session 3 by Suchittra Rao

2024-10-10 09:18:42 UTC

barbie was a very surface level exploration of feminism, with tried and tested tropes that served up a movie that was a quick trend setter but is not something that will stand the test of time

ryan gosling’s portrayal of ken, ironically was the most memorable part of this movie and left a lasting impact on me, rather than the titular character

rue

xinruliaw21 — 2024-10-10 09:19:29 UTC

Monologues (like mic drop moments) in Barbie have been awarded the limelight in the media's response to the movie, but in my opinion, the visual aspect of the film did a much better job than the script(/audio in general) at pushing the intended message.

and in general the script was quite cheesy but i felt that the visual production was much more sophisticated in what it was trying to achieve

Barbie

2024-10-10 09:20:00 UTC

As much as I loved Barbie I do think there was a missed opportunity with Ken and Barbies story. Through out Barbie's history, she's always had Ken as a supportive partner. Someone in her back pocket for support. Barbie though, depicts their relationship as something completely different to this. Although I do understand why the plot decides to go in this direction to emphasis how the role of patriarchy affects woman, I do wish we could've gotten to see some of that unconditional love and support Ken in canonical Barbie fashion gives out. This type of plot though would've directly made the movies themes and goal something entirely different, and I think the message it sends and thoughts it provokes are more important in todays cinema and time than the missed opportunity I mentioned.

Jeongrak

2024-10-10 09:20:03 UTC

It was an entertaining film but nothing more than that. I don’t have too much thing to talk about it. Everything was quite seamless technically and the message was tamed.

From the beginning, it was intended as a commercial film and was successful at attracting people to cinema. Why do you expect more than that from it?

2024-10-10 09:20:20 UTC

Its some overt ra-ra bs that doesnt have much of a plot as much as it wants to shove a message down the viewer’s throat (and also an excuse to make everything pink)

2024-10-10 09:21:17 UTC

For all the hype it generated last year for months on end, I actually can't seem to remember a lot about the movie itself and it's rarely discussed in circles a year on. I think that's pretty reflective of how surface-level the themes the movie engaged were. Sure, people said it's a good intro to feminism 101 but I disagree. It just reproduced neoliberal ideas and for a movie focussing on women and their struggles, the whole second-half seemed to focus on men. Fun watch but not much meaning behind it lol. I will also say that Michael Cera was a joy to watch as always.

2024-10-10 09:21:33 UTC

I found Barbie to be quite heavy-handed in broaching its themes. I particularly remember one of the characters launching into a long monologue about womanhood near the end of the story, which distracted from the narrative by being so on-the-nose about 'the patriarchy' etc.

2024-10-10 09:21:49 UTC

Barbie feels like a missed opportunity to explore bigger issues like plus-sized beauty standards and the idealised look for women. As Barbie, Margot Robbie complains about her flat feet, etc when the issues Barbie dolls can face can be far more important (weight issues, identity, etc.) - wouldn't it be more worthwhile to cast someone who isn't as pretty?

Also, why does it seem that in promoting feminism, it becomes sexist towards men? Somehow the idea of toxic femininity appears to be more acute in the first half, as compared it being an anti-sexist film in general.

2024-10-10 09:22:58 UTC

i think barbie is one of the most creative and visually incredible films i’ve watched, in particular i absolutely loved the costumes and set design. i think it’s great as a casual fun watch and on a personal level i found the plot really moving. i think it’s ok that it’s not necessarily the deepest or most perfect example of feminist film. i think sometimes films can just be fun :)

2024-10-10 09:23:01 UTC

The Barbie movie is just feel-good Mattel propaganda. It is a blatant attempt at whitewashing Mattel's sins and general scumminess by having Margot Robbie helm its rebrand and foray into live action cinema. By having Barbie Margot represent the brand and embark on a journey to "become a woman", the movie attempts to gloss over all the many problematic aspects of the brand's legacy, instead focusing on feel-good messaging like "being a woman is so nice!" . Its explorations of the meaning of womanhood and feminism are also very perfunctory and lacking, for all its claims of being a feminist movie, while also ignoring the intersections between feminism, race, and class.

Lek Sen

2024-10-10 09:23:41 UTC

How one decides the quality (good/bad) of Barbie has to do with the preconceived expectations with the movie.

If one is looking for a decent movie with entertainment value then Barbie can definitely, imo be seen as a ‘good’ movie. It has an extremely colourful set, a satisfying character arc, fun dance sequences etc. (All the elements for a blockbuster hit basically)

Those expecting Barbie to have a critical take on feminist issues are to be sorely disappointed and might regard it as a ‘bad’ movie. It touches on representation but stops short on delving deeper into thornier issues. It certainly doesn’t compare to A Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’s treatment of the male gaze, in fact in inverses it. Weird Barbie for example is ostracised from the mainstream because of her looks (a classic heteronormative patrichal ideal)

It is good to remember the capitalist elements present in the production of the movie as Mattel the toy franchise has a certain bottom line profit to make and that definitely affects what can be greenlit- something Greta Gerwig has mentioned herself

2024-10-10 09:24:10 UTC

I liked the sharp and biting satire in Barbie and the reaction and discourse it sparked online which was probably the intended effect, and it helped convey important messages to both men and women watching this. I don't think a movie has to be overcomplicated to be good, the ending montage/tribute was beautiful.

2024-10-10 09:24:57 UTC

Barbie is an entertaining movie that will disappoint viewers looking for a deep delve into feminism. I don't know if their coverage of feminism is enough; it's nice to see some explicit representation in mainstream media (albeit watered-down), but should we be appeased with this level of representation?

At the same time, I don't think it would have been as entertaining as it would have been if it was explored the patriachy on the deeper level - it would have been pretty bleak, and I can only imagine the backlash. The world should be, but is not ready for a Barbie movie that is more feminist than it already is.

Daryl

2024-10-10 09:26:21 UTC

The over-sensationalisation of America Ferrera's 'being a woman' speech does a disservice by reinforcing the artificiality of the feminist messaging instead of genuine female empowerment. Instead of treating the important monologue as a moment of catharsis or resolution, Gerwig opts to use the speech as a means to achieve a political takeover. While it is meant to be powerful battle cry to snap brainwashed Barbies into reality and to fight for themselves, it ironically cheapens the authentic expression into nothing more than a weapon against the Kens. Recalling also Laura Dern's similar monologue in Marriage Story (also written by Noah Baumbach) where Dern's character's expression of being a woman is depicted to be a rallying cry to convince Scarlett Johansson's character to take Dern on as her lawyer--demonstrating again that such expression is seen to be a tool and a means, rather than a moment of genuine expression and solidarity.

Barbie movie

2024-10-10 09:26:42 UTC

Barbie movie tries to play the feminism card but it's funny the fact that at the end of the day, barbie and the movie were still part of Mattel's attempts to earn more money and this movie pretending to be the all good person standing up for women was what made the movie feel so surface level.

Also I'm just Ken was lit.

Expectations vs Reality

2024-10-10 09:43:02 UTC

Barbie came out in July last year, but I only watched it on HBO Go a few months ago.

I'd heard nothing but good things about it, and the hype really enlightened me as to how influential Barbie had been for girls everywhere growing up, even for someone like my sister who never had Barbie dolls. The Barbie animated movies were pretty weird at times.

But anyway, because of the acclaim I went into the film expecting to come out all enlightened about female lack-of-privilege and feminism, but I didn't really understand Barbie's character arc. I thought it was because I'm male but reading all these other comments, I guess I wasn't the only one.

Also I haven't seen Oppenheimer.