Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie

A non-exhaustive list of all of the so-called "woke" things the #Barbie brand has been doing for years that conservatives don't know about because all of their outrage is fake and they've literally never been Barbie's core audience. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/3PKGEetQ4m

— BJ Colangelo (STRIKE FIRST! STRIKE HARD!) (@bjcolangelo) July 23, 2023

wait - I'm starting to think this isn't a biopic about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie ?

Phew, finally saw it. My guess that it was secretly a musical sorta held up!

Expectations fulfilled, great set design, fun cast, tons of good jokes - occasionally a bit basic and essentialist but it wears it well.

Feel like the whole corporate part of the story could've been done without, there was enough juice in the mother-daughter stuff, the existential crisis and the Barbie/Ken stuff. No real major spoilers forthcoming but just in case: The scene of Barbie discovering all the Mattel execs are male as part of her blackpilling is good, but after that they don't fulfill a consistent role, they're kind of antagonists but also ultimately "good" (Ferrel refusing to just go with the Ken version even though it's selling well) and end up not really doing much of anything - a few funny moments but they could all have been better delivered by the Kens imo. Also I love Rhea Pearlman as any right thinking person does but that final speech felt endless and failed to hit, the previous resolution was satisfactory and I get it had to end with the focus on Barbie herself but it didn't really deliver.

This movie is such an interesting intertwining of things that are really interesting and fun, with all the countervailing choices that have to neutralize those and turn them into "have your cake and eat it too" material. I had a lot of fun watching it, no regrets, also loved all the design work, most of the jokes, and the overall plot idea of a redpilled Ken trying to remake the Barbie universe as a dude-bro playboy paradise, albeit a sexless one. But I wasn't delighted in the way I could tell most of the crowd was.

For me, all the Mattel scenes just highlight the decision to address critiques of Barbie solely in terms of "is she a good role model," which quickly swerves away from a quick litany of actual real life critiques (consumerism, 'math is hard,' etc.) to "well, we all agree that Barbie has always tried to offer an amazing array of career role models, but how can we reckon with the fact that despite this, patriarchy endures?" This self-pitched softball is not exactly hit out of the park; the film just talks about it a lot, and sort of lands on this jumbled brand-messaging slogan as a thesis: "Well, Barbie was trying her best to inspire us, and Mattel was too, even though they were a bunch of men only trying to sell toys, except Will Ferrel who sort of believes in the dream in a doofy way." Critiques of Barbie in terms of body image issues get lip service at best. Very disappointingly there is exactly one non-skinny Barbie, who is basically not a character. (A tangent to this: "Weird Barbie" is also barely weird at all - did Gerwig and McKinnon have funkier visions that got quashed?)

A related shortcoming, I think, is the VERY clear decision to not do anything with the plain fact that millions of kids used these toys as avatars of their limited knowledge of adult sexuality. Everybody I've talked to who played with Barbies as a kid has commented on this --- it's like THE biggest thing you'd be hoping to see explored in a satirical Barbie comedy for adults. You have to imagine that was on some of the creators' minds, and that it was an absolute 'no' from the toy company.

I actually thought it was the mother-daughter material that felt grafted on --- as if someone at Mattel insisted there needed to be a kid-friendly aspect of the story, and Gerwig did her best to shave it down to a minimum. The result is that those characters kind of get lost for long stretches, and feel like they're missing the setups to their own climaxes, for me anyway.

A related shortcoming, I think, is the VERY clear decision to not do anything with the plain fact that millions of kids used these toys as avatars of their limited knowledge of adult sexuality.

Explain?

this is secondhand but: i am told that one major way of playing with Barbie was to put Barbies and/or Kens in bed and/or sexual situations together. a way of gaining a grip on 'what adults do,' or of beginning to realize one's own inchoate desires/fantasies, etc. the film engages very briefly with the idea that we'll see a Barbieland existence that reflects the way Barbie is played with, for example floating down from her house rather than descending on stairs. that's dropped like a hot potato in general, but at least for my crew, it really highlights the forms of play that we don't see.

I do agree with the comment upthread about the Mattel execs. when they returned at the very end, I actually had forgotten they'd traveled to Barbieland in the first place.

Overall I did enjoy this a lot, though nothing made me laugh more than hundreds of Kens singing Matchbox 20's "Push" simultaneously

also very good points Doc C!

oh I see. Actually, I was thrown out of the movie during that Ken-Barbie exchange about sleeping together. Barbie responds (I paraphrase): "And do what?" The audience roared.

The Will Ferrell scenes were by far the worst. When I think how this film is close to two hours, I blame those scenes.

the "and do what?" piece is a little jarring in that minutes later, upon being catcalled in California, she immediately states she doesn't have a vagina and Ken doesn't have a penis.

I figure the aim of "and do what?" was meant to be more 'do what, we have no genitalia!', but the way the dialogue is delivered comes across more like a Pleasantville-esque obliviousness to the existence of sex.

Yeah, I heard it as the Pleasantville thing. I guess it would work better as the former, and makes for a logical setup to the (excellent) final joke.

the "and do what?" piece is a little jarring in that minutes later, upon being catcalled in California, she immediately states she doesn't have a vagina and Ken doesn't have a penis.

this

I thought Richard Lawson's Vanity Fair review did a nice job capturing the limitations I was feeling in the movie, and also how it managed to be pleasant on balance anyway.

In an amusing side note, a former student worker of mine who I keep touch with on Facebook mentioned he and a friend were at last night's Matchbox 20 show. So I had to ask if they mentioned Barbie at all prior to "Push" and his answer was "They did not! Didn't mention the movie at all at any point." Obviously it's not like they need to but given how the song was used in the biggest pop culture event of the summer as such, perhaps they felt discretion was the better part of valor.

Weirdly slightly bummed that I'm probably not going to get to see this in theaters. Was supposed to go see it with my wife and son this weekend, but they got impatient and went with other friends yesterday.

So go solo!

I actually prefer going to movies solo tbh. too many instances of friends constantly wanting to yammer during a movie which drives me insane.

unless I attend a critics screening I go to movies solo all the time

in part because my friends think I'm a psycho for insisting on 10 a.m. screenings

Oh I don't mind going solo to the movies, it's more of a timing issue right now. The next three-four weeks are packed between work deadlines, the kid's baseball games on weekends and family events.

Since they saw it last night, my wife promised us dinner with a different group of friends during the time we were originally planning to see it. First world problems. Might have to be sick for a day from work to go see it and Oppenheimer.

the "and do what?" piece is a little jarring in that minutes later, upon being catcalled in California, she immediately states she doesn't have a vagina and Ken doesn't have a penis.

I agree it's an inconsistency, but both moments made me laugh and in a comedy that trumps all.

Critiques of Barbie in terms of body image issues get lip service at best. Very disappointingly there is exactly one non-skinny Barbie, who is basically not a character. (A tangent to this: "Weird Barbie" is also barely weird at all - did Gerwig and McKinnon have funkier visions that got quashed?)

It's very focused on the binary, which tbf the toys are also all about the binary but...the furthest you get from it as a man is to be a little mild mannered like Michael Cera, the furthest you get as a woman is to have an eccentric haircut. Queerness doesn't really exist. Yes the one token fat Barbie wasn't great, though unsurprisingly still an improvement over the toys - I googled it and apparently there is one "curvy barbie", image search for sad lols.

I actually thought it was the mother-daughter material that felt grafted on --- as if someone at Mattel insisted there needed to be a kid-friendly aspect of the story, and Gerwig did her best to shave it down to a minimum. The result is that those characters kind of get lost for long stretches, and feel like they're missing the setups to their own climaxes, for me anyway.

It's not seamlessly handled from a structural pov by any means but I found the revelation that Barbie is getting depressed not because she's owned by a sad kid but because of a mother's doodling, and how what served as escapism for her at first seems to means nothing to her daughter very moving.

xposts to Ned

Matchbox20 dedicated “Push” to Ryan Gosling at another show so they’re definitely aware and seem to be good sports about it

Rob Thomas dedicates a performance of “Push” to Ryan Gosling pic.twitter.com/sjxs2lpmTB

— William Goodman (@goodmanw) July 24, 2023

Hahah excellent.

Do we have too many people in the UK or too few..I am confused 😂https://t.co/cg7txKKA8Q

— Rupak (@ghose77) July 28, 2023

We could use one less...

i wanna take you for grahantahad

i thought this was fucking hilarious and pretty fantastic though i do dislike it when movies solve their problems through inspiring speeches (sort of the opposite of pearl where a long monologue only deepens the movie's derangement; here ferrera stopped the film dead for me)

imo allan is trans coded

the ken dance was magnificent, anytime the movie worked itself into a liminal space (e.g. rhea perlman's office) i got sooo happy. the ending seems divisive—even i'm torn on it, because the dialogue between barbie and her creator is just... kinda obvious and less smart than the rest of the movie is. but i'm just thrilled anytime two characters walk out of the movie they belong to into a blank soundstage with gradient lighting. just a visual delight from beginning to end

ken trying to be a Man and instate his very childlike interpretation of the patriarchy in barbieland kinda vibrated at the same frequency as an i think you should leave sketch

Gosling's dancing restored my faith in wanting to have sex with him.

Is it because he was actually the worst dancer of the entire crew of Kens?

i thought Gosling was a dancer IRL

Gosling letting his Mickey Mouse Club bonafides shine

All I saw was Simu Liu ad others eating his lunch

He can dance on my face.

Just make sure he doesn't mark his moves

See guys, this is exactly the kind of behaviour that lead the Kens to fail, pitting men against each other like this.

Alfred and I share a mission of putting men against each other

It won't play.

Everything but the Kens snapping at her rear end

this was…ok. happy greta’s getting her bag. I think I finally think of her as gen x now however

Just saw this and liked it a lot. The trio of Everything Everywhere, M3gan, and Barbie - movies that are willing to just go there and be bonkers - restores my faith in humanity a bit.

"happy greta’s getting her bag. I think I finally think of her as gen x now however"

???? she is 39 years old.

BTW I did not like Frances Ha. It was good at doing what it does, but that is not something I want done to me. Barbie is a romp though.

I make my students watch Lady Bird every semester -- the most contemporary film on my syllabus.

I thought this was good, not great, and that's fine.

"happy greta’s getting her bag. I think I finally think of her as gen x now however"

???? she is 39 years old.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, July 29, 2023 12:39 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh ok I guess she’s technically a geriatric milennial. I absolutely love her but I guess most of the attempts at subversion reminded me of like, barbs (no pun intended) you’d see in a buzzfeed article or something. it’s a tough line to walk and I’m glad she’s gonna be richer than shit

buzzfeed ofc also a millenial thing, but if you want to quietly pass that off onto gen x you have my support