Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone bummed they didn’t get together in the end?

I think they missed an opportunity for Barbie to realize how self-centered she was in terms of taking Ken for granted.

No, not at all bummed. “True love” isn’t the only answer to having a fulfilling life. Ken was an abusive stalker. He shouldn’t be rewarded for that. Barbie should have apologized and did, but she doesn’t owe him a relationship.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone bummed they didn’t get together in the end?

I think they missed an opportunity for Barbie to realize how self-centered she was in terms of taking Ken for granted.

Anonymous wrote:It was only preachy for those who didn't like the message. Just like Fox News is preachy for those who don't agree with their message. Otherwise it's just fun on air banter and news, right?.....

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Anonymous wrote:I just saw it with my sister and we both thought it was just okay. The best parts were the set and costumes. Everyone was cast really well and Ryan Gosling was fantastic and funny. But overall? It was so heavy handed in the writing. It took a very complicated topic and made it so simplistic. I don’t get all the love for the writing team who wrote the script. It really wasn’t that good.

Yes, this. I am also surprised when people discuss the message that resonated. We've been hearing the message over and over for years, e.g., here https://vimeo.com/393253445

What's new and eye-opening did the movie do with the message?

Well, since the issue is still very real, I think it's resonating b/c it's talking to a new generation and the video you posted didn't change anything. I think people are getting riled up b/c it's a movie that really was *for* women and that doesn't happen a lot. It makes people uncomfortable.

I’m one of the PPs and I guess I’m not seeing your comments in this movie. I don’t understand why it’s resonating- it seems so dumbed down. And I’m a woman. I didn’t feel uncomfortable I felt like I was treated like I’m dumb. Let’s say patriarchy 10 times in case you missed it? And America Ferrera’s character was basically ‘my tween hates me and I’m sad. I go to Barbie world and she likes me and now I’m happy.’ I just didn’t get the love for this movie.

This is exactly how I felt. Like the filmmaker thought I was stupid.

PP here and yes, this is how I felt. Her speech about being a woman was supposed to make my eyes mist over, I’m sure but I did not connect at all, and it was irksome that she was attempting to speak from the perspective of all women, brought to
you by Matel. Nope.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just saw it with my sister and we both thought it was just okay. The best parts were the set and costumes. Everyone was cast really well and Ryan Gosling was fantastic and funny. But overall? It was so heavy handed in the writing. It took a very complicated topic and made it so simplistic. I don’t get all the love for the writing team who wrote the script. It really wasn’t that good.

Yes, this. I am also surprised when people discuss the message that resonated. We've been hearing the message over and over for years, e.g., here https://vimeo.com/393253445

What's new and eye-opening did the movie do with the message?

Well, since the issue is still very real, I think it's resonating b/c it's talking to a new generation and the video you posted didn't change anything. I think people are getting riled up b/c it's a movie that really was *for* women and that doesn't happen a lot. It makes people uncomfortable.

I’m one of the PPs and I guess I’m not seeing your comments in this movie. I don’t understand why it’s resonating- it seems so dumbed down. And I’m a woman. I didn’t feel uncomfortable I felt like I was treated like I’m dumb. Let’s say patriarchy 10 times in case you missed it? And America Ferrera’s character was basically ‘my tween hates me and I’m sad. I go to Barbie world and she likes me and now I’m happy.’ I just didn’t get the love for this movie.

This is exactly how I felt. Like the filmmaker thought I was stupid.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Apparently my friends cried, but I'm the heartless BEACH who thought the messaging was confusing. Let's replace men with women and marginalize men that will be better! I liked the outfits, history and the fun parts.

That wasn't the message. I don't want to give away a spoiler, but think about the talk Barbie had with Ken after the vote. It wasn't to marginalize men. And also, it's OK for a fantasy world where women hold more power. You know, the opposite of 2 CEOs in the entire history of the company.

DP. If women have more power in the world, such as more CEOs, they will have to give up time raising their children. They will need a house husband or nanny or both - and few American women want that. This isn't the patriarchy, it's the choices of women.

Why the assumption that all women want to raise children? What? uhhhhhhhh.........

DP and I feel like the movie oversimplified feminism. Isn’t the point to get to choose? Not just be a powerful ceo. I don’t want to be an executive at a large company. I want to work and then enjoy my free time. And I have the choice to do that. I just didn’t get the nuance in the movie’s message.

Anonymous wrote:Watched it today and enjoyed the historical references, the costumes, and the jokes.
I also found the movie preachy and the message a bit shallow and tired.
I wish they made it a cute summer movie.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I liked about the movie: Amazing costumes and set design. Ryan Gosling was very good and stole the show in every one of his scenes. Loved the nod to the original inventor. In particular, going back to Gosling but really masterful by Gerwig, liked the subtlety of Gosling’s performance and how he straight-up owned how women are relegated to arm candy roles reflective of the man in most movies.

What I didn’t like: Exhaustingly preachy to the point where I thought Gerwig must think her audience has the intelligence of an eggplant. Condescending tokenism in the Barbies. Relationship between mother and daughter was very stereotypical and shallow and therefore plot development on that point felt contrived. In general both mother and daughter were depicted as what a Millenial thinks Gen Z and Gen X are, and they didn’t ring true. Perhaps controversially, thought the last line was stupid, and sad.

Spot on, though I didn't mind the shallowness of the mother-daughter characters or relationship because I think if they'd fleshed those out, it would have detracted from what I think the movie did best, which was create hilarious and believable Barbie and Ken characters who were actually grappling with what it means to be a Barbie and a Ken. The one area I think could have been better in this respect would have been to better develop the relationship between Robbie's Barbie and America Ferreira's character, since ultimately that was more significant than the relationship between mom and daughter. But I think they made the choice to focus more on Barbie and Ken, because Gosling was SO GOOD in that role, and it's hard to argue with that choice.

Agree the end kind of sucked, both the stuff with Ruth (I really hate that line about mothers standing still so their daughter can see how far they've come -- BS martyr complex motherhood that I have no interest in) and the way they ultimately resolved Robbie's character.

I agree with the tokenism criticism EXCEPT that I thought Issa Rae and Hari Nef were both great in their roles and neither of those examples felt like tokenism to me at all even though the casting was. I think they really failed on the question of Barbie and body image and I feel like they used Sharon Rooney's character to sidestep that question in a really hamfisted way. There's never been a Barbie that actually looks like Rooney or Nicola Coughlin who briefly appeared, and everyone knows this, and yet they want us to just pretend for the sake of the movie that this isn't the central criticism of Barbie? Come on.

But I'm actually willing to forgive a lot because of how great the Ken storyline is and how much a lot of the emotional core of the movie resonated with me. I absolutely cried during America Ferrera's monologue about how impossible it is to be a woman, even though I've heard that exact diatribe before, because it's just very true. And I thought the way they handled Barbie's experience in the "real world" and how her experience so thoroughly changes when she's no longer in a place where her personhood, independence, and intelligence aren't just assumed, was pretty resonate. These aren't profound points, but using Barbie to make them was a stroke of genius, and I think Robbie did a good job with it even if her performance wasn't as showy as Gosling's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I liked about the movie: Amazing costumes and set design. Ryan Gosling was very good and stole the show in every one of his scenes. Loved the nod to the original inventor. In particular, going back to Gosling but really masterful by Gerwig, liked the subtlety of Gosling’s performance and how he straight-up owned how women are relegated to arm candy roles reflective of the man in most movies.

What I didn’t like: Exhaustingly preachy to the point where I thought Gerwig must think her audience has the intelligence of an eggplant. Condescending tokenism in the Barbies. Relationship between mother and daughter was very stereotypical and shallow and therefore plot development on that point felt contrived. In general both mother and daughter were depicted as what a Millenial thinks Gen Z and Gen X are, and they didn’t ring true. Perhaps controversially, thought the last line was stupid, and sad.

Spot on, though I didn't mind the shallowness of the mother-daughter characters or relationship because I think if they'd fleshed those out, it would have detracted from what I think the movie did best, which was create hilarious and believable Barbie and Ken characters who were actually grappling with what it means to be a Barbie and a Ken. The one area I think could have been better in this respect would have been to better develop the relationship between Robbie's Barbie and America Ferreira's character, since ultimately that was more significant than the relationship between mom and daughter. But I think they made the choice to focus more on Barbie and Ken, because Gosling was SO GOOD in that role, and it's hard to argue with that choice.

Agree the end kind of sucked, both the stuff with Ruth (I really hate that line about mothers standing still so their daughter can see how far they've come -- BS martyr complex motherhood that I have no interest in) and the way they ultimately resolved Robbie's character.

I agree with the tokenism criticism EXCEPT that I thought Issa Rae and Hari Nef were both great in their roles and neither of those examples felt like tokenism to me at all even though the casting was. I think they really failed on the question of Barbie and body image and I feel like they used Sharon Rooney's character to sidestep that question in a really hamfisted way. There's never been a Barbie that actually looks like Rooney or Nicola Coughlin who briefly appeared, and everyone knows this, and yet they want us to just pretend for the sake of the movie that this isn't the central criticism of Barbie? Come on.

But I'm actually willing to forgive a lot because of how great the Ken storyline is and how much a lot of the emotional core of the movie resonated with me. I absolutely cried during America Ferrera's monologue about how impossible it is to be a woman, even though I've heard that exact diatribe before,[b] because it's just very true. And I thought the way they handled Barbie's experience in the "real world" and how her experience so thoroughly changes when she's no longer in a place where her personhood, independence, and intelligence aren't just assumed, was pretty resonate. These aren't profound points, but using Barbie to make them was a stroke of genius, and I think Robbie did a good job with it even if her performance wasn't as showy as Gosling's.

Anonymous wrote:What I liked about the movie: Amazing costumes and set design. Ryan Gosling was very good and stole the show in every one of his scenes. Loved the nod to the original inventor. In particular, going back to Gosling but really masterful by Gerwig, liked the subtlety of Gosling’s performance and how he straight-up owned how women are relegated to arm candy roles reflective of the man in most movies.

What I didn’t like: Exhaustingly preachy to the point where I thought Gerwig must think her audience has the intelligence of an eggplant. Condescending tokenism in the Barbies. Relationship between mother and daughter was very stereotypical and shallow and therefore plot development on that point felt contrived. In general both mother and daughter were depicted as what a Millenial thinks Gen Z and Gen X are, and they didn’t ring true. Perhaps controversially, thought the last line was stupid, and sad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was fun. It make me laugh and made me sad. I felt nostalgic and hopeful and scared for my daughter’s future all at once.

I think it is amusing how upset some people got over the movie.

It seems like you felt a lot of emotions from this moving. I find that amusing. It did not make feel scared for my daughter’s future.

Anonymous wrote:It was fun. It make me laugh and made me sad. I felt nostalgic and hopeful and scared for my daughter’s future all at once.

I think it is amusing how upset some people got over the movie.