Wokeness of the Barbie movie
There has been a lot of backlash against the Barbie movie, but “the detractors are missing the movie's point” (Beverley, 2023). The Barbie movie received positive reviews but has faced backlash for the movie’s positive message. The negativity misunderstood the theme of the movie. A lot of the backlash to the Barbie movie comes from the film’s stance on patriarchy. Directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written by her and her boyfriend, Noah Baumbach has received a lot of praise for the feminist message in the movie. However, there are people that didn’t feel the same about the movie. This caused the movie’s audience score to be review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes and conservative figures like Ben Shapiro spoke out against Barbie (Beverley, 2023). The movie gives a funny but insightful critique of patriarchy by having Barbie land a matriarchal society where women had power. “The detractors of Barbie have been criticized for the film being too “woke” and claiming that the film is “anti-men” and that they only saw the attack on men. That was not the intention of the Barbie movie at all.
Patriarchy hurts everyone…even Men
"She’s everything. He’s just Ken" was the film’s tagline. Barbie director Greta Gerwig says the film is “most certainly a feminist film” and has frightened some male pundits and some consider the movie to be “114 minutes of spiteful, bitter, mean-spirited, borderline unhinged hatred of men” (Cox, 2023). The movie shows that following old patriarchal systems doesn’t benefit men because the expectations that are forced on them lead to unfulfillment, which causes the Kens to be at war with each other and lose sight of themselves (Beverley, 2023). In one article, Ryan Gosling as Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend, was a place where he demonstrated that masculinity is foolish and reprehensible in the Barbie world. While Ken and his friends' regrettable competitiveness and aggression prove their self-destructive (Cox, 2023). For example, when one Ken wants to hang out with the Barbies, and Allen, Ken’s best friend doesn’t like how the Kendom changed the mindset of all the Ken dolls. The film did not have anything against men, it simply showed that adhering to the old patriarchal system doesn’t benefit anyone, especially men.
Reference
Beverley, T. (2023, August 2). The Barbie Movie's Biggest Backlash Misses What The Film Was Really Trying To Say. ScreenRant.
Cox, D. (2023, August 4). Barbie’s muddled feminist fantasy still bows to the patriarchy. The Guardian.