The long-awaited premiere of the Barbie film on July 21, 2023 broke a number of data broad open. The movie grossed $155 million domestically over one weekend, cementing its place in historical past as having the most important opening weekend of 2023 and because the largest debut for a feminine director ever.
For all its unprecedented successes, Barbie has been repeatedly criticized by conservative pundits as a film that’s anti-man, overtly feminist and all collectively “too woke.” But to push that specific narrative is to overlook the purpose of the film, utterly.
Barbie isn’t the ‘man-hating’ film critics declare it’s — it’s a considerate commentary on how the patriarchy harms us all, ladies and males.
Within the Greta Gerwig-directed “Barbie,” Barbies (and Kens) dwell in a world, Barbieland, the place ladies wield energy. The president is a Barbie; the Supreme Courtroom are all Barbies. The characters exist in a mirror-image model of human society, just for Barbie’s sense of self-worth and id to come back crashing down when she and Ken journey to the actual world.
A salient plot-point within the film is the way in which Ken feels emboldened by the idea of patriarchy, a lot in order that he subverts the universe Barbie created to be able to elevate himself up.
A lot of conservative commentators are holding tight to the idea that Barbie maintains a man-hating narrative, when actually, the film reveals how poisonous masculinity hurts each men and women, in several but legitimate methods.
One girl, Paulina Cardenas, used TikTok to ship a message “to the entire guys trolling the Barbie film for ‘reverse sexism.’”
“If it made you are feeling uncomfortable that Ken had no energy and was missed in Barbieland, congrats, you’ve gotten a SLIGHT glimpse of what ladies have fought towards for many years on this world,” Cardenas acknowledged.
“This film isn’t about you,” she continued. “And if you happen to suppose it’s, as an alternative of standing behind the ladies in your life, you’re a part of the difficulty.”
One other girl, Therese Adair, took to TikTok to specific her ideas on the implications of critiquing Barbie as a man-hating film.
“The toughest a part of watching Barbie is understanding that there shall be an enormous majority of people that interpret it as an ‘anti-man’ and ‘man hating’ movie when that might not be farther from the reality. And the way the viewers of individuals rejecting the actual message of Barbie would be the similar viewers of people that want to listen to the actual message most.”
Adair exclaimed that the “actual message being the battle of girls and girlhood in a patriarchal society, and the way not solely does patriarchy demean ladies, however strips males of their emotional validity, forcing males to develop up disconnected from themselves and their feelings. Which solely additional perpetuates itself in a vicious cycle.”
The underlying message of Barbie is ‘how essential it’s to bridge the hole between genders to create a greater world, not only for the ladies abused by patriarchy, however for the boys as properly.’
“The movie is really for everybody,” she defined. “We simply must pay attention.”
At its core, patriarchy thrives by sustaining a message of poisonous masculinity. It’s an all-encompassing system that oppresses ladies whereas additionally oppressing males.
Upholding a inflexible definition of what males are allowed to be limits the emotional depths they’re capable of attain. Patriarchy harms males by preserving them remoted from each other and from themselves.
In an article from the New York Instances, Gerwig expressed the significance of recognizing nuance and holding house for a number of meanings. “Issues will be each/and,” she defined. Later within the article, Gerwig exclaimed, “The story of Barbie is the combat that’s been happening about Barbie.”
The criticism of Barbie as a man-hating film reveals the combat is alive and properly. But the genius of the film lies in its open willingness to tackle that specific combat.
Barbie is sparking essential conversations, centering on the methods men and women each deserve a lot extra from this world.
Alexandra Blogier is a author on YourTango’s information and leisure workforce. She covers movie star gossip, popular culture evaluation and all issues to do with the leisure business.
