WHEN a friend jokingly asked me at the weekend whether I intended seeing Mattel and Warner Bros’ Barbie my reply was “I’d sooner rub acid in my eyes!” But now, having read a…
Not who you replied to but I’ve seen it, so I’ll chime in. I liked the movie and thought it had some great messages, but Barbie used to be touted as the prime example of setting unrealistic body expectations for young girls, and this movie smooths right over that, setting up Barbie as a feminist icon. That’s some damn good advertising towards the millennial women it’s aimed at, who are now moms and buying toys for their kids.
It wouldn’t make for good watching if the movie listed off every issue with the brand. However, there was an entire diatribe about the issue with Barbie being too pretty, setting unrealistic body expectations, and setting the feminist movement back 50 years. That plus the fourth wall breaking narrator voice about Margot Robbie bring a bad choice of they wanted to make a particular point feels like they did address much of that criticism in a way that worked within the confines of the film.
Sasha calls out Barbie for “making women feel bad about themselves” and being capitalistic but that’s never really addressed by Barbie. She runs away and cries about being called a fascist (which Barbie clearly is not, taking away credibility from Sasha’s other claims and portraying her criticisms as silly teenage angst).
Sasha’s rejection of Barbie is portrayed as an extension of her rejection of her mom, and by the end of the movie Sasha has done a 180 on her views, becoming a Barbie fan again because she’s reconnected with her mom. I think it’s excellent advertising.
Not who you replied to but I’ve seen it, so I’ll chime in. I liked the movie and thought it had some great messages, but Barbie used to be touted as the prime example of setting unrealistic body expectations for young girls, and this movie smooths right over that, setting up Barbie as a feminist icon. That’s some damn good advertising towards the millennial women it’s aimed at, who are now moms and buying toys for their kids.
I don’t think it smoothed over that at all, personally. I found the movie quite self aware.
In regards to how freakishly, disproportionately skinny all Barbies used to be made? That didn’t come up.
It wouldn’t make for good watching if the movie listed off every issue with the brand. However, there was an entire diatribe about the issue with Barbie being too pretty, setting unrealistic body expectations, and setting the feminist movement back 50 years. That plus the fourth wall breaking narrator voice about Margot Robbie bring a bad choice of they wanted to make a particular point feels like they did address much of that criticism in a way that worked within the confines of the film.
Sasha calls out Barbie for “making women feel bad about themselves” and being capitalistic but that’s never really addressed by Barbie. She runs away and cries about being called a fascist (which Barbie clearly is not, taking away credibility from Sasha’s other claims and portraying her criticisms as silly teenage angst).
Sasha’s rejection of Barbie is portrayed as an extension of her rejection of her mom, and by the end of the movie Sasha has done a 180 on her views, becoming a Barbie fan again because she’s reconnected with her mom. I think it’s excellent advertising.
Uh, it did, actually.