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No. 41724
[Edit]
>>41657
I mostly held off saying anything because it seemed like nearly everyone I knew who saw it seemed to love it, unironically.
I thought the problem was with me for not enjoying it. I went in wanting to enjoy it, and I did think it was cute and fun for the first 20 or so minutes, but almost everything from then on was just terrible. The logic of the film was all over the place, nothing made any sense, it wasn't particularly funny and the full audience I was with didn't seem to think so either. From the moment they enter the real world everything felt cheap, poorly thought out, and poorly directed. There's two main musical numbers and the chorography for one of them was kinda bad.
The marketing for the movie is all lies and misdirection.
Once the characters enter the "real" world, they enter the world as the writer really sees it. As soon as she arrives, Barbie gets cat catcalled by construction workers and her ass slapped by some frat dude. For some reason she and ken get instantly arrested when she hits the guy back, and released just as quickly. It doesn't take long to realize the writer of the movie is very out of touch with reality. They also get arrested for stealing clothing, which they keep and wear for the rest of their stay in the real world.
From there Barbie meets the girl she believes to be her real world owner, who rips into Barbie for "setting back the feminist movement 50 years", which I thought was interesting.
This bitter and hateful girl gives Barbie a hard time for being a stereotype, Barbie who is cheerful and happy with who and what she is, is supposed to be in the wrong here? The movie says one thing but shows another. This 'could' lead to some meaningful messages about real female empowerment, about girls not being ashamed to be girls and owning it instead, taking their strength and power from their femininity rather than rejecting it or being embarrassed by it. I don't care what anyone says, being a sad angry bitter lonely depressed moody girl that looks like a gender natural blob doesn't exactly say female empowerment to me, that's cowardice, that's sour grapes from someone that wishes they could have half the confidence of Barbie. Barbie is a girl, and proud of it, she has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. She's bubbly and friendly and wears bright pretty colorful clothing that complements her, she's happy and successful and some women just can't stand that. Women that are out of shape, wear drab loose fitting ugly cloths that don't stand out and hide their bodies. They aren't proud of who they are, they hate themselves and feel insecure. They don't want to improve or better themselves because that takes too much effort, instead they project their issues onto everyone around them, blaming the world for all their problems. To them it's men and patriarchy holding them back, not themselves. Its your fault she's fat, it's your fault her job sucks, it's your fault she doesn't feel like the princess she is. They're like spoiled children that cry and throw fits when things aren't going their way or the world isn't revolving around them, and people put up with it to keep the peace. Women like that are pathetic, they're the ones holding women back not the other way around.
If it wasn't for the rest of the movie I might think this is what they were going for with the scene, but it clearly isn't and was just setting the stage. The company behind these toys doesn't want to risk stepping on anyone's toes, they just want to tell women what they want to hear. You then see sour grapes girl's mother go on a rant later on about how Barbie should be dull bland and "normal", not a role model or something to aspire to but a reflection of the miserable people in the real world, she should be dragged down to the level of real people and that's exactly what happens by the end of the movie as if it's a good thing? Congratulates, you spread your misery like a virus, I hope you're proud of yourself?
While Barbie is busy getting shit on for not being miserable and pathetic as real girls, ken discovers the patriarchy (no, really). and to his amazement, people actually treat him like a human in this world. He studies up on what he can, and returns to Barbie land to spread the patriarchy there too.
Barbie gets escorted to Mettle HQ, where she meets with the guys in charge, makes an issue about there not being any women in charge (God forbid guys work their way to the top), and runs away when they try to stick her back in a box.
She along with sour grapes girl and her mother which is apparently barbie's actual owner and the reason Barbie has been having issues lately, all head back to Barbie land to find the kens ruined it and turned it into some frat party where Kens rule everything and the barbies all worship them. Which makes me wonder, if women are so much smarter and more capable then men and so much more fit to rule their world, how was their world taken over so quickly and easily?
Well, the main Barbie gets kicked out of her house and nearly gives up hope, but they discover that when the mother complains about female problems, the barbies that loved and respected the kens get deprogramed. Personally, I thought a lot of what she was complaining about was universally relatable, but of course they spin it to be women only problems. The people who wrote this trash obviously think men just live perfect lives or something, like having a penis grants you instant access to the best paying jobs in the world without having to work for it. Well they deprogram all the barbies with feminist propaganda (literally snatching them up and sticking them in a van to listen to the mom character rant about how much life sucks), then they turn the kens on eachother by pretending to like them, then pretending to like different kens. Because the writers think men are just that simple minded. This is to keep them from voting on an election which would put kens in an actual position of power. I guess this is their idea of a fair democratic system? The end result is they fix Barbie land by reverting it to essentially what it was at the beginning. The narrator even says "maybe someday the kens can hope to have the same level of say in this world as women do in the real world"
It was another funny case of being shown one thing but told another. See, when Kens ruled things, for better or worse everyone was happy. The Kens were happy and so were the barbies by their side. The movie thinks it was the wrong type of happy however, which is why they need to be de-programed. One barbie says the experience was like taking a vacation from her brain. So they "fix" things by making sure only the barbies can be happy, which I think reflects on the real goals of feminism. It was never about equality, it's about domination and some insane desire for revenge for what social was like 80 years ago. These women who never had to live in that time period are hell bent on punishing men who never benefited from that time period, all while acting like they speak for all women when in reality most aren't that bat shit crazy.
So what started out as fun and lighthearted comedy, quickly turned into a very cynical nasty hateful agenda pushing piece of feminist propaganda that made for an all around awful experience. Women of course all loved it, but I was surprised to see how many men did too, it felt like we saw completely different movies.
The take away for men who went to see it, is supposed to be the "ken enough" meme that guys are rallying behind. A slapped on feel good message near the end of the movie meant to resolve the issues the main Ken faces. I'll admit that I might not fully understand it, but it sounds to me like a pretty shitty hollow message wrapped in good intentions. In Barbie land, ken is treated like garbage, like a reflection of how the writer thinks women are treated in our world. They have no say in anything, they don't have any jobs, they're belittled constantly, struggle and fight for even a bit of attention, I don't think they even have homes.
Ken's whole existence is pathetic, he lives in the shadow of Barbie. As one of the posters for the movie says "Barbie has a good day everyday, Ken has a good day when Barbie looks at him." He had nothing, just her. They're apparently dating but he's treated worse than a pet. He tried to fill the void in his life with a tough act and a random crap he picked up in the real world, but that didn't work.
The moral lesson at the end is, he should just learn to love and accept himself for who he is because he's "ken enough". The thing is, I don't think it's wrong to want some validation a little compassion, a little anything from the people around you, to know you mater to someone, that someone out there likes you or cares about you.
Not having that can be a very very miserable existence. Humans aren't robots, they have feelings and needs, including social needs. I think this demonstrates a complete and total lack of compassion or consideration from Barbie and all the women who repeat this kind of message. I'm not even sure if they really have good intentions, or if it's just a well disguised way telling you your problems are your problems, not theirs and to stop expecting anything from women because you aren't going to get anything. boohoo you're lonely? suck it up, you're a big boy, just be ken enough ;)
I don't think it's wrong to want to be loved, to be praised, to have your efforts recognized. Yet it seems in our modern culture, there's been this push recently to be entirely self sufficient and isolated, to not seek external validation and instead embrace yourself for who and what you are alone, alone being the key word there because you will in fact die alone, but that's fine because you're ken enough ;)
I think this sounds all well and good on the surface, this idea that you're fine the way you are, but besides missing the point if you go deeper into that life philosophy, I think you'd find it to be a very lonely way to live. I think in order to have a good balance in your life, you need to love and be loved, but what we're seeing is people(women) who can't love anyone but themselves, expecting others(men) to live the same way and be content with never being loved or cared for by anyone but themselves. Which is all well and good if you get love and attention just by existing like these women do, but they have no idea what it's like to be a man who does everything right but is still neglected and unwanted by all.
"Ken enough" feels on par with a rich person telling someone struggling in poverty to just stop being poor.
I've been seeing the message spread around a lot lately, and it feels like encouraging a very selfish and narcissistic unhealthy life style. One that risks alienating everyone around you if you convince yourself that the only opinions that mater are your own, which doesn't work when you live in a world with other people who have their own opinions as well.
like a lazy feel good message by people who just don't care about you and never will, you're not their problem, they just want to pat themselves on the back for setting you on the right course, or at least the course they think is right. It's not an issue of being Ken enough, it's an issue of being Ken enough for her.
The movie and this message both essentially say it's wrong to want to be loved, I say it's wrong to condemn people for wanting to be loved.
Post edited on 25th Aug 2023, 10:41pm
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