Not a promotion, so not against strike rules. Just think of this as an interpretation/review from someone who happens to really like movies.
Spoilers ahead. (Duh.) spoiler
In my obviously super duper unbiased opinion, the movie was pretty good. Especially that lead actress whose name I forgot, who did some sweet dance moves and wore some cute outfits and should totally win an Oscar for this. (also, cellulite free)
If you think the movie was just about feminism, you’re wrong. (Well, not entirely, but it’s not the main point.)
In the beginning, the little girls smashed their baby dolls to defy their motherly stereotypes and replaced their dolls with the grown-up Barbies, which in time just turned into yet another stereotype for little girls to defy.
The role of Barbie has indeed evolved over time to be inclusive: more people of color, more gender identities, smarter, more career driven, more powerful, and sometimes, more ordinary. Barbie is now everything, yet the stereotype remained.
Our protagonist lived in a world of absurd privilege where Barbies ruled the world, she had this perfect life with everything she ever wanted and partied every night away. Until she was somehow struck by the very human fear of death (and also cellulite and dirty heels) so she decided (kinda…) to go real world to return to her perfect, plastic life. I don’t really know how dimension travel is achievable by rollerblades or the exact mechanisms of how these two worlds relates to each other or how Will Farrell works either, but it doesn’t matter, it’s not that kind of movie. Don’t think too hard about it.
It’s absurd and is meant to be absurd. Almost as absurd as some bored Hollywood actress (and also, marketing genius) shitposting about her own movie promotion on some obscure tech forum called Lemonworld as some kind of weird meta commentary.
And once our protagonist escaped to the real world, she discovered that unlike the Truman Show, compared to the place she left behind, everything is no less absurd, just reversed now. The little girls whom she thought she inspired hated her, and everything she thought the Barbies have ever accomplished have only existed in the minds of men who wants nothing more than to put her back in a box. They just learned to hide it better now.
Then, somebody brought part of the absurdity of the real world back to Barbieland, and Barbieland was polluted with cynicism, and men’s thought on the nature of war, and also, a lot of horses. (A bit disappointed that no one here ever asked any questions about why the “Blood Meridian” quotes.)
It turns out that it’s really the cynical grown-ups of the world with grown-up worries like you (yes, YOU in particular) who needed Barbie in their life, to remind them of who they once were and rediscovering what they once had, their humanity and sincerity, in spite of the absurdity of the world.
Jokes are indeed way less funny once you explain them.
In the end, things was handwaved back to “normal” with society being improved somewhat, but our protagonist discovered that she does not belong in Barbieland anymore, in the same way that you don’t belong in reddit anymore. She choose to exist as a human, even if it means death or worse, cellulite.
(I will, however, concede that the 4th wall breaking narrator aside gags were a bit overused.)
You are who you choose to be. This is not the ending for me or you here in this world. Not yet anyways.
Remember to support the strike.
Oh, also, for the record, I did say we couldn’t get Nicolas Cage to play a Barbie here, https://lemmy.world/comment/1010947
spoiler
so we had to get potato salad instead.
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I found it shockingly good. I was not expecting much but it wound up being fun, heartfelt, and politically relevant. Also it was chock full of both zaniness and very hot people so was a pleasure to watch. The humor was on-point, and I think a movie that takes women’s concerns and viewpoints seriously is quite welcome.
I would say its primary failing for me was on pacing. Some sections seemed to drag quite a bit longer than others. But I might revise my opinion of that on a rewatch.
Oh, also it did feel like an advertisement in parts. But, well… what can you do.
Literally just saw it, had a lot of fun, and my cynical boyfriend also enjoyed it. The “it’s impossible to be a woman” rant was perfect, even in this gay boy’s view. And “I’m just Ken” is an absolute banger, listening to it on repeat. Ryan Gosling is a treasure. Margot, you’re as great as ever, well done with this, I read about how much of yourself you put into this movie and it shows.
Yay 😄
I never thought I’d walk out of any movie based on merchandise going “Wow, that was amazingly nuanced and layered…” and yet here we are.
There are things that I thought they would call out more explicitly, for example, Ken’s anxiety over being nothing more than an accessory is direcly because of the view of women as accessories in the real world.
The reason Barbie World exists the way it does is in direct opposition to the way things “are”.
I thought they would do more with Mattel headquarters, because it was clearly just as much a fantasy world as Barbie World and just as much out of touch with larger L.A. and the school and such.
I thought for a moment that the CEO would have been an escaped Ken from decades ago who grew old in the real world.
I have to be honest, I had no idea what I was in for. I hadn’t seen a single preview and had read one (relatively spoiler free) review of the movie.
I think it was really entertaining. The jokes were funny, edged on surreal, but didn’t get ridiculous. Of particular note, I usually cringe these days when it comes to Will Ferrell in a movie. He’s great, but I feel that he tends to run over directors (or maybe they misjudge his fit in the story), and they let him go absolutely nuts. He was definitely silly here, and retained his essential Ferrell-ness, but still managed to do that in a way that served the movie.
The references were top notch. The bit referencing 2001: A Space Odyssey had me rolling in my seat.
I feel that the movie did an excellent job of dealing with its core theme. It made value judgements without brow beating the audience about them. And it treated even objectively bad things with a degree of nuance and sympathy.Edit: I forgot to mention this, but I am now also desperate for a bit in a Deadpool movie that opens on Barbie doing Barbie things while the narrator narrates something and then DP shows up, breaks the 4th wall and asks who the fuck is talking, and the narrator and him have a brief “wait, what?”-type exchange. Then DP has a recurring bit where he keeps glancing to the sky, expecting the narrator to come back.
(Sure it’s probably not contractually possible, or sensible from a story perspective, but Helen Mirren’s narration really made me think of DP.)Ryan Reynolds works too hard and the Deadpool meta humor is pretty overused at this point. (See: Any video with Deadpool cosplayers at conventions). Let the man take a break.
Wait, are you actually Margot Robbie?
I thought the movie was just gonna be a send-up, but it was so much more than that. So delightful when something so surreal has so much to say about the reality we’re in and how ridiculous it actually is.
Wait, are you actually Margot Robbie?
I don’t really know either.
Like you said, reality is ridiculous, and again, jokes are way less funny when you explain them.
You tease.
For real, this account is good.
That’s esteemed character actress Margot Robbie to you!
Honestly I’m trying to figure out if going to the theater is supporting the strike or not supporting the strike.
This movie looks silly and fun and I always want to support the people directly involved in the production, but they’ve already been paid. I want to show my displeasure with the studio execs. Feels like a mixed message to help deliver a blockbuster.
But I also don’t want to live in a streaming-only world.
What the hell. I’ll go see it.
Attaboy.
Just be vocal about your support of the strike, and it’ll be fine. Hopefully.
The movie was… shockingly good?? A real surprise. Silly in the beginning but with a deeper undertone and then a real tearjerker near the end. And tonally it all blended together pretty well. I really enjoyed it
I’m glad that you did.
Going to the theater supports the strike:
"Am I crossing the picket line by seeing one of those movies?
No, the unions have not asked fans to boycott productions, and are quick to make that explicit. Instead, the guilds have asked supporters who aren’t members to post on social media and donate to community funds."
Gotta say, its been a while since I’ve been in a theater where everyone was laughing together. Barbie had some good laughs which was a great balancer for some of the more heartfelt moments. The production of Barbie World was very impressive imo, a lot of attention to detail. And the acting was really well done too, and the character transformations really add a layer of depth to the story
And I may be getting a “I am Kenough” hoodie
I thought the movie was fun, but the feminist message got a little lost by ken stealing the show and having the most interesting arc in the movie.
Ken beaching off patriarchy is also feminism
I didn’t feel like it got lost because of it, especially since it was all still in service of that message. Feminism isn’t just about women either, and isn’t the conclusion of his arc showing that he is kenough and doesn’t need to to take the patriarchal male role?
From a narrative perspective, yes, its a very important “boys are hurt by the patriarchy too” message. But to try make Barbie a feminist icon and giving her a fairly shallow role and her boyfriend a surprisingly deep and complex arc feels odd.
I guess my issue is not the depth of Ken’s story, but the lack of depth in Barbie’s.
It’s a beautiful movie with a lot of memorable scenes. Gosling and Robbie were flawless, as was the narrator.
Though I do feel a lot of the magic came from watching it in a full theatre with an engaged, enjoying audience. The vibe probably wouldn’t hit you as much if you watch it alone at your home.
The vibe probably wouldn’t hit you as much if you watch it alone at your home.
Why else do you think I was trying to get people to watch it in theaters here for the past month? :)
On the good side, I spent the majority of the movie smiling, and overall enjoyed it. Some of the jokes definitely really landed great.
The acting was great, the balance between doll like and real movement was well done by everyone.
Main complaint was some of the more serious parts felt like they were going way too long, without anything to justify paying attention to them after a while.
Not sure how I feel about the feminism stuff, though I do feel like I may have gained some more appreciation for what the world feels like to a lot of women. The parody of men was what it was, but I can’t say it didn’t all have real roots, and generally was a reasonable balance of cringe and hilarious. It did not make me stop smiling, just made me wince at the same time.
Simu couldn’t keep from smiling himself, which was hilarious. I’m glad he was enjoying himself so much.
I’m so glad I saw this movie. When I heard there was a live-action Barbie movie, I just assumed it was some sugary pastel crap for little kids, and I pretty much wrote it off. Then I heard it was PG-13 and actually satire, and I was intrigued.
I never expected to cry at a Barbie movie, but I started weeping during America Ferrara’s monologue. It hit hard because we’ve all been there. It’s so goddamn hard to be a woman and no matter what you’re doing, no matter how hard you try, you’re failing in some way, always. I’m 41 and just exhausted with it all.
This was a wonderfully written and realized movie. It captured so many aspects of being a woman that don’t get enough attention, and I also loved that while it lampooned the patriarchy, it held empathy for the Kens too. Women gaining space and recognition doesn’t need to diminish men, which is an important and welcome message.
Margot, you did a fantastic job - thank you and the cast and crew for this movie! Best of luck to you all with the strike. 💛
I’m so proud of you.
