Barbie

[anna.]

One can see this template in US commercials, where the female, and minorities play the role of 1950's style men, and the white male is the now the 1950's dingbat wife. I think it is funny, but it is more like brain washing than the soil for healthy child development for reality. This could explain adolescent confusion issues and vulnerability to fake news.

Did you think it was brainwashing when 1950s wives were portrayed as dingbats?

 

[Stevicus]

The political Left likes to pander to its base, using alternate reality. I have not seen the movie, but the Barbie movie appears to be part of the continuing programing effort for the lucrative transgender industries. The line between male and female is deliberately blurred, for the young children; Barbie and Ken, making it easier to create free future lab rats for medical experiments.

What I would like to see a movie about women being women, instead of women made to copy men, while employing a role reversal for men, to create a mirror world of alternate reality. Why doesn't Liberal Hollywood think women are not proud to be women? Why do they think they need to mimic men? Why place men in a hole, to create the illusion of rising above? The math does not add up to reality, but appears like social engineering propaganda.

One can see this template in US commercials, where the female, and minorities play the role of 1950's style men, and the white male is the now the 1950's dingbat wife. I think it is funny, but it is more like brain washing than the soil for healthy child development for reality. This could explain adolescent confusion issues and vulnerability to fake news.

It would be like having commercials about basketball shoes, where in that alternate reality, white boys are winning the games with their new shoes, while the black boys are all thumbs and feet and can't dance. I would prefer what is real, instead of pandering to a social engineering brain wash for marketing purposes.

Left wing Fake News does the same thing, in terms of building up crooked leaders as honest, while putting the honest leader in a hole, so the other can appear to rise above. Biden won on that, but now we have a reality check which is not like the movie.

This social engineering pattern of the Left could explain something else. Say you pander to minorities in commercials and movies, but fail to change reality in Democrat run cities, will the movies and commercial illusion be enough to add cover to an illusion of change, than never really happens as sold? On the one hand, minorities can see ideal social change on TV commercials, but nothing have changed in their own hard reality. This sudden awareness may be where the blame game comes in; add smoke to the mirrors.

The "dingbat wife" of the 50s wasn't always like that, and in fact, "Dingbat" was the term used by Archie Bunker to refer to his wife, Edith. But even she wasn't really a dingbat, and All in the Family was considered a progressive show for its time (although in recent times, they've had to add a viewer's discretion warning and disclaimer, since the humor is not exactly politically correct). I also remember another Norman Lear production which never really made it to network TV, All That Glitters, which portrayed an alternate reality where women were in charge of society and men had few rights.

The topic wasn't all that uncommon, as even some people adopted the "role reversal" idea, where women were the breadwinners and men stayed home as househusbands. But the reality is, very few people actually practice or even want that kind of lifestyle, despite whatever Hollywood puts out.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Ah, people made the same accusation about the movie '300'. And it almost looked that way.

It's hilarious how much the Spartans have been glamorized when they weren't really all that great at war and often turned to the Persians when they needed help against the Athenians.

 

[Stevicus]

It's hilarious how much the Spartans have been glamorized when they weren't really all that great at war and often turned to the Persians when they needed help against the Athenians.

 

[crossfire]

The political Left likes to pander to its base, using alternate reality. I have not seen the movie, but the Barbie movie appears to be part of the continuing programing effort for the lucrative transgender industries. The line between male and female is deliberately blurred, for the young children; Barbie and Ken, making it easier to create free future lab rats for medical experiments.

What I would like to see a movie about women being women, instead of women made to copy men, while employing a role reversal for men, to create a mirror world of alternate reality. Why doesn't Liberal Hollywood think women are not proud to be women? Why do they think they need to mimic men? Why place men in a hole, to create the illusion of rising above? The math does not add up to reality, but appears like social engineering propaganda.

One can see this template in US commercials, where the female, and minorities play the role of 1950's style men, and the white male is the now the 1950's dingbat wife. I think it is funny, but it is more like brain washing than the soil for healthy child development for reality. This could explain adolescent confusion issues and vulnerability to fake news.

It would be like having commercials about basketball shoes, where in that alternate reality, white boys are winning the games with their new shoes, while the black boys are all thumbs and feet and can't dance. I would prefer what is real, instead of pandering to a social engineering brain wash for marketing purposes.

Left wing Fake News does the same thing, in terms of building up crooked leaders as honest, while putting the honest leader in a hole, so the other can appear to rise above. Biden won on that, but now we have a reality check which is not like the movie.

This social engineering pattern of the Left could explain something else. Say you pander to minorities in commercials and movies, but fail to change reality in Democrat run cities, will the movies and commercial illusion be enough to add cover to an illusion of change, than never really happens as sold? On the one hand, minorities can see ideal social change on TV commercials, but nothing have changed in their own hard reality. This sudden awareness may be where the blame game comes in; add smoke to the mirrors.

I'd love to see a movie about how conservative men think women being women behave!

 

[Ella S.]

Spoiler warning: All spoilers in this reply will be unmarked.

I went to see the movie. I don't normally see movies, but a friend invited me. I just came back from the theater, so this topic is fresh in my mind.

This is the most misogynistic, toxic masculine take on the movie you could possibly have come up with. I want to believe that this is a troll post.

The movie does not attack men at all.

There are three male characters who are portrayed sympathetically; the father, Aaron, and Allan. At the end of the movie, Ken is redeemed.

Yes, Ken is portrayed as relatively ignorant and naive. So is Barbie. Interesting how you only critique Ken for that flaw? Both of them grow by the end of the movie. That's part of their character arcs; they have trouble adjusting to reality after living in a hyper-idealized utopia. That's the whole point of the movie.

1. First scene bashed motherhood and literally had little girls bashing baby dolls heads on strollers, cribs and rocks to destroy them

The first scene is not an attack on motherhood. In fact, it explicitly praises motherhood. It's an attack on the fact that girls were reduced to nothing more than future mothers. Is that really something you have a problem with? Would you deny surgery if your surgeon was a single, middle-aged woman who doesn't want kids?

2. Heard the word patriarchy at least 40 times.

Yeah, the movie directly deals with the concept of patriarchy.

3. All men acted like it was 1950.

No, men didn't act like it was 1950. Ken and Barbie did in Dreamland, but the men in reality acted like modern-day men, although most of the characters are written in the semi-cartoonish style you would expect from a live action movie made for children.

4. The only "good" male in the movie was shown as meek and powerless.

Are you actually complaining that, in a movie about Barbies where Barbie and the women she's important to are the main characters, men weren't the ones to solve all of the problems? Do you have any self-awareness at all?

5. Showed the Mattel board of directors as all misogynistic men when in actuality Mattel has 5 of the 11 board members as women.

In real life, the CFO is a man. The CEO is also a man. In fact, all of the positions they expressly mention the people in that meeting having are filled by men in the real world, from the positions that I can remember and look up. So this is an outright lie on your part.

6. All men were shown to be dumb.

No, they weren't. There were quite a few capable men in the movie, but they were mostly background characters or brief references because they aren't the focus of the film. The Mattel staff were played for laughs, like many corporate bystanders in kids' movies often are, and the Kens were all naive, but so were the Barbies

7. The white Ken was shown to be a moron and the leader of the rebellion that brainwashed the Barbies into complying with an oppressive patriarchal society.

Yeah.

8. Long monologues of how women are oppressed and how hard it is to be a woman in a patriarchal society with no talk at all of any real issues men have.

Yes, because the movie is geared towards young women, and so the message is one of sympathy towards their struggles and plights

9. Ken was "reformed" at the end of the movie depicting him as meek, submissive and powerless.

You're calling Ken weak when your fragile masculinity shatters as soon as he stops being terrible to women? Seems like projection to me.

I wanted to like this movie hoping it was a fun movie with a good message for women and girls. It was worse than anything I could have imagined and a bait and switch.

Whatever you think a "good message for women and girls" is, your post has set me up to believe that it would be incredibly demeaning, objectifying, and sexist. You can't even watch one movie where women are the protagonists without whining about how men didn't get enough of a chance to force their way into a conversation that isn't even about them. If that's what you consider "good morals," then I'm glad this movie has nothing to do with them.

No trailer showed what the movie was really about. My 12 yo son will not be watching this movie. He would come out of it thinking that he is terrible just for being a boy. Instead of cleverly bringing up issues men and women have and have them work together to resolve or at least understand each other, they used hate and bigotry to get their view across.

Why would he come out of it thinking that he is terrible for "just being a boy?" What does "just being a boy" entail to you? Does "just being a boy" include forcing women to be submissive housewives and forcefully taking over their own houses? Does it include cat-calling women on the street? Does it include being condescending towards women and monopolizing conversations with them? Does it include making unwanted advances on women?

Because that's what the movie is criticizing. If that's what you consider "just being a boy," then, yeah, it is terrible to "just be a boy."

Before you write this off as some kind of male fragility or something, take time to understand the movie or watch it. It was unfair and divisive.

I did watch it and your post should absolutely be written off as male fragility.

 

[Secret Chief]

Spoiler warning: All spoilers in this reply will be unmarked.

I went to see the movie. I don't normally see movies, but a friend invited me. I just came back from the theater, so this topic is fresh in my mind.

This is the most misogynistic, toxic masculine take on the movie you could possibly have come up with. I want to believe that this is a troll post.

The movie does not attack men at all.

There are three male characters who are portrayed sympathetically; the father, Aaron, and Allan. At the end of the movie, Ken is redeemed.

Yes, Ken is portrayed as relatively ignorant and naive. So is Barbie. Interesting how you only critique Ken for that flaw? Both of them grow by the end of the movie. That's part of their character arcs; they have trouble adjusting to reality after living in a hyper-idealized utopia. That's the whole point of the movie.

The first scene is not an attack on motherhood. In fact, it explicitly praises motherhood. It's an attack on the fact that girls were reduced to nothing more than future mothers. Is that really something you have a problem with? Would you deny surgery if your surgeon was a single, middle-aged woman who doesn't want kids?

Yeah, the movie directly deals with the concept of patriarchy.

No, men didn't act like it was 1950. Ken and Barbie did in Dreamland, but the men in reality acted like modern-day men, although most of the characters are written in the semi-cartoonish style you would expect from a live action movie made for children.

Are you actually complaining that, in a movie about Barbies where Barbie and the women she's important to are the main characters, men weren't the ones to solve all of the problems? Do you have any self-awareness at all?

In real life, the CFO is a man. The CEO is also a man. In fact, all of the positions they expressly mention the people in that meeting having are filled by men in the real world, from the positions that I can remember and look up. So this is an outright lie on your part.

No, they weren't. There were quite a few capable men in the movie, but they were mostly background characters or brief references because they aren't the focus of the film. The Mattel staff were played for laughs, like many corporate bystanders in kids' movies often are, and the Kens were all naive, but so were the Barbies

Yeah.

Yes, because the movie is geared towards young women, and so the message is one of sympathy towards their struggles and plights

You're calling Ken weak when your fragile masculinity shatters as soon as he stops being terrible to women? Seems like projection to me.

Whatever you think a "good message for women and girls" is, your post has set me up to believe that it would be incredibly demeaning, objectifying, and sexist. You can't even watch one movie where women are the protagonists without whining about how men didn't get enough of a chance to force their way into a conversation that isn't even about them. If that's what you consider "good morals," then I'm glad this movie has nothing to do with them.

Why would he come out of it thinking that he is terrible for "just being a boy?" What does "just being a boy" entail to you? Does "just being a boy" include forcing women to be submissive housewives and forcefully taking over their own houses? Does it include cat-calling women on the street? Does it include being condescending towards women and monopolizing conversations with them? Does it include making unwanted advances on women?

Because that's what the movie is criticizing. If that's what you consider "just being a boy," then, yeah, it is terrible to "just be a boy."

I did watch it and your post should absolutely be written off as male fragility.

Sorry I can only give you just the one winner frube.

 

[Alien826]

You are aware that’s it’s a kids movie, right?
Jesus.
Not a good idea to use a kids movie as a layout for one’s life. Like dude, are you okay? Holy damn!!

If I lived my life according to movies, I would have resigned myself to an awful disgusting existence goddamned decades ago.
Like wtf?

Are you honestly aware of pop culture’s treatment of femininity? Geez!! Pop culture has long diminished and otherwise demeaned its existence.
Goddamned Classical culture treats it as something that is disgusting. One would look at your reaction to a simple kids movie and react with disgust. Like holy damn! Pathetic much?
For shame!
Meanwhile everyone else has to put up with movies that treat them like dirt.
Hmm

Spoilt much?

I’m sorry. But your reaction does scream “privilege” like damn!

I’m sorry but grow the hell up
Damn!!

Don't hold back. Say what you mean!

 

[SomeRandom]

Don't hold back. Say what you mean!

Sorry. Had a long day Lol
I’m just a little bit tired of folks bashing everything related to (weirdly enough) little girls movies lately.
It’s exhausting and these same crowds often have the audacity to decry others as “snowflakes.”
I guess I needed a rant lol

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Looks like Barbie has joined the Revolution

I can just see the new Barbie Dream Gulag now.

 

[Alien826]

Sorry. Had a long day Lol
I’m just a little bit tired of folks bashing everything related to (weirdly enough) little girls movies lately.
It’s exhausting and these same crowds often have the audacity to decry others as “snowflakes.”
I guess I needed a rant lol

That was a kind of knee-jerk response on my part. When I was younger that was a standard jokey response when someone really speaks out about something. No more than humor intended. If that's how you feel, by all means say so!

 

[Alien826]

When I first heard there was a Barbie movie, I wondered how anyone could make Barbie into a movie. I mean, don't little girls dress them up and have tea parties for them with little plastic cups? Not much meat in that. Well, I guess they managed!

I watched a trailer (on this thread) and I must say I had a couple of laughs, first about the Barbies having feet permanently set as in a high heel shoe and then "this is the most exciting day ever, just like yesterday was and tomorrow will be". That made me think of commercials where people get ridiculously excited over trivial things.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure I could stand nearly 2 hours of pinkness and girls squealing (no offense meant ladies).

 

[Watchmen]

Ken is being played with by little girls! Of course he is second fiddle. Of course they don’t know what to do with him. Of course he is a ding bat. This isn’t anti-men! It’s the reality of what’s in the little girls’ minds who have Ken dolls for their Barbie dolls. He is, quite literally, an accessory!

 

[Watchmen]

When I first heard there was a Barbie movie, I wondered how anyone could make Barbie into a movie. I mean, don't little girls dress them up and have tea parties for them with little plastic cups? Not much meat in that. Well, I guess they managed!

I watched a trailer (on this thread) and I must say I had a couple of laughs, first about the Barbies having feet permanently set as in a high heel shoe and then "this is the most exciting day ever, just like yesterday was and tomorrow will be". That made me think of commercials where people get ridiculously excited over trivial things.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure I could stand nearly 2 hours of pinkness and girls squealing (no offense meant ladies).

The movie is a tremendous hit because it does have meat. I found it incredibly moving and looked at my wife and daughter with new eyes.

 

[wellwisher]

I haven't read through the whole thread but I just HAVE to jump to the defense of this movie.

I loved this movie, watched it with my boyfriend. It's been a long time since a movie had me laughing from start to finish.

It is PG-13. It is definitely not a movie for little kids and it's obvious by watching it that little kids were not the target audience at all. I saw a couple parents walk out with their little kiddos before the movie was halfway through. All the humor in it is like for millennials/and gen z even.

My immediate siblings and cousins saw it too (aged 20s-30s) and they all loved it. Sure, the movie was rather "liberal" i.e. a proud proponent of girl power, buuuut like most youngins are more liberal than the generations that has preceded them.

I'm not gonna go through your list of bullet points but I will comment on your first point about the opening scene.

The opening scene was a literal spoof of the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I think you read into it the wrong way.

Oh, also does the mentions of patriarchy make you uncomfortable? Do you disagree and say that we don't live in a patriarchal society? We definitely do, sure, progress has been made but not enough.

The Political Left is the lingering source of the Patriarchy, since the standards of Liberals are a dual standard, and these progressive principles do not apply to white Lefty males. If President Biden make a racist slip or touches children, this is swept under the rug. Big Daddy is exempt.

These Lefty Patriarchs are the ones leading the woman and minorities. Who do you think made this movie? These patriarchs are good at projection and misdirection. Most of predators against women are Lefty males, such as in Hollywood. But they successfully blame others; project, and then are allowed to hide in plain sight, pulling the strings of their puppets, who are clueless.

The political right and religion are classic patriarchies, but the men are doing this in plane sight and not in an underhanded misdirect way. This allows women to chose that life style and not be brainwashed by the misdirect. People on the right can have difference of opinion on say abortion. But the left has to walk lockstep, or you we be censored and kicked out; Big Daddy sets the rules. You do not have the right to disagree.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

The Political Left is the lingering source of the Patriarchy, since the standards of Liberals are a dual standard, and these progressive principles do not apply to white Lefty males. If President Biden make a racist slip or touches children, this is swept under the rug. Big Daddy is exempt.

These Lefty Patriarchs are the ones leading the woman and minorities. Who do you think made this movie? These patriarchs are good at projection and misdirection. Most of predators against women are Lefty males, such as in Hollywood. But they successfully blame others; project, and then are allowed to hide in plain sight, pulling the strings of their puppets, who are clueless.

The political right and religion are classic patriarchies, but the men are doing this in plane sight and not in an underhanded misdirect way. This allows women to chose that life style and not be brainwashed by the misdirect. People on the right can have difference of opinion on say abortion. But the left has to walk lockstep, or you we be censored and kicked out; Big Daddy sets the rules. You do not have the right to disagree.

I disagree.

 

[Alien826]

The movie is a tremendous hit because it does have meat. I found it incredibly moving and looked at my wife and daughter with new eyes.

Interesting. Could you expand on that?

 

[Stevicus]

I can just see the new Barbie Dream Gulag now.

 

[Viker]

I have seen the movie and the OP is bunk... they're making things up.


And the movie is surprisingly good.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

...Big Daddy...

I used to dance under that name.