The real world was made for Ken.

attend a press conference barbie, I relapsed into a beautiful, childish misunderstanding of my toy collection. I spent the drive to the movies remembering my love for Margot Robbie. bird of prey and I’m Tonyaas well as my admiration for Greta Gerwig’s body of work, Francis Ha To Wakakusa Monogatari. Director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach, though we know the film will have to contend with Mattel’s involvement and control over the giant Barbie brand, is a modern take on femininity and feminist thought. I knew I would find my own way of unraveling and analyzing the criteria. It’s a little interesting, a little deep, maybe a little too basic, but I thought it would be smarter if possible. lego movie.

I didn’t expect this to be a movie about Ken. And more importantly, it’s a movie that Ryan Gosling stole with great coolness, so you can’t even be so mad at him for it.

[Ed. note: Minor setup spoilers ahead for Barbie.]

Don’t get me wrong. Margot Robbie is not a slouch like the “stereotypical Barbie” she’s been called in the movies, she’s a blond hairy Barbie. The kids in Mattel’s focus group point out: When shown different Barbie dolls and asked, “Which one is Barbie?” The stereotypical Barbie starts the movie as a confident woman who knows exactly who she is and she doesn’t want anything to change. She lives in Barbieland, a fantasy world created by Mattel that is driven by the imagination of children playing with Barbie dolls. It’s a world ruled by Barbie dolls and not ashamed of traditional feminine tropes. The President is a Barbie doll (played by Issa Rae and wearing a pink silk “President” belt). The Supreme Court is all Barbie dolls. And every Nobel Prize winner in history is, you guessed it, a Barbie doll. The pink-tinted Dreamhouse mansions in Barbieland are all owned by women, free to make their own money and indulge in “girls’ societies” where everyone shares a glorious communal wardrobe. spending time.

There’s no reason for the stereotypical Barbie doll to leave the realm of this beautiful woman. She was forced to step into the harsh real world when someone was playing with her while experiencing intense existential anxiety, and her emotions were transmitted to Barbieland, where she was given a Barbie. It’s just because it eats into your psyche. Her real-world owners inadvertently made her think about death, causing her to develop actual cellulite on her thighs, even articulated joints on her ankles, and sticking her foot into her stiletto heels. I have come to experience so much pain.

But it’s clear that this is Ken’s movie even before the walls between Barbieland and reality begin to crumble. At the beginning of the film, Barbie has it all, and Margot Robbie touts the bland and simple happiness of Barbieland with a frozen but satisfied smile. But for Ken, it was never easy. Barbie is happy by default, but Ken is only happy when Barbie recognizes him. Every night is a world of girls’ night out, and Ken can’t be satisfied.

Ken isn’t just frustrated at competing with so many other Kens for his love of Barbie. That’s a problem, but hot, relatively youthful IT boy Shim Liu plays a sweaty version of Ryan Gosling’s Ken. Ken believes Barbieland lacks purpose and wants to change that. Without Barbie, he’s nothing. And for the most part, Ken doesn’t exist without Barbie. He is her afterthought and his main role in life is to carry her purse.

Photo: Jun Nishijima/Warner Bros.

barbie Starting off slow and doing the job of establishing the pretty territory of Barbieland, there’s a clear and dark contrast when the movie finally makes its way into reality. But even in this opening act, Gosling swiped through each scene from the sidelines, his face grimacing in near-constant heartbreak that Barbie wasn’t interested in him. As a viewer, I was much more drawn to his arc, though concerned. What’s so bad about Ken being best in a Barbie movie?

but barbie Because it all boils down to expert commentary that sooner or later girls will always realize that the real world is run by men, and that Ken has more power than a Barbie doll. Because it connects. And when Gosling’s Ken appears in Reality, he finds that out too, becoming an all-out male rights activist, transforming from a Barbie doll boyfriend into one of modern pop cinema’s most compelling antagonists. do.

The film’s comedic yet poignant commentary on toxic masculinity is the strongest throughline, as it affects all of Ken and Barbie, played by Gosling, and ultimately the rest of Barbieland. Whenever the movie jokes about patriarchy or the very idea of ​​the men’s rights movement, the movie sings. It also frequently uses joking background songs and literally sings them. There’s even a scene where the whole Ken family sings with an acoustic guitar in hand, making Barbie’s girlfriend cry. and rather her To she. We all know what is not desired in men. Much harder to point out turned out to be Barbie herself and what she stands for. Who will be Barbie in 2023?

Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, asks that question in many ways, but the answer becomes even less clear when she visits reality.It’s helpful to capitalize Reality when explaining barbieSince it is different from splash again enchantment, the film does not attempt to portray a recognizable version of our human world.reality depicted barbie It’s as caricatured as Barbieland, with sexist and taunting construction workers, fist-pumping gym buddies, and wealthy white-collar executives who profitably explain how patriarchy works. Packed with easy-to-understand metaphors. Reality is as cartoony as Barbieland. This works perfectly to explain the extreme cartoonishness of Ken’s interpretation of men’s rights, but it takes a little more to explain the complexity of Barbie’s identity as a doll, a global brand and a social phenomenon. Not enough. To understand modern American femininity.

Photo: Warner Bros. Movies

There is a third rail built by Gerwig and Baumbach almost never touch barbie: body image. Mattel’s Barbie doll designers have also struggled in this area. Barbie’s non-standard but idealized body proportions remain controversial, even though the company has introduced several variations in recent years. (These include ‘Curvy’ Barbie, ‘Petite’ Barbie, knee-jointed, wheelchair-accessible Barbie dolls, etc.) Yes. Barbie dolls can have any career imaginable. she can be presidentEven if a real woman couldn’t do that, would she manage to surpass a size 6?

in the barbie In the movies, she certainly can. Margot Robbie certainly doesn’t have the original “stereotypical Barbie” proportions, but I think she’s close enough. (I’m not going to look into a numerical comparison, because it’s just depressing.) But the entire cast of Barbie dolls in this movie absolutely couldn’t share their own outfits, and the movie doesn’t do that. is never explicitly handled or resolved. Sharon Rooney on Hulu my mad fat diary She ends up being a Barbie with no mention of her size at all. Hari NefThe first transgender model to be signed to IMG Models, he is also a Barbie doll. Like all other Barbie dolls (and unlike many transgender people), no one in Barbieland has genitals, so she can’t be questioned about her genitals. You don’t have to worry about

Barbieland is a fantasy of perfect inclusivity, but it’s also flat because even in reality the problems facing women who aren’t the Barbie type never fully surface. From Gloria’s (America Ferrera) mouth they get quick, sharp words of appreciation. Gloria is a pragmatic mother who works for Mattel, and despite her many bags, she still loves Barbie. At one point, Gloria delves into the ever-growing list of double standards facing modern American women. For example, she must argue that women want to be “healthy” so as not to vanity, such as the pressure to “have to be thin.” She’s shallow, even if in reality she’s only judged because she’s not skinny. No skinny Barbie doll responds to this point. Because it doesn’t work well for a narrative that requires simplifying all the social and gender issues raised in this piece, at least when the credits roll.

Similarly, the non-white Barbie doll and Ken bicker with each other when they learn about “patriarchy,” but they don’t seem to learn about race politics, even though Shim Liu’s Ken has been around for 13 years. Even if it wasn’t. Before. (The first Asian Ken doll ever said, uh, “samurai kenAnd Kate McKinnon, who played the so-called “weird Barbie doll” who underwent extreme haircuts and transformations at the hands of experimental children, knew it when she saw her gay butt haircut. It never really answers a question that anyone would have. Actor’s sexuality. But “Weird Barbie” is clearly “Gay Barbie,” even if no one says so.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Skipping all these conversations is not an oversight. It’s a series of deliberate decisions designed to keep an already overstuffed, heady, intelligent film moving forward at a light pace.there is no need barbie This film was provided to me with the approval of Mattel to provide a sharp political commentary on every issue of the day. Suffice it to say that it demystifies many of America’s current masculine insecurities, and that the high heels do the job backwards.

A Barbie doll should be everything for everyone, but she has never succeeded. barbie The film also requires you to perform the same impossible tricks. And just as I still feel a sentimental attachment to Barbie dolls, I feel overwhelming love and admiration for the film’s bold attempt to pull it off. I forgot that I even experienced the dream world that Barbieland provided me when I was a girl. barbie reminded me. That alone makes the whole movie glow with an amazingly refreshing flame.

barbie It will be released in theaters on July 21st.