Guest Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 ‘Barbie’ Has Women Grappling With Its Mixed Empowerment Messages - TheWrap THEWRAP.COM Women, particularly those from marginalized groups, are struggling with how Greta Gerwig's blockbuster delivers a feminist sermon. Quote Among the most strident discourses on social media, women and others from marginalized groups prefaced their comments with statements akin to “It’s flawed, but I liked it” or suggested they were afraid to share any opinion perceived as critical. “I am a little bewildered,” TheWrap editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman tweeted on Sunday. “The power of ‘Barbie’ and success of the movie is undeniable. And yet women who I talk to said they found the movie heavy-handed, ‘preachy’ (heard that a lot) [and] ‘good’ but not particularly entertaining. All respect to Greta, [because] crazy box office, but…” I have heard this reaction from women in real life more than anything else. I actually think I’ve heard more men speak very positively about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 10 hours ago, Remarkableriots said: lol cmon why would anyone need to see or hear about this ever 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatoneshere Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Again, general audiences are pretty stupid. People on this board told me Nope's subtext and themes were obvious a ways back. I said that Jordan Peele made everything "obvious" to people like us because we're "in the know", to general audiences it's not "obvious" and the "heavy-handed" messaging is the only way to break through to the people who need to hear the message most. Same with Barbie. For those who are already feminists, already know better, etc. of course the movie's themes seem heavy handed, the message isn't for them, but any and all who still don't get it. I assume the film Nope is much more eye opening to milquetoast Joe Schmo white guy than a black guy who knows all about racism in the film industry, etc. I'm not saying a film can't be criticized for being heavy-handed, but that's like saying an "anti-war" war movie is "heavy-handed" in its anti-war themes. It might be, but most of humanity is still into wars and killing however many centuries later, so seems like we still need heavy-handed anti-war messaging movies since everyone still doesn't seem to get it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 1 hour ago, Greatoneshere said: Again, general audiences are pretty stupid. People on this board told me Nope's subtext and themes were obvious a ways back. I said that Jordan Peele made everything "obvious" to people like us because we're "in the know", to general audiences it's not "obvious" and the "heavy-handed" messaging is the only way to break through to the people who need to hear the message most. Same with Barbie. For those who are already feminists, already know better, etc. of course the movie's themes seem heavy handed, the message isn't for them, but any and all who still don't get it. I assume the film Nope is much more eye opening to milquetoast Joe Schmo white guy than a black guy who knows all about racism in the film industry, etc. I'm not saying a film can't be criticized for being heavy-handed, but that's like saying an "anti-war" war movie is "heavy-handed" in its anti-war themes. It might be, but most of humanity is still into wars and killing however many centuries later, so seems like we still needed heavy-handed anti-war messaging movies since everyone still doesn't seem to get it. The “heavy handed” critique is only half of it. The more important concern is that it just wasn’t very entertaining to them. Seeing some of the unpublished longer form responses to Posttrak and Cinemascore, it would seem that a common view amongst women is they liked the movie, they are glad for some of the messaging, and also weren’t nearly as entertained as they anticipated. It would appear women in the mid 20s to mid 30s probably had the most positive reaction overall to the film, which I don’t find too terribly surprising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Camp is intentionally not subtle but can be off-putting to those who haven’t acquired the taste yet. All my queer girl friends loved it. At the same time, there seems to be a lot going over people’s heads. People are making complaints about Barbieland being “too *fill in the blank*”, but that’s the whole point of the movie. For example there are no elderly in Barbieland because Matel would never sign off on an elderly Barbie doll. The diversity in Barbieland is as diverse as the type of dolls that Matel is willing to sign off on. When Barbie goes to the real world she sits on a park bench as she looks around and sees people that are not represented in Barbieland, including a gay couple of color. She smiles as realizes the beauty that is found in real, actual people. She then turns to an elderly woman and tells her she’s beautiful. It’s not just a moving scene, it’s also criticizing Matel by showing all the diversity in the real world that Barbieland could never contain. Again, depiction is not endorsement, and the movie is never a full endorsement of Barbieland. It does recognize the superficial appeal of this fantasy, but at the end of the day sides with reality. Spoiler Even Barbie herself chooses to reject Barbieland in favor of the real world. It’s not supposed to be a place you’d actually wanna live in. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 By the way, people are totally allowed to not like camp, it’s not for everyone. I think this movie has more of a gay sensibility than mainstream audiences are used to so those who’ve never been to a screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show may not be on its wavelength. I saw this movie this movie in two theaters in two parts of town. First was in the suburbs outside the city area of Jax, and second was in a more hip and queer friendly district. It received good reactions from both screenings, but it absolutely slayed in the second theater. People every clapped and cheered after the monologue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 2 hours ago, sblfilms said: It would appear women in the mid 20s to mid 30s probably had the most positive reaction overall to the film, which I don’t find too terribly surprising. Well I just turned 35 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 i can see older people not really digging it but 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 I love that Greta Gerwig is unapologetically a millennial. There’s a Mathbox 20 singalong and a Pavement joke. She doesn’t give a fuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 4 hours ago, sblfilms said: ‘Barbie’ Has Women Grappling With Its Mixed Empowerment Messages - TheWrap THEWRAP.COM Women, particularly those from marginalized groups, are struggling with how Greta Gerwig's blockbuster delivers a feminist sermon. I have heard this reaction from women in real life more than anything else. I actually think I’ve heard more men speak very positively about it. Barbie is already a big enough hit that some blowback is inevitable, but I have to say that the criticisms in this article feel pretty weak. Yeah, it's not a feminist masterclass, and sure some of the messaging is simplistic, but I don't think that's a great rubric for judging this film. It's like they're criticizing the reputation of the film more than the film itself. When you think about the film in the context what it could have been and look at what we got, I think it's a very solid win. This isn't a film that needed to bring up feminism or the patriarchy. It could easily have been a purely commercial toy sales pitch that challenged no one and offered nothing. Arguing if the feminism is sufficient in a blockbuster Barbie movie feels like you're peering a bit too deeply into the dental work of this particular gift horse. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Yeah it’s not really newsworthy that some liked it but not loved it like everyone else. Not everyone loved Last Jedi either but it still earned an A cinamacore which is the same as Barbie. Why hold a comedy based on a toy to a higher standard than a Star Wars movie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 Also when it says women from marginalized groups are critical of the movie are they intentionally leaving out queer and trans women because queer and trans women are in love with this movie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 And of course I 100% expected that there was gonna those who try to downplay the success of a movie that features a trans Barbie. The backlash was inevitable, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricofoley Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 I saw this last night. I would've completely excised everything with the Mattel executives. The best parts of the movie are how much Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are completely committing to the bit and how fully realized the design of Barbie World was. I don't think the movie needed Will Farrel doing his usual Will Farrel stuff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 Amazing! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaysWho? Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 22 hours ago, Ricofoley said: I saw this last night. I would've completely excised everything with the Mattel executives. The best parts of the movie are how much Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are completely committing to the bit and how fully realized the design of Barbie World was. I don't think the movie needed Will Farrel doing his usual Will Farrel stuff I came away thinking something similar. I did enjoy a few of their scenes, and nothing they did was bad, but... if anything, just have them up until the gag of not being able to get past the turnstile and that's it. I'm sure if I looked, you'd have to do a bit more than that to make it work, but I'm not sure how much they were needed for the rest of the movie. Could have cut the runtime down a little, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 I know a lot of women who cried during this movie, myself included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoberChef Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 My sister saw it with their friends and then took me out to see it. The only time to me it really felt preachy was in the moment of the mother’s rant about the dichotomy of being a female, but then it immediately served to progress the plot. So after the fact it didn’t feel out of place. I could see the movie being labeled “heavy handed”, but to me that felt in character for this movie. Ken constantly using the word “patriarchy” was like when you see a kid learn a new big word that describes a whole idea and they just keep using it everywhere. overall I enjoyed the movie. I can suspect a person’s enjoyment of the movie will vary based on how comfortable they are seeing media that holds a mirror up to the world and parts of society in a less than flattering, accurate albeit humorous manner. Maybe people weren’t expecting that and thought it would just be a shallow and superficial movie about a toy doll in a fish out of water story, ending up in the real world. And while that was there that’s not all it was. I wouldn’t call all the writing “clever”, but I did find quite a bit of it funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted August 2, 2023 Share Posted August 2, 2023 On 7/28/2023 at 4:00 PM, Kamusha said: Yeah it’s not really newsworthy that some liked it but not loved it like everyone else. Not everyone loved Last Jedi either but it still earned an A cinamacore which is the same as Barbie. Why hold a comedy based on a toy to a higher standard than a Star Wars movie? dissenters are always the ones with the loudest voices. Odds are if you type into Google “last Jedi box office” the second or so result will be “last Jedi box office failure”, because chuds shout about it failing from the mountaintops. And maybe Star Wars is too big to flop, but Solo only got $393M in the box office, while LJ did $1.3B. $1.3B generally doesn’t happen if every hates a movie, and if $1.3B is a failure it’s one studios would love to suffer repeatedly. DC has never had a failure that good. Dark Knight topped just a hair over $1B and nothing else has come close since, for good reason. Meanwhile Barbie is at an estimated $775M globally with only a 32% drop off in ticket sales from the first week. Yeah, safe to say more people like it than don’t, and I won’t be at all surprised to see that global ticket sales go over $1B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamusha Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 Joe Rogan explains why backlash to Barbie movie is ‘appalling’ - Dexerto WWW.DEXERTO.COM Joe Rogan discussed the Barbie movie backlash with Post Malone during his podcast, stating he was “appalled” by the outrage. Looks like Barbie has a fan in… Joe Rogan?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 ‘Barbie’ Surpasses ‘The Dark Knight’ as Warner Bros.’ Highest-Grossing Domestic Release in History VARIETY.COM "Barbie" has overtaken Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero epic "The Dark Knight" as the highest-grossing domestic release in Warner Bros. history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted August 20, 2023 Share Posted August 20, 2023 On 8/16/2023 at 5:06 PM, skillzdadirecta said: ‘Barbie’ Surpasses ‘The Dark Knight’ as Warner Bros.’ Highest-Grossing Domestic Release in History VARIETY.COM "Barbie" has overtaken Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero epic "The Dark Knight" as the highest-grossing domestic release in Warner Bros. history. WB execs won't get it. They'll do what they did to WW and throw in the male costar even more heavy handed next time. They're literally the Will Ferrell character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted August 20, 2023 Share Posted August 20, 2023 So much for "Go woke, go broke" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted August 20, 2023 Share Posted August 20, 2023 Wow about 8x what sound of freedom made in less time and everyone bought their own ticket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brick Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 Finally saw this yesterday and it was a riot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.