I liked the movie Barbie. I thought it had a good plot with fun characters. What more could one person want? Barbie has been mildly controversial though because of its relationship with feminism. Here I address what I think Barbie does well and what I think Barbie could have done better.
Things Barbie does well. Spoiler alert.
When Barbie returns to Barbieland to find that the Kens have taken over, she is shocked to see that the other Barbies are instrumental to the “patriarchy.” In the real world, men are frequently painted as the perpetrators of the patriarchy; however, women have historically played a huge role in instituting gender roles. Before the industrial revolution, gender roles were the difference between life and death. We often underestimate the intimacy of our ancestors' relationship with death. After the industrial revolution and the beginning of female participation in what was then male-exclusive industry, it was not exclusively men that dissuaded women from participation in the workplace. It was not only men that fought against equal rights. Despite the narrative, women, even young women, can cause as much damage to any feminist movements as men. This is partly because men are frequently boxed out of the conversation and some feminist women too often attack people and culture rather than improve and expand the product selection in the marketplace of ideas. As a result, feminism is often its own worst enemy.
Barbie also demonstrates very well how the solution to social friction between the sexes will be found exclusively through forgiveness, cooperation, and good-faith. When Barbieland was a “feminist dream,” the Kens suffered. When Barbieland became a “patriarchy,” the Barbies suffered. In general, when one portion of the human race uses and consumes the other like chattel, everyone suffers. We should be seriously concerned that teenage girls are entering abusive relationships and afraid to be alone at night while teenage boys are entering adulthood only to die drunk, homeless, and jobless. Barbie seems to point out some very legitimate issues. It also shows, in a simplified, theatrical way, how decades of forgiveness and kindness will lead to the healing we all need. We need to end the consumption of our fellow beings.
Things Barbie could have done better.
I am not naive enough to claim it was a perfect movie that solved all the world's problems in under 120 minutes. The portrayal of the real world was a problem for me. True, a woman who has lived her life in Barbieland would probably be shocked at her sexualization and a man who grew up there would probably feel a sense of empowerment. Furthermore, the way Barbie demonstrated this adjustment in 3 minutes was satisfactory for the length and scope of the movie. However, the idea that men feel like hot stuff no matter where they go or what they do is extreme. The idea that women are almost entirely overlooked is also extreme. Women control about 2/3 of personal wealth and make over 80% of consumer decisions, making them the single most powerful force in the market (and the market knows this). Meanwhile, in primary and higher education, men are being left behind. Men occupy more dangerous, stagnant, and obsolete jobs. Men are more likely to be convicted of a crime and receive longer jail terms. Men have greater suicidality and adult men are more likely to develop an addiction, while simultaneously are less likely to receive help for addiction. At every stage of life, men die and get sick more frequently than women. Given that Barbie and Ken spent most of their time in the real world at an S&P 500 corporate office, what they saw makes sense. But if they had appeared in a trailer park in South Carolina, a mine in Minnesota, a poor urban neighborhood in California, or a prison in New York (each of which represent the U.S. population better than the top 1%), Barbie and Ken would have left the real world with a different impression. Much of the feminism conversation focuses too much on a wealthy, educated class that is out of touch with most of America.
My least favorite part of Barbie is the third act monologue on sexism and subsequent battle scenes. While I acknowledge I am not the target audience, I felt the way that the monologue dealt with gender issues and the way the Barbies overthrew the “patriarchy” seemed to revert back to the “men are the problem” narrative that the movie has thus far avoided.
Overall, this was a good movie that most people think walked among these complex issues well and made most viewers laugh. At the end of the day it got people talking. It is just one story of one woman—it can’t represent everyone. We can be grateful for what it added to the conversation and with forgiveness, cooperation, and good-faith, we can keep the conversation going.
