#barbie analysis

[baileyondemand]

the people who are saying barbie is anti-man must have left the theater ten minutes before i did. because did they miss the ending barbieland scene? it’s extremely clear when the narrator says that “kens would one day have almost as much power as women in the real world” that it’s meant to be satire. it’s pointing out the double standard of barbieland and acknowledging that that standard was wrong from the start. it’s meant to show you that you’re not mad about the patriarchy because you’re pro-women, it’s because it’s wrong. and it’s meant to show people who are mad about the kens that they are also anti-patriarchy, because they also think that this is wrong. it points out the double standard of men who think the patriarchy doesn’t exist but still refuse to cook or clean for themselves. i’d bet money greta gerwig predicted the anti-man claimers, because it’s so clearly shown throughout the movie that, yes, the barbies promote oppressing men, but the barbie movie does not.

[greetings-humans]

so. some things could be a lot better in the barbie movie.

i really liked sasha and her view on barbie and society. I like how she didn't see barbie as something empowering but still chose to help. I like her, I think she's a cool character. she's not one for traditional femininity, though. so what the hell was that pink dress??? she can be strong and connect to her mother and her girlhood and still wear her cargo pants and dress in dark colors. she can decide that she doesn't want to be feminine and still be a girl/woman. (she can also decide that she's not a woman, but that's mostly just me projecting my weird asf gender)

also. weird barbie was noticeably more "presentable" in the end of the movie and I believe that taking away most of her weirdness really diminishes the point. she's not getting an apology and being recognized as a person that deserves rights and agency and control and to not be shunned, because wow now she's more feminine. that's not the point, and I think that they could have showcased a lot better. she should be getting all of the above, because the barbies realized how bad shunning her because of her differences is. because not being a barbie ""correctly"" is such a bad reason. because not being what they expect of her is not a good reason.

however, on to some good things about the movie, there are some pretty cool examples of the "conform to the expectations or else" part of society that it showed.

weird barbie should have had a decent amount of power in the matriarchal barbie society, but was shunned for being weird and different and expressing herself in a non-traditional (and thus unacceptable) way. this shows that sometimes the criteria for the powerful harm more than just those that are obviously oppressed. (e.g., men feeling uncomfortable with expressing affection because it's not manly and thus repressing themselves).

allan also serves as a similar example. even in kendom, allan didn't have any sort of power because the way he expressed himself didn't fit with what the kens expected of him

and also of themselves. (yeah I'm at it again with the "stupid criteria for who gets power don't just harm those that are generally considered the powerless")

and I'm saying this because the kens thought that the world expected men who had power to act like this, and because they wanted to have agency and control and power, they conformed.

in the end, ryan gosling's ken addressed that by pretty much said that he didn't even really get why he was behaving like that, that it wasn't what he wanted. we can assume that what he wanted to not be a second-class citizen, to not be powerless, and in achieving that via patriarchy, he behaved in a way that he thought he should, not in a way befitting of his personality.

aaand this is the basis of why equality and equity are cool and why matriarchy or patriarchy can lead to a lot of oppression for everyone involved. no one wants to lack agency or control over their lives. so, yes, this movie made some pretty good points.

[balkanradfem]

I watched the Barbie movie, it was a really fun, goofy movie! I had a good time watching it. I loved how many women there were on the screen most of the time, and how many interactions they had! I didn't appreciate when any of the kens were on screen, that didn't really accomplish much. But I did like they gay energy between all of them, they were so focused on each other the entire time, they all kept forgetting about Barbies completely, which I approve of.

I liked women having the chance to point out the impossible expectations in the society, even if they couldn't go as far as to name the perpetrators or acknowledge the root of it, but I get that, it was not a political movie, it's supposed to be goofy and fun. I very strongly found myself in Barbie when she steps into the our world and just starts noticing everything that's wrong with it; being stared at with the undertone of violence, construction crew failing to be female, the boards and corporations failing to be lead by women exclusively, that's what I'm feeling every day when I look around! It's wrong, and I'm glad they pointed it out.

One small thing that chafed on me was Barbie genuinely being scared of not having perfect body, being upset at tiny things like flat feet or cellulite, why would that be an issue in a female-dominated society? I would have loved if nobody blinked at it because it made absolutely no threat to their political superiority or their value. It also felt a bit odd when Barbie complimented a lady of being beautiful; at that point Barbie didn't hate the signs of aging or reality on others, but still was scared of them on herself. That part didn't translate well for me.

Wish more Barbies had lesbian energy! Weird Barbie had to cover that all by herself and she did an amazing job, but like, get her a girlfriend, come on.

I also loved Barbies and later, women, stating proudly that they know what they're worth and absolutely refusing to be humble about any of it. I loved how appearance of Barbies basically didn't matter, they were all respectable, smart, achieved, valuable and admirable community members, with agency and free will. In a female-dominated world it really does not matter, it was kinda funny that they had to look like barbies, in a world where there was absolutely no need to look like that.

Would love to watch a movie with this exact plot but everyone looks like normal woman, and there's no ken except those two that kept softly dancing when everyone was fighting, they can stay.

[library-fae]

as a trans guy, watching barbie was a weird experience. i felt disconnected from every character except allan, and even then there was a disconnect

this decision of solely men as the patriarchy and women as the oppressed ignores so much of the nuances of race, gender, sexuality, disability and culture and how that impacts your treatment in society

am i a trans gay disabled man given the same amount of priviledge as a cishet abled white man?

[flightfoot]

So I watched the Barbie movie. It was a lot of fun, very campy, but I'm actually a bit mixed on the messaging. Overall though, I think it's a good movie and I'm betting it'll be a classic.

So something I want to address because I've heard it said before: Barbie is not a kid's movie. It's a movie some kids will enjoy, but it ain't aimed at them, it's aimed at adults in the context of them having been kids in the past. The movie's rated PG-13, it talks about a lot of social issues and has a lot of innuendo which will fly right over children's heads, and the characters you're supposed to relate to are all adults - something which I found very notable, with Gloria in particular.

Gloria's the part of the movie that I enjoyed the most. I'd heard NOTHING about her before watching the movie, despite not really trying to avoid spoilers. The whole patriarchy thing with Ken and its overthrow? Saw a lot about that. But not much about Gloria.

I loved the subversion the movie pulled off, with showing those flashbacks to Barbie of Gloria and her daughter, and making the audience think that it was her DAUGHTER who needed help since well, isn't that normally how these movies go?

Only to have it be Gloria instead, for HER to be the one with anxiety and thoughts of death and whose life wasn't quite working out the way she hoped, who was struggling but still doing her best and felt like, while she was a mom, she was being characterized as MORE than just that.

The campy elements were fun, and I loved how Barbieland functioned like how kids play with the dolls, it was a neat aspect of the worldbuilding.

Just in general the world was really campy and fun, and I think that's what younger children will be able to really enjoy about the movie.

As for the whole patriarchy plotline... eh. That I'm pretty mixed on.

Like, I think it did a nice job laying out the power of representation, how it feels to see people like yourself everywhere in diverse, powerful positions, like seeing Ken's reaction to actually seeing men hold power, be respected, be looked up to. To feel like he was enough, just for who he was.

But the part with the Kens taking over and making everything a patriarchy with all the Barbies being brainwashed and turned into accessories for them... I didn't think that worked as well? Especially with them all just forgetting who they were. It didn't really feel like it was addressing how patriarchy actually worked, it was really shallow.

I did appreciate that the more outcast characters, the ones who never really fit into Barbie Land or Kendom, being immune to the brainwashing, since they were on the outskirts of both.

I also thought the resolution didn't really show how to deal with patriarchy all that well? Like I've seen people on tumblr talking about how the movie showed how patriarchy doesn't even really benefit men, but the Kens honestly appeared to be having a great time until the Barbies purposely pitted them against each other - and even then they ended up coming together. I mean, Ken cries at the end and talks about how he wasn't really interested in Patriarchy that much after finding out that it wasn't about horses and that the fridges were too small and that running things was too much work, but it felt like sour grapes more than anything, there wasn't really lead-up to that. It was very Tell, Don't Show.

That message was ALSO greatly undercut by Barbieland becoming a Matriarchy again with just a little hint of more consideration for the Kens, maybe. So like, is it only supposed to be patriarchy that's harmful to everyone, or is matriarchy just special? Like is matriarchy ALSO something that sucks for the women under it?

I think that while the whole messaging about how patriarchal societies function was muddled, the messaging about being yourself, loving yourself, and you being enough just by virtue of who you are was much stronger. I really liked the whole message about Ken needing to learn who he is without Barbie, that's he's Kenough on his own, that's he doesn't need to be defined by his relationship with her. And Stereotypical Barbie learning that even though she may not be one of the barbies with a particular job, she's still enough, she can still do things, she doesn't need to wait for someone else.

The Ken plotline though is, again, a bit undercut by the ending. Because yeah, the Kens can try to learn who they are, to support each other... but they still just kind of exist in Barbie land. Like, do any of them even have a house? Learning to just be themselves, to support each other, without defining themselves by Barbie is all well and good to say, but when the world is run by Barbies and completely dominated by Barbies' interests and Kens ARE just treated like accessories, it doesn't really help much with the whole "marginalized and disrespected by society" problem.

[agent-calivide]

So- normally this blog is exclusively for IEYTD content- but I think I'm gonna shift to just be my interests, because there is one thing that I'm absolutely feral about and desperately need to scream into the void over.

Discussion surrounding the 2004 film Barbie Princess and the Pauper makes me irrationally angry.

Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper is a surprisingly decent film for being made purely to shill doll, with music that's absolutely gorgeous and a story that's a bit less dark than the original novel it's parodying.

A brief summary for those who don’t know- though if my YouTube recommended’s anything to go by Barbie is taking over the collective hivemind of nostalgia at the moment- Barbie Princess and the Pauper is the story of two young women, Anneliese and Erica, living two completely separate lives, one being a princess and one being a pauper. The twist, however, is that they were completely identical, save for their hair and a shockingly relevant birthmark for only being mentioned twice.

Erica is a poor seamstress who’s worked like a dog by her wicked boss, Madame Carp, trying to pay off her parent’s debts so she can pursue life as a singer. Truly, the best rep for anyone who’s suffered through retail with a shitty boss. Annelise meanwhile, is a princess who spends her days being lavishly spoiled as a princess typically would, but she doesn’t want to be spoiled. On the contrary, she would rather spend her day studying than getting her feet massaged and faffing about. At least- that’s what the song “I am a girl like you” and most of the fandom would have you believe.

In the song “I am a girl like you", we start with Annelise and Erica meeting, Annelise saying that she’s not looking forward to marrying this king and Erica responding with “At least you’re not an indentured servant”. Annelise asks for elaboration, and the song starts. Erica talks about how her mornings start with paying her boss money for a hot breakfast, then having to get up, walk a mile through cold, wet roads just to get the eggs for breakfast and then come back when all she wants to do is sleep in. Once again, relatable. She then looks at Annelise and asks her how her morning starts. Annelise pauses, and is visibly bashful, clearly hesitant to share, but Erica asks her to go on. Then, Annelise tells Erica that if she wants eggs she rings a bell and her maid runs in with breakfast and cookies, and while she eats she gets a foot rub and has live music being played for her, but she doesn’t want to be spoiled and doted on, she wants to be in the library!

If this was the beginning and ending of Annelise’s characterization? I’d get it. If Erica thought Annelise was spoiled, I’d get it. But she doesn’t. On the contrary, Erica hears this rich girl complaining about how she doesn’t like her life but is aware of how good she has it, and chooses to reach out. To say “hey, I can relate to that." “There’s somewhere else we’d rather be, somewhere that’s our, somewhere that dreams come true” If anything, this is a testament to Erica’s empathy, her kindness, and her ability to put herself in someone else’s shoes even when they objectively have it better. Throughout this song Erica will talk about work and Annelise will talk about the lighthearted fun parts of being a princess, but will casually mention how she’s in a position that she doesn’t want. Erica has to walk through the mud every morning for breakfast, Annelise gets it served literally on a silver platter, Erica has to make dresses, Annelise gets to dance around in frilly dresses. But Annelise also mentions that she’d rather be in the library and get to marry who she chooses, not be betrothed for the sake of her kingdom, more on that in a minute.

And time and time again, I see people talk about how Annelise is tone deaf, how she’s complaining about what is, objectively, a better situation. But honestly, I find this stance to be major character assassination, and is one that I’m seeing more and more frequently in regards to Annelise and most other “rich” characters quite frankly. Now, normally I don’t mind opinions like “this character is spoiled and should have more development than just crappy parents” or “it’s bad that they rushed this antagonistic character’s ark so they can have them for the series finale” I think that argument works just fine on the spoiled rich girl archetype, like Pacifica Northwest and Sasha Waybright, but I see a lot of people slapping that sticker onto any character that grew up wealthy regardless if they were an antagonist or not.

I get not liking a character if they’re antagonistic, or relating better to a character who had to work for everything they had. Most of us didn’t grow up as princesses in fancy castles and have been stuck with horrible bosses. I understand why people relate to Erica more, especially as someone who worked at a fabric shop with a crappy manager. But on more than one occasion I’ve seen people take the stance that Annelise’s part in the song “just like you” is insensitive and Erica should’ve shouted at Annelise, reminded her of her privilege, “laid the verbal smackdown on her and show her how hard it was being a peasant” before quickly following it up with a “I was just kidding!” when anyone calls out that Annelise isn’t a one dimensional privileged white girl. And if that was the only context we got of Annelise, I’d understand where it came from.

But if we look at Annelise throughout the course of the whole movie, that’s not true at all, quite the opposite. Our first scene we get of Annelise is her, getting fitted for a wedding gown to marry a man she doesn’t want to be with while a servant is fretting over her schedule for the day. That doesn’t sound like the typical Disney princess who gets to spend her days doing whatever she wants post-coronation. This is an actual princess, with real responsibilities. She has to give speeches, attend meetings, speak with upper class societies, and all she wants, the first thing she says in the introduction song “Free”, is “all my life I’ve always wanted to have one day just for me, nothing to do and for once nowhere I need to be”.

While she is bemoaning to herself, she’s not exactly fighting her scheduler on this either. She doesn’t complain, she doesn’t fight back, no quips or whining or witty banter, she simply accepts that she has to do what is told and dreams of a world where she doesn’t have to do all that. And that’s the big point that I see a lot of people ignoring. She is absolutely busting her ass every day, in and out, doing as told and not getting a second to breathe.

Let’s look at the one day we see that is truly just Annelise in her environment. She is getting a fitting for a wedding dress to marry some king while the royal scheduler tells her she has to give a speech at the Historical Society, then has to rush over to a Horticultural Society Tea, then has Math lessons, Geography lessons, and presumably much more after if we’re basing it off the massive to-do list of parchment we see. As someone who survived the public education system, the thought of giving a speech, going to a high pressure lunch that’s basically a work meeting, then having to do a full day of school after that makes me want to simply wither away and cry. She’s not sitting around, looking pretty and riding horses all day. She has responsibilities, duties, commitments to her mother and her kingdom.

We then cut to Erica, who shares much of the same sentiment. “All my life I’ve always wanted to have one day for myself, not waking up with a pile of work on every shelf” before singing about all the work she has to do as a low-class seamstress. This is what we’d expect from the pauper side of things. Erica works hard to earn a living at a small seamstress shop and wishes she could be doing something more with her life. This is when Madame Carp walks in and we see a glint of Erica’s personality. She’s spunky, she talks back, she calls Madame Carp’s dress shop a debtor’s prison to her face and argues about her parent’s debts. While she is committed to paying back her parent’s debts, she’s not taking it lying down, and that is a fundamental difference between Annelise and Erica.

While Erica will see a problem and call out that it really sucks, Annelise will look at a problem and simply accept that she has to fix it with little more than a comment to herself. Both of these girls are dreaming about freedom, but Erica is fighting for her freedom while to Annelise, it’s little more than a fantasy.

And that includes the freedom to marry whom she chooses. And this is when we see just how far Annelise will go to please her mother, as she looks out and sees the love of her life, her tutor, Julian. Julian is implied to be a good friend who’s been her teacher for a long while, and he feeds her passions. He teaches her, he encourages her to learn, he is one of the few people in her life who feels joy in Annelise’s happiness. Because, truly, when we see the way she interacts with the other servants and maids, she doesn’t have many friends. She doesn’t have anyone to talk to about her grievances, her lack of freedom, any of it. All she has is Julian, and she likely will lose him in the marriage to King Dominick. He's already calling her "your highness" like an authority figure rather and Annelise, his friend, and she hasn't even met the king yet.

She can’t even have her fantasy to marry Julian, as it’s quickly interrupted by her mother cutting her off and saying “I’m so sorry my darling, but as you know, it is vital you marry king Dominick. It is the only way to take care of our people”. And Annelise just accepts this. She just goes “yeah, I know, I have to do this for the kingdom” and pushes her fantasies away. And the very next line is Annelise talking about how she knows she’s lucky, she knows she’s privileged to have all of this nice stuff, this nice life, but is quickly realizing that every present comes with strings. While she may get to have a lavish life, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

We then see Erica, who’s talking about how while she doesn’t have nice things, she has spirit, determination, and she will achieve her dreams no matter what. This song truly establishes just how different the girls are, specifically in regards to their challenges and the obstacles they encounter. Erica, though currently trapped by her parents' debts at Madam Carp’s, has a fire, a will, a determination. She, though in debt as a pauper, isn’t willing to give up on her goal and aspirations of being a professional singer.

Annelise meanwhile, could have resources. She could reach out and get help, or run away with Julian, or do something to get out of her situation, but she refuses to. She can’t get past this mental barrier of duty and responsibility, and even while downright miserable, she won’t complain and won’t voice her needs. But the kicker is truly in the bridge of Free. Erica says “Soon I will forever be free” while Annelise says “Now I fear I’ll never be free” Erica is damn near counting the days, she’s looking at freedom as an inevitability, something that she will be getting soon. Annelise knows and accepts that freedom simply isn’t in the cards for her. In the end, both girls dream of leaving their situations, but they both decide to stay in their respective positions for the good of those around them. They both are committed to their duties, but Erica’s duty will hopefully finish in the near future, while Annelise’s duty is her entire life.

Later in the film, Erica takes Annelise’s place at the castle as Annelise has been kidnapped by Priminger and Julian needs someone to pretend to be the princess so the king doesn’t leave. In “To be a princess” he proceeds to educate Erica on a lot of aspects of being a princess. This pertains but is not limited to: be charming but detached and yet amused, do keep a grip and never crack, always look your best, never get to rest, never show dismay, be there when people call, and never show a thing you feel inside. With lessons like that, it’s no wonder that Annelise feels an absolute commitment to being a princess and never has a day to herself. Everything and everyone around her, including her best friend, says that she’s not allowed to feel, to breathe, to relax. She always has to be alert, aware, she has to have a thought and a response for every single possible comment and retort. And when Erica’s taught all this, it’s painted as overwhelming to learn, but imagine that being every day of your life for every week of every month of every year. That sounds absolutely crushing. Erica at least gets to let off some steam. She snaps at Madame Carp, she jokes with Bertie, she sneaks out to town square and sings. She has outlets away from work that Annelise simply does not have.

Okay, so Annelise is completely committed to her job as a princess, big whoop. She still is filthy stinking rich and royals were married to people they didn’t like all the time, she still is incredibly privileged. Maybe so, however, there’s more to this marriage than just some sort of uniting of kingdoms or prior arrangement. The reason that she’s getting married to Dominick is the kingdom has fallen bankrupt. Why has it gone bankrupt? Has the queen spent an egregious amount of money on castles? Was the king a warmonger who put all their funds into their armies? Does princess Annelise have a penchant for expensive travel and one of a kind crowns?

No.

The kingdom is bankrupt because the queen’s advisor has mined their mines dry of gold in hopes of taking over the kingdom. With no gold coming in, there was nothing to exchange, and the queen had to fix the problem before it started to hurt her people more than it already has. Her solution? The only one. Marry Annelise off to the nearest wealthy suitor and hope that it injects money into their economy.

The royals of this kingdom did nothing wrong, other than letting an evil man have so much access to power, which I don’t think any of us have the right to judge. If anything, the only one who’s privileged and trying to take advantage of it is the royal advisor Preminger. He talks about how he’s scraped by for years to climb the ranks and deserves to be a king, but in that same vein he doesn’t care about the kingdom, the people who are affected by his decisions. He’s so hellbent on becoming king, he doesn’t think about the fact that for all intents and purposes, he’s made it. He’s wealthy, absurdly so unlike Erica, but he’s also not a royal and thus has no duties to do any work he doesn’t feel like it, able to disappear for weeks on end and not have anyone on his back unlike Annelise. He has everything the girls want, but it’s not enough for him. He wants more.

Annelise meanwhile, is very aware of her privilege as a princess and tries to relate to those around her, even if she’s a bit unsuccessful at it. Before Annelise meets King Dominick, Julian decides that, as her friend, he thinks she needs some air. To get out of this stuffy castle and go see the kingdom as a normal girl before she loses it all. So, he gets her a cloak and takes her down to the nearby village, and here we can really see that she’s aware of her privileges when she’s outside of the castle.

As she and Julien walk around the town she asks him which house is his and he says “more of a room really, we couldn’t afford a house.” and immediately Annelise feels guilty, backtracking and starting to apologize for assuming he had a house. She doesn’t look at him in confusion or make fun of him for not having a house to himself, she instantly realizes that she was “in the wrong” to assume and tries to apologize for being presumptuous or assuming he was wealthier than he was. But Julien doesn’t laugh at her, doesn’t scoff, doesn’t tell her to “check her privilege”. He simply gives her a small smile and says “I know”. He assures her that, as his friend, she didn’t cause offense, he’s aware that she simply didn’t know he was in that bad of a financial situation growing up. He simply laughs it off then carries on with the conversation.

And this entire next section is Julien just being the absolute best. He engages with her interests, he gets Annelise her favorite flower, he calls the flower by its (fake) scientific name as he hands it off to her and he knows that it’s her favorite and that she'd appreciate him talking about science with her. He’s simply engaging with her as a mutual, a friend, and shows interest in her- well- interests. She gets to happily indulge in fantasy for a moment, but it’s quickly ripped away as she looks around the market and notices that the kingdom’s bankruptcy is already setting in. Shops are getting boarded up, families are being forced to leave, and she’s reminded that she has to get married to King Dominick for their sake. And she is visibly saddened by this. Not that she has to marry Dominick, but that her people are suffering over something that she and her mother couldn’t have possibly prevented.

Her train of thought gets interrupted by Erica singing in town square, Erica having snuck out from work to sing in the town square for coin, and she is doing a damn good job. We see she earns a decent amount of money for just singing on the road. People gather around Erica and listen to her song, she gives a sense of hope, she is pursuing her own freedom and people are enjoying it. Erica once again gets a reminder that her dream of freedom is not only soon, but achievable. It’s in reach, it’s not a completely absurd notion like Annelise's freedom. This is quickly interrupted by Madame Carp stepping in and yelling at Erica for leaving work, stealing her hard earned money and telling her to get back to work- which on one hand, bitch. On the other, Erica leaving work in the middle of the day to sing in town square is… a choice.

But, regardless, Erica’s left with nothing and is alone on the street, and who steps in to put coins in her cup after Madame Carp’s left? Annelise! She comes over, gives Erica money, and the two talk for a bit. Erica finds out Annelise is the princess and asks why she’s outside the castle, and Annelise says “I’m savoring my first and last taste of freedom before getting married next week… to a total stranger.”

Note that she didn’t say “I’m getting a breather” or “I'm taking a break”. She said “I’m getting my first and last taste of freedom before getting married NEXT. WEEK. She has never, ever, ever gotten a day off, taken a break, gotten to truly rest and get a breather. Us viewers? We get weekends, holidays, a day off on occasion, but Annelise doesn’t. She doesn’t get a moment’s rest because her life is her job. She’s never even been outside the castle walls until this day! Her whole life has been work and has been dedicated to her kingdom, to her mother’s expectations. While yes she is definitely more privileged than Erica, it’s not fun and games. If anything, it’s a 24/7, 365 job, every day of the year. And then this happens. “At least you’re not an indentured servant”

This. This one line. Drives. Me. Insane. And I think this line primes people to take the stance that Annelise is simply spoiled. Just because your arm is broken, doesn’t mean my sprained ankle doesn’t hurt.

This is when “Girl like you” starts, and this is also what most people use as reference to say Annelise is spoiled and tone deaf. Because here’s the thing, Annelise never says she has it bad, she never claims that her life sucks. And when Erica tells her her morning routine, Annelise is visibly apprehensive to share her morning routine, because she is aware that it’s rather tone deaf to say that her life sucks because she’s marrying some guy she doesn’t know after hearing how Erica’s morning starts every. Single. Day. She clearly knows how absurd it is to complain, most likely because she’s friends with Julian, who seems to have also been a pauper before getting hired to tutor Annelise. But Erica presses so she folds and shares her morning routine and actively chooses to complain about something little, almost diminishing her misery in a way. Like “Oh, haha, yeah my morning’s pretty good, but I just want to do what I want to do for once rather than follow my mother’s schedule- but it’s fine! I’m fine!” And that is why it’s so important for Erica to reach out first and say “I’m just like you, you’re just like me”

Because it’s not just about reading science books. It’s Annelise wanting to rest, to pursue her interests, not the interests of her mother or her kingdom. Erica sees right through Annalise’s act and finds solidarity in it. She opens up about how miserable it is working at Madame Carp’s and Annalise, excited that she can actually carry this conversation, happily talks about how she loves Madame Carp’s dresses.

This is the other point I see a lot of people reference, as Erica talks about how abusive Madame Carp is and Annelise cuts in to say she loves the dresses that wicked woman sells. This, honestly, is just a mood to me. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been excited to carry on a conversation, only to immediately put my foot in my mouth as I realize I misread the tone. But once again, rather than Erica getting snobby, going “Did you not hear me? I just called it a penitentiary.” She simply smiles at the naïve princess and tells her she made the dress the princess was wearing.

Annelise proceeds to compliment her work, praise it for its detailing, and the two continue to talk, Erica talking bout how she has little issue with making dresses while Annelise has fun wearing them, and the two actually talk about her getting to “imagine life without the strife of an unfamiliar groom”.

Erica recognizes that Annelise’s situation, though much more comfortable than hers, absolutely sucks. That all of those privileges come at a cost and honestly questions if they’re worth it. And then Annelise proceeds to say “but I’d never let my mother know, I wouldn’t want to disappoint her!”

Once again, Annelise is not only diminishing her needs and putting her happiness aside for her mother’s happiness, but she shows that all of her issues are mental blocks. Social pressures that have been put on her from her life being raised as a princess. She’s not singing on a corner for pennies, but she also isn’t allowed to pursue her own happiness. She’s a tool, not a person.

And after these two talk and bond and get to know each other, what happens? Annelise uses her privilege to help Erica. She tells Erica “hey, I love your singing, I want you to perform at the castle, I’ll send someone to bring you up to the castle and perform”

This offer would be life changing for Erica. Having Erica come up to the castle, perform, and probably get paid quite a handsome sum for it? To a seamstress and street singer like Erica, that could literally get her out of debt and onto stage that much sooner. Annelise, rather than going “oh, she’s poor, I don’t want to be seen with her” like a stereotypical rich girl archetype says “Come, sing for us, you’re talented and I want to share your gift with others”. And Erica is rightfully ecstatic at that offer, and is over the moon when Annelise says she’ll send someone to get her.

Later, due to plot purposes, Annelise and Erica get mixed up, Anneilse stuck in the streets and Erica up in the castle. Annelise, in a moment of desperation, goes to Madame Carp’s dress emporium for shelter. The problem? Madame Carp thinks Annelise is Erica, and locks her in the back of the shop with the other seamstress, Bertie. While Bertie does think it’s Erica at first, Annelise tells Bertie the whole story (presumably) and proceeds to do exactly as instructed. She doesn’t throw a fit or refuse to help, she sits down, grabs a needle, and gets to work. Sloppy work, but work nonetheless. Even when Bertie tells Annelise that she doesn’t have to work on the dresses, she insists on helping. She doesn’t once say “I’m a princess, I shouldn’t be doing this” she simply accepts that this is her work now and adds it onto her plate. Even when she’s not in the castle, she thinks it’s her job to take on work that she’s assigned, and while it’s painted as a moment of empathy and kindness, Annelise is shown to put her desires as the very last thing to prioritize.

Eventually she’s released from Madam Carp’s by Preminger and he immediately locks her in a mine shaft and tries to murder her and Julian. Yes, he’s gone full blown Disney villain and locks the two away in a mineshaft then causes a cave in. Annelise and Julian are locked in a shaft in a caved in mine. Can I say this one more time: Annelise and Julian are buried alive in a m i n e. Most people in this situation would be panicking, crying, generally reacting distressed, we can see Julian sure as hell is, as he grabs a pick and immediately tries to dig himself and Annelise out. What is Annelise doing during all of this? Staying calm, comforting Julian, and finding her kingdom’s solution to bankruptcy.

Say what you will about how “it’s just a movie” but I know that were I trapped in a caved in mine, my mind would not be on how to fix a problem that looked like it wasn’t gonna be my issue very, very soon. But not only does Annelise use the rock as a touching analogy to make Julian feel better about himself, she keeps the crystals in mind and when they escape the mine collapse- due to cat shenaniganry- and informs her mother of them to solve the kingdom’s gold issues.

Here, Annelise once again is solving a problem that she didn’t even cause to get her happily ever after. She is truly doing all of the work on this school project, and people are digging at how she was raised in a fancy castle rather than acknowledging that Annelise did a lot of hard work. One video I saw was someone talking about how if they were Erika they would’ve stayed in Annelise’s position to “earn that bag” and make some actual changes to improve the kingdom, but Annelise does make changes to help the kingdom!

She finds a new export, saves her kingdom’s market from completely crashing, helps revitalize the economy, and because of all of that people can move back home and re-open their shops! We don’t know much about how this kingdom is run, but we do know that the royalty feel a duty to help their people, to do what is best for the masses regardless of how much they don’t want to do it. This isn’t like the modern day one percent where people tear down historical sites to make room for their mega yachts. The reason Annelise and the Queen are rich is they are the government. They are a monarchy. We don’t see any massive balls or galas like we do in Island Princess or Cinderella, they’re not just throwing money around for the amusement of it.

They’re bankrupt because their mines ran dry, and they managed to save their kingdom by finding a new export. “Why don’t they use their own money to help people if they’re so fabulously wealthy?” While that idea could be a good bandaid, eventually that money would also run out and then not only would the kingdom be bankrupt, but there’d be no incentive for any nearby kingdoms to marry Annelise because she’d be a poor princess to a broke kingdom that would offer effectively no benefits to any allyship. The best, and most to the point plan that the queen comes up with is to marry her daughter off so her kingdom would get an injection of money as soon as possible, because they effectively had no other solutions. They didn’t know about the crystal mines, and they didn’t know Preminger was fabulously wealthy. The only solution was to make themselves look good, like a viable, healthy(ish) kingdom and hope that Dominick would accept the proposal and save their kingdom.

And that leads me to Dominick. Dominick, unlike Annelise, doesn’t use his privilege to help anyone other than himself and Erica. And even then, that privilege mostly amounts to him getting to do what he wants. While Annelise simply accepts that she has to marry this king, Dominick goes out of his way to disguise himself as a page boy so he could get to know Annelise before agreeing to anything. Dominick preemptively gives himself an out and chooses to test Annelise, while Annelise has to take the hand she’s given and not complain. In all of this, Annelise isn’t the one with a choice, ever. Her mother chooses to marry her off, her mother chooses king Dominick, Dominick chooses to disguise himself, and then Preminger chooses to kidnap her so she can’t marry Dominick. She has no agency in her life.

The only reason Dominick reveals himself to Erica (who is pretending to be Annelise at the moment so the marriage to save the kingdom doesn’t get called off) is because he thinks Annelise ran away because she didn’t want to marry a stranger. But he still is the one with the agency, and he only reveals his true self when he thinks that Annelise acted on her own behalf.

So Annelies isn’t allowed to have her own agency, but is spoiled because she’s rich, meanwhile Dominick is a king who practices his own agency regularly throughout the movie and he is rarely if ever criticized for it. He gets to meet Erica, fall in love with her, he gets to choose her, and when Erica is revealed to be a pauper and thrown in the dungeon he gets to use a suit of armor to sneak in and get her out of the prison safely. While I don’t think he got permission to break her out, he still was allowed to use his resources to go back to Annelise’s castle and get a suit of armor to sneak into the dungeon and break Erica out.

No one else in this film would’ve had access to resources like that other than maybe Annelise, and yet I don’t see anyone saying that Erica should check King Dominick’s privilege and lecture him on how he was lucky that he was allowed to get have the money to be a king and access to a suit of armor to sneak into the dungeons and save her from probably a death sentence. In this situation, Dominick is purely using his privileges for himself. Yes, he saves Erica, but at this point he’s also in love with her, and he’s saving her not just because she’s a good person, but because he’s fallen in love with her and doesn’t want to lose her.

When she’s accused of killing Annelise, he is distraught. He doesn’t believe it, he can’t fathom that this sweet young lady that he’s spent the week with would do something so horrid. That is why he saves her. Not because of some sense of justice, it’s because he’s smitten with her. Yes, he uses his privilege to help someone in a worse position than him, but according to people who are criticizing Annelise, that’s not enough. Especially when it’s a decision made out of self interest.

At the end of the film, Annelise and Dominick both help Erica with her situation. The royal family, having found out that Madame Carp’s business is corrupt at best, stops purchasing from her and she goes out of business. I can already hear people saying “The family shouldn’t have been buying dresses from Madame Carp in the first place! She’s vindictive and cruel to her workers!” and to that I raise you: How many beauty influencers and brands these days do something sketchy, and it’s later revealed that they were a horrible person or a bad corporation?

My first thought, as someone who wears alternative fashion, is DollsKill. I can admit that I’ve purchased things off of their website before I found out how unethical they are. Should I have done more research? Yes. And I don’t shop with them any more because of it. But if I, and many other people, were able to make that mistake in the year of 2023 with access to infinite information on the internet, then it’s easy to see how someone in the 1700’s could’ve made the same folly.

Especially since Madame Carp doesn’t exactly go around bragging that she abuses her seamstresses. We know that Annelise never met Madame Carp before the film, as Madame Carp claims she’s the princess’s “close personal friend” while actively calling Annelise "Erica" and refusing to believe it’s actually the princess in her boutique. Realistically, Annelise and the queen likely don’t even go shopping, they probably have a servant go into the market, buy a few gowns for upcoming events, and only know the gowns by their brands.

I do wonder what happened to Bertie after all of this, but she seems pretty happy that Madame Carp has to leave, so perhaps she has a backup plan or some sort of safety net. Maybe she was also in debt to Madame Carp and was just looking forward to paying off her debts before starting her own dress emporium, we don’t really know. Either way, the dress shop closing gives Erica the freedom to pursue her music career that she was being held back from and she does so. But that still leaves our boy Dominick. He talks to Erica, tries to convince her to stay with him, but she tells him that her dream is to travel and sing. He does eventually acquiesce and gives her an engagement ring, telling her that it was for her anyways, and that it wasn’t a promise nor pressure, simply a gift. In the end, after performing for a long while, Erica decides that she wants to be with Dominick and travels to his kingdom to marry him.

I think that Annelise and Dominick are both good people for being Monarchs that put the interest of those around them before themselves. But for some reason, Annelise is held to a much higher standard than Dominick, even when she makes very human mistakes. They both are raised as royalty, King Dominick likely even more so as he’s king of a wealthy kingdom, but he is never put under the same scrutiny as Annelise. Sure, he never claims to relate to Julian, but Annelise never claimed to relate to Erica until she suggested it.

And Annelise’s privileges aren’t always a good thing. I feel like people neglect the whole section of the story where she was kidnapped and held prisoner because of her mother’s advisor. Not figuratively, literally. Taken from her home and locked in a random cabin because Preminger wanted to be king and figured that kidnapping her was the wisest choice rather than just advising the queen to not marry her off. Annelise is actively put in danger and harm’s way because of her status.

Honestly, Annelise really gets the shaft, full pun intended, in the second half of the film, a lot of time being spent on Erica and King Dominick’s relationship. Despite being The Princess and the Pauper, Annelise’s story is really the B plot to Erica’s love story. This makes sense, after all, she spends a lot of time just kidnapped and locked in various rooms, but in a weird way this just shows yet again that she has no autonomy even in her own story. And yet, she’s the one who’s scorned for being spoiled.

“Well, she is spoiled. She had a roof over her head and warm food and we see how Erika is baffled at the spoils when she’s a princess” But I'm gonna say something that's likely gonna get the pitchforks out: Money doesn't buy happiness. Before anyone hits me with a “I’d rather cry in a bugatti than a gutter”, let me explain.

The phrase “money can’t buy happiness” has two very different interpretations, and I find that both sides refuse to listen to the other even though both have valid arguments. There’s the stance that it can buy happiness, as money provides all sorts of things. On the surface, it’s shallow things, jewelry, gaming consoles, toys, fashion, knick knacks and trinkets that provide short term serotonin by buying something that you really want. But dig a bit deeper, and it gives more than that. Money is stability, shelter, food, water. It’s hard to be happy if you can’t have those things. To further elaborate, if you’re in a bad enough position that you can’t afford to heat your home, or buy a meal, or get clean drinking water, being able to afford that, either by your own means or by having someone else get it for you, is something that can’t be put into a monetary value- even if it literally is given a price. Getting to have access to water, shelter, knowing that you’ll have food in the morning, that’s something that you likely won’t understand the value of if you’ve always had it. Money may not buy literal happiness, but it provides security, and that security can lead to happiness.

Then there’s the argument that it can’t buy happiness, and people who have this opinion usually aren’t wondering where their next meal will be coming from or if they can pay rent this month. This stance is usually painted as privileged and spoiled because “well, you can say that because you’ve never had to worry about paying to survive”, but in my experience it’s quite the contrary. Most people I’ve met who say “money can’t buy happiness” usually include a caveat that if someone is in a position where they can’t afford food or shelter then of course money buys happiness. Stability is the foundation of comfort and comfort leads to happiness. No one is saying that someone’s ridiculous for being happy they can afford to live. And if you have seen that stance, then I'm sorry humans just suck.

Rather, “money can’t buy happiness” means that material objects cannot replace emotional intimacy or support. Surface level items have short-term pleasure that cannot be sustainable as the happiness lasts less and less with each material object. And this feeling of dissatisfaction only increases the more things you get. This is especially true when it comes to gifts. While gift giving is a valid love language, the whole point of it is giving or receiving items that have sentimental value more than monetary value. A pebble that’s their favorite color means way more than a PS5 when they exclusively use Nintendo products.

But when you don’t have a support system, healthy relationships, and the people you do have around you try to replace emotional intimacy with shallow gifts that don’t amount to anything, you find yourself downright miserable. Most people that I’ve met that have the stance that money can’t buy happiness tend to reach that conclusion after a guardian figure causes intense emotional distress or neglect then tries to purchase love with a shallow but expensive gift. It’s not that money can’t provide you with things that make you happy, it’s that money can’t provide emotional intimacy or a genuine support system.

If anything, Princess and the Pauper is the perfect allegory for this phrase, as Erica, though poor and struggling to get by, has emotional support in Bertie, her singing, her dreams. But, she doesn’t have access to security, stability, physical comforts, and is blocked from pursuing her goals because of external factors. Annelise meanwhile, is in a position of comfort and stability, but doesn’t have any emotional support nor outlets, her only friend being her teacher and her mother having a strict regime for her to follow regardless of her desires while being surrounded by luxurious gifts from other royalty that are ultimately empty gestures.

All of this to say, while Annelise is a princess who lives with the privileges of being a rich, upper class girl with access to many things that Erica could only dream of, her life isn’t one of luxury and spoils. She doesn’t get to indulge in her pleasures and can only appreciate things on a surface level because that is all she has time for. I don’t think most of the people who criticize Annelise could actually handle her schedule every day of every month of every year. She’s not some Disney princess who’s only job is to be pretty and interesting for the male love interest, she has duty. Responsibility. A full time job that dictates her sleep schedule.

She’s not unaware of her privileges and if anything is always using them to help everyone else, and at the end of the film she still doesn’t get that freedom that she’s searching for. She invites a pauper to sing at the castle, she tries to find solutions to the kingdom’s bankruptcy for her people, she goes out of her way to help when she can, and she’s not completely insensitive to the struggles of her friends. Even when she’s supposed to be taking a break, or is in a dire situation, she’s still constantly thinking of how to help others first.

Yes, she gets to marry Julian, but she’s still a princess and still likely follows her royal schedule to a T. While Erica got to learn what it’s like to be a princess, got to pursue her music, and got to marry King Dominick, becoming a princess herself, Annelise’s conclusion is ultimately that she managed to solve the kingdom’s bankruptcy so she could marry whom she chooses and then proceeds to fall back into the same routine of fixing everything for everyone else. She only gets freedom in one aspect, and we never see her actually get a day to herself, a day to relax. The only “relaxation” we see happening is with Erica while she spends time with Dominick, and that week likely was going to be Annelise’s only break before the marriage. So even after saving the day, Annelise still doesn’t get what she wants, and yet supposedly she’s spoiled rotten.

Truly, she does do what she says in the first song Free. “I’ll remain forever royal… Duty means doing the things your heart may well regret.” Erica never actually repays her parent’s debts, Madame Carp goes out of business and Erica gets let off the hook probably because she has two very powerful royals on her side. And this once again is Annelise using her privileges to help those who don't have the same as her by choosing to not support a business that is bad for its workers.

Erica gets released from her servitude early and then gets to chase after her dreams, but Annelise only gets to marry Julian after putting in the work to solve the bankruptcy so she doesn’t have to marry some other rich king that isn’t the one who fell for her best friend.

[catastrophicgay]

!!! barbie spoilers !!!

thinking about how ken is constantly shown gazing yearningly at or being kissed by men and even having weird tension with his ken nemesis as a representation of how hypermasculinity often has such homoerotic undertones like

[azural83]

This moment is so important

The entire song anneliese and erika were talking about their problems and how much they dream of freedom,away from their responsibilities and this is their final decision

They both understand their situation and most importantly how they can't just walk away,no matter how much they want to do so

Anneliese is aware that despite everything she and her kingdom receive will be great,she loves someone else but knows that as a princess her people come first. She'll marry king Dominic to save her Kingdom at the cost of her own happiness

Erika knows that she can't just leave. It doesn't matter how terrible and unfair her life is,she's forced to work for long years as she barely gets anything in return. But she still remains hopeful

Both girls are fully aware that weather they like it or not,their current duty comes first,they bravely face it and don't try to run away from it,unlike so many other movies they didn't use the typical trope of "always be yourself and don't give a shit what the others say" this movie showed how sometimes we need to make huge sacrifices and I think that's really admirable

[pastelicide]

⛔️//BARBIE SPOLIERS//⛔️ (btw if y’all don’t wanna see spoilers of the film I highly recommend to mute Barbie so your tl is not invaded)

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Idk if this is an unpopular opinion but I kinda like how Barbie shows some grace to the Kens/men in the film instead of completely demonizing them for following patriarchy? They didn’t go about it perfectly though so this is my semi-analysis to work out my feelings.

Basically, Kens were treated lesser than Barbies, and Barbie was not kind towards Ken. Obviously, he’s not owed nor entitled to Barbie’s attention at all times of the day, or her affection, and it’s understandable why she didn’t find it comfortable to be around him. However, Barbie did treat Ken as her accessory, and that dynamic resulted in Ken relying on her as his sole purpose (which reflects in Barbie and Ken marketing in the real world). His arc was to figure out that it’s okay to be alone because he is Kenough as is. Ken doesn’t need Barbie, and Barbie doesn’t need Ken. They are enough as individuals instead of a doll and her male accessory.

Another unique take on patriarchy hurting men is how the Barbie CEO (the guy Will Ferrell plays) is depicted. He’s obviously a greedy buisnessman, but unlike the other guys in office, he actually has a passion for Barbie, even if misguided. He’s the only man to wear pink accessories in the real world and talks about Barbieland like it’s a real alternate universe, and actually cares about what little girls look up to. He also admits at the end that he always wanted to be comfortable enough to want to tickle and be tickled by other men in a platonic manner. To me at least, he reminds me of boys who had an interest in playing with dolls but were denied it because it wasn’t “manly” and it was “gay”.

Finally, the biggest thing that stuck out was Allan and how he was the only guy to not fall for patriarchy. On my first viewing I did wonder why Allan specifically disliked the way Kens were handling things but it stuck out that Allan is Allan. He doesn’t have identity issues bc he’s not a Ken. He never has to question his worth bc his story doesn’t involve being tied to Barbie (instead being considered in a marriage with Midge/a gay counterpart to Ken). His doll line was discontinued and for the most part was it’s own thing. Narratively, it makes sense why he would dislike how the Kens were beginning to run things.

The way Ken’s turn to being an “antagonist” was fueled by his desire to be accepted by Barbie romantically (or even platonically) and not because he genuinely believed that women are lesser. It reminds me of boys who never worried about girls and women until men in higher positions (podcast dudes, “alpha males” etc.) tell them that they should view women as lesser. Then, these boys change, and begin to categorize women which in turn, influences them to view women as lesser. They may have been good guys, but unfortunately, it’s up to them to find out who they really are and if they still remain misogynists, then they’re no longer good.

Really hoping this film inspires guys that women isn’t an end goal and that they are good enough as is. They don’t need to base their self worth on anything except themselves and only then, they will begin to respect women bc they too, are also victims of patriarchy.

With that said, the one legit criticism I have (not including minor nitpicks) is that Ken should have apologized to Barbie like she did to him. Ken obviously was hurting, but he raided her house and tried to change the constitution in favor of Kens while hurting the Barbies. And again, it was all for her validation. He still hurt Barbie by doing something that was horrible to her and never said sorry once. I do feel Barbie should have apologized regardless, but Ken should’ve also said something because lashing out is different than changing Barbieland into his own thing. I get it was a subtle criticism that total matriarchy wasn’t the move either, but Ken still damaged Barbie’s things and changed her friends because he felt hurt.

Anyways, this movie is great and a 10/10. Greta Gerwig is up there as one of my favorite directors.

{TL;DR}: Barbie is a pretty great view on how patriarchy hurts both men and women by trying to impose impossible standards on both genders. While it does have some problems, it does criticize both patriarchy and, more subtly, matriarchy while promoting equality because we are all equal and we are Kenough. Also it’s a great film.

[booksandpaperss]

“but Barbie was literally a 2 hour ad which is hypocritical bc of how the movie insults consumerism and capitalism but in and of itself the movie and marketing-“ yeah god himself could not comprehend how little of a shit I give abt that and have given abt that actually. it may have been an ad but it was also a love letter to little girls and young women and older women who have felt the pressure and pain of the patriarchy and Barbie herself and even little boys and all the men who want to be themselves but don’t know how and the beauty of humanity despite how horrible the world can be. so yeah I don’t care that it was also an ad. ❤️

[carboninkwash]

Mini rant cuz I feel violent

(Heavy Spoilers for Barbie) I don't get people who didn't like the ending of the barbie movie because it "went back to Barbieland being all Barbie." That's not what happened. Barbieland keeps a lot of elements of Kendom (horse decour, altered colors) because things didn't go back to "normal." The Barbies learned a lot about the difficulties of traditional femininity, and the Kens learned a lot about the difficulties of traditional masculinity. Two very similar lessons. Barbieland reflects that at the end of the movie by mixing elements from both "gendered" worlds. Neither was the correct answer. This was further enforced by the GNC dolls being invited into the proper community. In this essay I will...

[penguicorns-are-cool]

had a discussion in school about paradise lost and my teacher brought up that Barbie and Paradise Lost have some similarities

barbieland is eden and real world is real world, in barbieland, everyone lives in a really idealistic paradise where they don't even have enough information to know that they're doing anything wrong

weird house is the tree of life/knowledge cause it's like the one thing in barbieland that anyone in barbieland thinks is bad

weird barbie herself is also the tree of knowledge because she just knows everything

weird barbie is also satan in this analogy because she gives barbie the birkenstock and convinces her to go to real world

the birkenstock is the fruit

ruth handler is god (main difference here is that ruth never told anyone that weird barbie is bad they decided that on their own because ruth doesn't try to control her creation like that)

the board of mattel are the angels trying to stop barbie from leaving eden

a big theme is how just gaining knoweledge gives barbie a choice to choose barbieland or real world and she chooses real world. paradise lost has the theme of having knoweledge allows you to have choice between good and evil which is what makes the real world different from paradise

also another reading through ken. he is eve and satan I will explain eve first

ken is tempted by either the century club or horses to learn about patriarchy

century club and/or horses are satan here

patriarchy books are the fruit

ken gaining knowledge of patriarchy leads him to have his first real choices where at first he chooses objectively bad things like establishing patriarchy in barbieland and brainwashing all the barbies, but later on he can also choose to discover who he really is

now the satan reading

ken feels like a fallen angel / fallen ken because he can't even get the attention of Barbie (she was having an existential crisis and didn't owe him anything and did nothing wrong but that's irrelevent to Ken's feelings)

in this reading Barbie is god and ken, like satan, is a fallen angel because of the following events which he did because he was jealous of whatever Barbie paid attention to

ken learning about patriarchy gives him the knowledge of a big bad thing to tempt other kens to do

ken tempts other angels (kens) to help him and takes over heaven (barbieland) by establishing patriarchy

god (sterotypical barbie) comes back and like wtf and, with the help of other angels (barbies) takes back heaven and rejects satan (patriarchy version of ken)

difference here though is that barbie is much more merciful than god and rather than throwing all the kens in what is essentially eternity torture jail, they get another chance and she gives ken guidance

so like, garden of eden barbie

yeah

[ambrosiaandart]

Barbie and neon genesis evangelion

Why do the Barbie movie and evangelion give me the same existential dread?

probably because both made me reflect on what the human condition really means or more specifically what does it mean to be human.

Barbie and rei both are technically not human, Barbie of course being a doll and rei being just one of many. But although both start off quote unquote “perfect” (rei not feeling emotions and Barbie just being happy) they grow to feel. Barbie cries and rei begins to feel, both causing those around them to panic. Asuka confronting rei in the elevator scene and all of the other Barbie’s screaming about flat feet both exemplify this sort of human growth, they aren’t just what they were made for anymore.

And to me, I think that’s what being human is…growing to be more than what you were made for. We all start off as extensions of our parents, our upbringings, our environment. But then we grow up.

We make friends, form our own opinions, and choose for ourselves the environment in which we settle. But we can always grow, that’s what is special about humanity.

to me? That’s the very thing that makes us human.

[omni--unicorn]

Just wondering what our thoughts are because I’ve seen a LOT of discourse.

[batfamfucker]

What About The Kens?

I'm already seeing guys complain about the Barbie movie end, how they wanted Kens to be equal in Barbieland but were only given a small part on the Cabinet.

That's the point.

You're meant to feel bad for the Kens. Believe me, women aren't partying over the 'Returns to Matriarch' ending. Some will be, but the ones who also clocked the meaning behind it won't. Most women will also feel bad for Kens. Because it's an exact parallel to how women are treated in reality.

Men, you're meant to be upset. You're meant to question it. Because you're meant to feel it, and feel what that is like, so you can finally understand women. You're upset at seeing it in a movie, now imagine living it in reality. That's being a woman.

Kens were shit on so you could feel what it was like for women this entire time. Kens were being used as a placement so you could see yourself in a woman's shoes. A world dominated by the opposite sex. When Ken leaves, and sees male presidents (All men) for the first time, men being doctors and lawyers, etc, realising he is more than just a prop for Barbie, that was on purpose. Because that is the feeling that Barbie gave to women. It's why you cheer for him at first before he goes a little overboard.

It's exactly why the real world was an exaggerated Partriarchy and Barbieland an exaggerated Matriarchy. Neither wins. Neither is equal. None of them change for the better. It's why you should want women in the real world to be respected, and Kens in Barbieland to be respected.

The thing is, women also didn't win. Not in the real world. In Barbieland, yes, but not anywhere else. The real world didn't change. But you didn't notice, did you? That Gloria (The mother that helped Barbie) also didn't get a position on the Mattel board? It was still all men? Her idea was ignored until it made a profit, and the men will likely get the credit? She'll still just be the receptionist? The women representing the real world didn't get anymore opportunities, neither did the men in Barbieland.

I was hoping that Gloria would be offered a position on the board, and that the Barbie Cabinet would introduce another entire Cabinet to represent the Kens, but neither happened. They're complete mirrors.

But which one did you actually notice? Which did you actually care about? Now tell me again the ending was unfair. Because it was. For both parties. That's the point.

The difference is, Barbieland is fictional. You will walk out of the theatre with the reassurance that at least it's not real. Women won't. Women can't. Companies not giving women equal opportunities or voices isn't fictional, and that was just one example. There are no women presidents (USA at least) for us to go look at in the real world. We don't have somewhere to go to realise it could be different for us like Ken did. Barbie and make believe is all we had when we were kids, or even now.

You're supposed to be mad, just not at the movie.