Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie

Sorry I meant Lisa Lionheart

True, and the movie's going to have to work pretty hard to top this dubbed moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCu2mgoCP4

sweating now that the barbie movie might not end capitalism fuck lads what will we do in that hellosh scenario

buy more shit?

"Threading the needle" is kind of what seems to be going on

oh yeah it's definitely trying that, i just wonder if it's even possible for it to succeed there, given that it's barbie. according to interviews it's going for barbie entering the real world as an allegory for girls encountering gendered pressures as they grow up, which does come through in the trailer

even if it just ends up as a live action lego movie with some feminist commentary, that's probably a pretty good outcome for what a barbie movie could be, but it feels like they're hyping it up to be more than that? which is a fairly absurd proposition to begin with, it feels a little silly to even entertain it - it seems like it'll be fun either way

Ugh, I just realized that this movie is going to get conscripted into the culture wars, isn't it? I know it wouldn't take much these days for semi-organized assholes to target movie theaters for "grooming" and issue threats unless the "Barbie" movie is pulled. I mean, weren't people making a stink about M&Ms for a minute or something?

and… let’s not even start with one of the chief criticisms of gerwig’s work - that her brand of feminism is white/cis/straight

Ugh, I just realized that this movie is going to get conscripted into the culture wars, isn't it?

What movie that isn't yet another comic book action/sci-fi gun porn wargame rehash doesn't these days?

Barbie has been rebranded as a feminist symbol for pretty much the entirety of my adult life. Whether she actually IS a feminist symbol is something I agree is debatable but it seems very odd to me to wonder if this is going to try to be a feminist Barbie movie given then past 35+ years of Barbie marketing; it would be much weirder if it wasn’t!

Before Barbie wasn’t it mainly baby dolls for little girls? I may have already drunk the barbie kool-aid, but I thought there was something progressive about it right off the bat. And the different body types and whatnot that they come in now are also great, as far as selling plastic to kids goes.

i'm not wondering if it'll try (it very obviously is), i'm wondering if it will succeed, or if it's even possible for it to truly succeed at that goal given barbie's messy relationship to feminism?

i don't think barbie is a feminist symbol or that she's really tried to be? there's been an effort to make her more diverse and feminist-friendly (although in a fairly shallow girlboss sort of way) for sure, but is she really seen as a feminist symbol by anyone? i don't think many people would really say she's the worst thing ever these days, but i also don't think many would argue that she's the most progressive there is wrt gender? the broader issue is just how heavily gendered children's toys are, of course

I'm not expecting Barbie to be any kind of statement movie by Gerwig, just like The Lego Movie wasn't one by Lord & Miller. We know they're capable of more, but here they're just elevating mainstream properties.

idk i think the lego movie did manage to do both? meta-commentary with detached semi-ironic pop culture tributes, but also sincerely celebrating lego? but lego is both beloved & enough of a blank slate to have been able to thread that needle

so far this is just shaping up to be pretty similar to the lego movie in tone, which is such an obvious move (though not really a bad one - i think you can only expect so much from a barbie movie even if gerwig was given a lot of freedom with it), which makes me wonder how it will actually try to subvert expectations?

i can't imagine pratt working as ken at all. the wrong sort of normal, not camp

― ufo, Friday, May 26, 2023 8:40 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i haven't seen lego movie so i can't really compare (i haven't seen most movies, my opinions can be ignored) but i don't necessarily think that the script itself offering a 'sincere' celebration of the property is on the opposite end of what i'm talking about. that's part of "treating it like a monument." the most obvious offender i can think of is this horrible trailer for the recent ghostbusters reboot that had the kids from stranger things sifting through a Planet Hollywood prop display curated to increasingly tickle the nostalgia center of nerd brains until they explode. the celebration is certainly there but it's sort of presented through a hall of mirrors, right? and that approach to the property had to be (at least in part) a reaction to the culture war surrounding the previous all-female reboot - a movie i'd argue actually did engage the property with sincerity simply by casting comedians and striving to hit (a modernized version of) the same tone as the originals, rather than building it around third-person property worship.

no comparison there really to the barbie movie, but i'm not sure there is really a way to create a barbie movie on the opposite end of the pole aside from the ones they've been making for years, marketed towards children (though i'm sure some of them include a lot of adult-facing meta humor in their own right, because everything does)

i don't mean to turn this into a crappy culture thinkpiece, would really just prefer if hollywood wasn't built around leveraging established IPs but whatever!!

sweating now that the barbie movie might not end capitalism fuck lads what will we do in that hellosh scenario

― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Friday, 26 May 2023 bookmarkflaglink

You joke but by Barbie thinking thoughts about "dying" it will lead to much harm. This stuff is powerful.

i’m encouraged by how thoughtful and pretentious (good) gerwig’s comments in that interview are

Robbie reveals the biggest reason this movie was made:

"The word {Barbie} itself is more globally recognized than practically everything else other than Coca-Cola."

I for one can't wait for an unironically titled The Coke Movie.

I assume it will be the sequel to Scarface

the barbie movie looks fun and cute! (crowd cheers) but it's based on intellectual property (crowd boos) but it might be feminist! (crowd cheers) but it is a movie based on toys (crowd boos) but there might be queer subtext! (crowd cheers) but dolls are for children (crowd boos)

— lauren (@NotABigJerk) May 26, 2023

Does it come with frozen yogurt

yes but

not directed at anyone specific
but can i just say it drives me fucking nuts the way ~the culture in general~ gets so insanely granular over **a goddamn trailer**

my thoughts:
it looks like it might be fun!
i might see this movie!
THE END

^^^

also I keep cracking up at the exchange in the earlier trailer where Ken says he wants to come over and Barbie says "and do what?" and he says "I'm... not exactly sure"

I think an obvious comparison would be to GI Joe, which started as an action figure toy and then led to 3 feature films.

Having a thread for a movie before we have a movie to discuss naturally leads to discussions not informed by watching the movie. A long series of posts all saying "looks fun, might see" would be not much fun. At least this way we'll remember where to discuss the movie when it's released.

xpost I will see your GI Joe and raise you a Transformers (with 7+ feature films).

Good one, I'm out. I probably won't "see" any of those but the Barbie movie ;)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_toys#Live-action_films_based_on_toys

damn is really this mattel’s first live action feature film since masters of the universe bombed

Would take you a while to get back in the game after a failure like that.

theres a reason theyre not called mattew

also I keep cracking up at the exchange in the earlier trailer where Ken says he wants to come over and Barbie says "and do what?" and he says "I'm... not exactly sure"

― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Friday, May 26, 2023 3:58 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This moment in the trailer was the moment when I was sure I need to watch the movie, tbrr

for real

indigo girls did it for me

damn is really this mattel’s first live action feature film since masters of the universe bombed

can't believe you're forgetting max steel

The bit I laughed at most is Ken mugging behind his mug shot (and his mug shot saying 'AND KEN'), but I really have some hopes for Kate McKinnon as weird Barbie with the pen marks and the chopped hair.

feel like i've seen more references to this movie, which is not out yet, than any in years and years

i mean i'm not gonna go see it, but the marketing, even accidentally, has been impressive

really hope it's awful

"Why do people say they like things? We may never know."

Allegedly Barbie's advanced ticket sales signal an $80-100M opening weekend, compared to $50M for Oppenheimer

First reactions?

...would be expect in about a week, when it opens

*expected

we call barbs from mookie "barbies"

The usual dubiously ott reactions are out. Lotta talk of costumes, sets and Gosling.

when will they issue their warning about the onscreen colors and dance scenes being so flashy that people prone to seizures should be cautious about attending?

Initially I couldn't really give two shits about this movie, but after seeing how big mad it makes some people I hope this makes a gazillion dollars.

I hope it makes 100x as much money as Oppenheimer

otm

lol both screenings are on the same night

how big mad it makes some people

Barbie purists?