Barbie Review
I just watched the Barbie movie! The main thing I really feel like saying right now is go see if even if you think it will be bad. At worst, it will be better than you thought. Seriously. Even with mentions of patriarchy and whatever, it... doesn't take itself seriously or it's hard to take it seriously. And it actually has a good message; the message being "we should both work hard to be better."
The main problem in the movie is about how Barbie treats Ken in Barbieland - Barbieland which is set up to be Female Paradise. The "real world" is set up to be Male Paradise. She treats him like trash; takes him for granted and honestly? She gets what she deserves. He takes everything she loves about her world and destroys it and makes it into his own. This man is starved for positive reinforcement, for truly able to be the man he's supposed to be and so he enforces that too much in her world.
Everything Ken wants is what he doesn't have in a female paradise; Barbie treats him like garbage and he doesn't have that necessary male bond with the others; which is really, the male bond, that's what attracts him about the real world. He saw men engaging in leadership. He saw guys being bros. He saw men giving their hearts and souls into competitions and winning and being guys and riding horses and he saw this and said - "This is what I'm missing in life." And he was right! I think this sort of thing, a sense of male comradery, is what a lot of depressed guys are missing in life. Obviously that particular issue has more things involved but I don't think this is a small part of it.
He was wrong about Barbie's attention being the solution to the other problem, though. This is where Barbie is right, because she addresses this AFTER apologizing; that Ken needs to become a man outside of her. This is kind of what Ryan Gosling's whole rants are about when it comes to Ken, if you've seen any of the interviews; Ken needs to be seperate from Barbie and come into himself on his own. Part of what will actually aid that problem is having bros and goals and a personality outside of pleasing Barbie. A lot of the messages from Jordan Peterson (incel king as some people have called him) as well as Dr. Collender kind of attest to this -- it's a whole subject on it's own but basically, girls are attracted to guys who are the "best versions of themselves." Guys with drive and working to improve for the goodness that brings for it's own right (or ideally, for Christ) and not just to impress a girl enough to get her to marry him.
To this point actually, someone said something that was exactly how I felt about it.1
"Barbie (2023) really had Barbie say 'Hey. I know the reason you hurt me is because I hurt you. I’m sorry I hurt you, because you didn’t deserve that. I know you are a better person than this, and you are fully capable of being that person. I can’t change the past, and I don’t think we can be in each other’s lives anymore without hurting each other, but I am sorry and I want you to be happy. I want you to find your identity and respect yourself and live,' and then she realizes she’s also talking about herself."
"She’s saying “I deserve to live. We both deserve to live.” It is one of the kindest things I have ever seen done to someone and to themselves in any piece of media ever."
Minor note: I changed "love yourself" to "respect yourself" because I think that phrasing is more accurate to what we mean by "love yourself." I am not a fan of the insane self-absorbtion people have with themselves but you should respect yourself.
So, you know... Even though some of the messages being presented were not entirely things I agree with; i.e. that the real world is some sort of Male Paradise where the women are the ones being treated like Ken. Even within the movie, it's clear that that's not true; Ruth exists and affected the world in a powerful way. Barbie also chooses to live in the real world and explore the vast agency the real world offers her. So much beauty in the world exists, so many things I believe people take for granted. All in all, I had fun and that's what matters. If you are someone who wants to take this movie extremely seriously and take it as a complete affront to your political beliefs... That is entirely on you. That particular misery, of not being able to find joy in things that are ultimately extremely silly (and yet actually do bring up some valuable discussion), that is entirely your choice. That being said, it is a movie directed towards girls, so I understand that it's not for everyone.
If nothing else, even if you end up getting super offended; the movie is really funny. A bit weird and hashed in some aspects. I absolutely loved the choreographed dance with the Kens near the end. Actually, I loved that a lot, I think it's my favourite part of the movie. And they, the Kens, became friends after it! Which is so wholesome and, according to my guy friends, is just how guys roll. Guys just. They just do that, I have no idea how but they do apparently, and that is one of the messages from the movie I thought was more important and true and ultimately good.
This article was last edited 1 month, 2 weeks ago