I just saw the Barbie movie, and I have an opinion that's likely unpopular, especially since it got 88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
My take? It's a toxic movie.
I'll explain why I think so, and FYI there are spoilers here, so if you want to see it for yourself unspoiled, stop here.
Otherwise, I will present my case:
Growing up I loved my Barbies. They were so much fun to play with, make-believe, imagine fun and strange little girl passion plays with grown-up plastic avatars. I never felt like a lesser type of female because Barbie had the perfect body - when I played Barbies, I WAS Barbie. I was Ken too, and all the other cast of characters. Barbie being perfect or whatever wasn't an issue for me - it was beautiful, it was a FANTASY, which is an escape, an ideal version of something that does not need to be saddled by the REAL world. It's pretend!
So the movie is part of a generational collective movement where it is ok to be NOT ok (anxiety, depression, medication, therapy culture), which is not my issue with this movie (and I know many people need that support - I also think there is something more sinister going on with that whole thing getting over normalized - another unpopular opinion, I know).
My issue with this movie, and kind of in general is with the way men are getting treated. It comes to an ugly head in this movie that had the potential to do something so right, but it went so wrong instead.
Ken is secondary to Barbie. Barbie and Ken. In the Barbieland (or whatever it's called) the Kens (men) are relegated to next-to-nothing roles. There is even a song Ken sings about being #2 (thanks for that extra allusion to men being 'crap'). Women are presidents, Nobel prize winners, astronauts, you name it. Ken is Beach. Like, just beach. He stands at the beach and looks good.
Ok, I'll get to the point. Barbie and Ken go to the real world and find out that it's not like Barbieland, and men pretty much are in charge of everything. Ken gets asked what time it is, and is blown away that a female respected him enough to ask a simple question of him. He has never experienced being respected by a woman. He's also deeply in love with Barbie, but she treats him only slightly better than a disease.
Imagine the outrage if this was reversed, and a woman was in Ken's position. It's ridiculous.
So Ken goes back to Barbieland with knowledge of the Patriarchy (which he thinks is about horses) and tells all the other Kens. By the time Barbie gets back to Barbieland, it has completely changed. The Barbie dream houses are now inhabited by Kens, with more masculine furnishings. It is horrifying that Ken has done such a thing, but none of the Barbies know where Kens actually live - there is only such thing as a Barbie house - not a Barbie and Ken house, or even a Ken house. In other words, who gives an F about Ken and Ken's needs.
The Barbies are all sort of brainwashed into being subservient types of women, listening to the men talk about things they are interested in, like The Godfather, listening to them play guitar (who would like that...gross! Insert my eyes rolling here...for me that is amazing, so like I said, I'm not the target audience here) and letting men help them with things like photoshop. I mean it is just so patronizing! Of course, women can do all these things on their own, but why make men feel like crap for wanting to help women, and share things they are interested in? Women are broadly and fundamentally shaming men for being men, and then when men are not 'masculine' enough, women shun them again. I'm sorry, but I can't stand this kind of bogus double standard.
So there's a point in the movie where the 'human' who has come into Barbieland gives this big old speech about how hard it is to be a woman, always trying to do things to make people like them...oh god, it was torture, but it starts to snap the brainwashed Barbies out of their adoration for the Kens/men. They distract/manipulate the Kens so the Kens will forget to vote to change the constitution because they are fighting each other.
The Kens realize in a dance-off scene that they don't need to fight each other, that they are actually ok not fighting, and go back to Barbieland having peacefully fixed their Ken problem. Meanwhile, the Barbies have 'taken back' their rights, and put the men back in their place. The patriarchy is squashed and in its place an extremist Matriarchy where the Kens have no rights, and cannot hold offices or positions of power.
Ok, this is where the biggest issue is here. We are supposed to cheer for that double standard?? Please. Men are getting punished for what the men of past time cultures have done, and the solution in this movie is to overcorrect and turn men into subservient ones with no power. Take that men! Pay the price of the past forever so you can see how women felt.
My GOD. How is this the solution?
For me, Barbie was the main character when I played with my dolls because I am a female and related to her as the avatar, but Ken was her equal in all the games I made up. I related less to Ken because I wasn't a boy. It didn't mean Ken was USELESS. He loved Barbie, and Barbie loved him back as a baseline in my imaginative play. Are girls now encouraged to reject any need for a Ken other than a rather annoying accessory? That is more of a problem than Barbie having an unattainable figure.
If I was to rewrite the ending of this movie, I would have it resolved in an understanding that whomever is best for a job, regardless of their genitals, should do the job. It DOESN'T MATTER if you are male, female, or otherwise. Reversing the patriarchy to matriarchy is not fixing anything - it's horrifying. It's reverse sexism. NO THANKS.
This movie is propaganda for misandry - the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against men or boys. Misandry can manifest itself in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of men, violence against men, and sexual objectification of men.
The solution in my eyes is to equalize everything and not to care about gender at all. Get over the past everyone! Men can be men, and do men things - they are not just stupid women in man suits. They are valuable and worthy of respect. Women are also valuable and worthy of respect, so are nonbinary people, and so forth.
Playing with Barbie as a little girl was a fantasy utopia. I loved her, and I loved Ken. What I don't love is the Barbie movie*, because it's a toxic conceptual message that prolongs our collective gender equality issues and pain.
I am the only one that feels this way?
In any case, I'm open to a rational discussion on the topic if you disagree. It's good practice to engage in respectful discourse and even disagreement.
*I have to give credit to the art department, the sets/costumes, and the musical numbers though. Those were all impressive.
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