The underlying and undeniable trend of modern day Hollywood is the making of movies that hate their own subject matter, specifically when that subject matter stems from traditional cultural norms. The goal is “deconstruction." Everything must be deconstructed, broken down, burned down, erased from the public consciousness and replaced with the “new” woke ideal. Well, it was only a matter of time before they went after Barbie and the results are embarrassing.
Produced by star Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig, Hollywood critics love Barbie, but their applause doesn't revolve around the overall quality of the story. Rather, it revolves around the messaging which is aggressively woke.
The Verge calls the movie a:
“Bold vision built around the idea of deconstructing some of the more complex realities of what Barbie represents in order to tell a truly modern, feminist story.”
The Wrap declares:
“Once an equal parts fascinating and controversial Mattel toy, both loved and hate - a tiny-waisted, vacuously smiling, slender doll designed like a straight-male fantasy - is now a complicated feminist symbol of empowerment...”
NBC News notes:
"As Barbie makes her way in the real world, she must grapple with the overwhelming emotion and discomfort of being human, as well as a patriarchal system that would make her a secondary character in her own world."
The core plot of Barbie plays on the common feminist notion of “reversed roles” along with a predictable hatred of men and masculinity; starting in a place where women run everything and men are simply objects with “no agency.” Ken is a dunce that Barbie controls while he is also simultaneously cruel, a classic woke depiction of “toxic masculinity.”
But when Barbie is transported to the real world (our world as viewed by feminism) she encounters a cartoonish level of male chauvinism and sexism, while Ken learns to love the patriarchy and tries to transport it back to Barbie's world. IndieWire asserts that Ken is the villain of the story as he destroys the feminist utopia of Barbieland:
“It’s been hugely altered by the full force of a returning (and, dare we say it, red-pilled) Ken, who uses all his newfound male rage and patriarchal power to upend what was once a lady-powered idyll.”
In fact, the film's script uses the word “patriarchy” at least 10 times. Obviously, the premise as a metaphor is faulty because the dynamic depicted in the flick doesn't exist for women, at least not in western society. Gender roles exist because of biology, not because of conspiracy. But then, the ultimate childish fantasy is not Barbie's dreamland, it's the feminist ideal.
The surface story involves the realm of Barbie as a parallel universe to our own, but real life issues and fears start to invade Barbie's thoughts and she begins to challenge the structures of the world she lives in while disrupting everyone's blissful ignorance (This is how woke activists see themselves; as messiahs shocking people out of an illusion controlled by evil white men).
Not surprisingly, the movie also ignores the essential reasons why Barbie as a toy is so popular.
For decades Barbie has been a primary target of the feminist movement. Their accusation is that the toy is a negative image reinforcement for young girls and a “tool for the patriarchy” for molding women into unattainable beauty standards as well as social standards. In reality, Barbie is vastly successful because she's a blank slate – Girls and women tend to project their personalities onto fictional characters (and many other things), and Barbie has no defined personality to get in the way. Little girls make Barbie into whatever they want her to be, which is usually them. This is the reason why we often hear feminists argue that everyone needs to "feel represented" in entertainment - They cannot relate unless they can project.
But as a blank slate there can be no “manipulation” or male domination with a toy like Barbie. So, feminist claims fall apart. They simply ignore what the toy means to children and think only of what it means to them.
By extension, there is no romance in the Barbie movie, no love story for Barbie and Ken, no playing house or taking care of babies. All the things that little girls do with the toy are deliberately erased from the film. Beyond the colorful set design, the movie is distinctly hostile to the idea that it should appeal to kids. It is only made for one very narrow group of people: Far left ideologues.
Robbie sold the concept to Mattel as a movie that “loves Barbie” but also “doesn't shy away from the problematic issues surrounding Barbie.” It would be interesting to get an honest opinion from Mattel now that the movie has hit theaters – Was this really what they intended? A complete deconstruction of their brand? The movie even depicts the CEO of Mattel (played by Will Farrell) as an angry capitalist trying to force Barbie “back into her box.”
In the middle of the film, a teenage girl shouts at Margot Robbie’s Barbie in a California high school cafeteria:
“You represent everything wrong with our culture. You destroyed the planet with your glorification of rampant consumerism...you fascist!”
This is not a display of love for the toy, it's a group of woke fanatics doing what they always do – It's not enough that they hate the product and what it stands for, everyone else has to hate it too. Feminists are not happy in their own crazed beliefs; they are only satiated when others are pressured to affirm those beliefs, often through propaganda.
