Greta Gerwig's Barbie

I've never been more anxious about a review embargo to drop.

do you think this movie will get review bombed by conservatives?

Not only will it, I'm gonna call the complaints: Barbie is a mary sue and Ken has been emasculated.

I hate the word mary sue, it has been so bastardized it doesn't mean anything anymore.

It has strong social media campaign and presence that I think those stuff will be insignificant.

I mean, a funny response is, "Yes, absolutely. She's a self-insert character meant to be awesome in all ways and Ken is her trophy husband."

Being a Mary Sue is part of the joke. Specifically, "What if a Mary Sue is forced to grow up?"

I dunno, so far from what I've seen all guys on the internet love Ken. Since he coined the term "kenergy" he became another of those "literally me" meme guys. And Ryan only makes it better and better.

So memes aside. Do we know what the film is about ?

From what I can peace together, Barbie has an existential crisis, which leads to her going to the human world.

And Mattel apparently actually knows Barbieland is real and is chasing her to get her back.

On a larger level, it's specifically dealing with an irl phenomenon of young girls believing they can be anything and having a very spirited go-getter attitude which very suddenly and starkly drops off around age ten or so. Gerwig cited all of this in some interviews. I would presume that Barbie is experiencing the sensation of that "go-getter attitude" breaking the fantasy she sells and "reality" (coughsexismcough) breaking through.

Hence the scene in the trailers at a school where the teens are going "Ew. Why would I? I haven't played with Barbies since I was eight." I think the film is going to confront why these girls changed via the vehicle that is Barbie.

• Barbie’ Heads for $100 Million Breakout, ‘Oppenheimer’ Aims for Strong $50 Million.

Oppenheimer has a 100 million dollar budget well Barbie has 145 million so this us looking like a fantastic success.

Also AMC Says ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ Double-Feature Ticket Sales Have Doubled in Past Week. Indicating the barbhimmer meme of watching them both is actually paying off dividends.

I am happy this is predicted to do well as I have been looking forward to it.

I am looking forward to taking my fiancée to a Barbieheimer double feature this weekend.

Now that the review embargo's lifted, anyone got any spoilers to share(appropriately tagged of course)? I'm trying to decide whether or not my conservative aunt would like it or not.

I just saw the film! It was a funny comedy with a lot of uniqueness and metalanguage. I personally preferred much more when the film went full deep in the meta-irony and humor rather than in the philosophical parts, which is probably why the Mattel executives and Weird Barbie were my favorite characters, but that's just me.

About your question, the movie is very blatantly and explicitly feminist, with Barbie and Ken observing how women are objectified and underrepresented in the real world and a large part of the climax involving a character from the real world giving speeches about how she thinks women are belittled and underestimated by men. However, the film is more than self-aware enough for it to not feel self-righteous or disingenuous, and the Kens are ultimately all sympathetic and innocent.

The film also pokes fun a bit at the superficial views some have of sexism; particularly, Ken briefly tries to become a successful man in the real world after finding out that "men rule the world" there, only to find out that he still needs things like a doctorate to get a high-paying job, that he can't become a doctor just because he is a man, and that the real world isn't nearly as simplistically male-dominated as he thought. The true point of contingency seems to be Doctor Barbie, a Bit Character from Barbieland, being played by a trans actress, but her role is small enough that I don't think many people will notice it.

Edited by good-morning on Jul 19th 2023 at 4:50:02 PM

Is there any other LGBT content other than Doctor Barbie being played by a trans actress?

No, there isn't, as far as I recall. The closest is a quick gag in which a Camp Gay man says he "likes that" after looking at Ken when he and Barbie enter the real world, but that's just played for comedy, as Ken mistakes it for an example of people giving respect to him and it is juxtaposed with Barbie feeling uncomfortable with men trying to flirt with her.

No, at least in my session.

Edited by good-morning on Jul 19th 2023 at 4:39:41 PM

Here’s a question: is there anything after the credits?

Another Question: Is there a Take That! at the idea of a "Girl Boss" Barbie? Because one the reasons the movie took a while to come out (Besides the pandemic) is that Diablo Cody and Amy Schumer left after Diablo Cody became frustrated at the idea of writing a Girl Boss Barbie, and I'm sure there would be potshots towards such an idea via the meta humor.

Or is "Wierd Barbie" the equivalent of that?

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Jul 19th 2023 at 3:19:48 PM

There isn't a satire against a "girlboss Barbie" in specific, but there definetely is a satire against the overestimation of Barbie as a feminist symbol. In the introduction, the narrator says that the release of Barbie ended discrimination against women forever, only to follow up by saying that was actually just what the Barbies in Barbieland believed in, rather than the truth. While Barbie is portrayed as a symbol of feminism, the main Barbie's idea that they single-handedly ended sexism is played for humor.

Edited by good-morning on Jul 19th 2023 at 4:48:36 PM

Is Bild Lilli and Barbie's complicated real-life origin story mentioned?

As a longtime Barbie collector, with a focus on the '60s-'80s, for me the highlight of the movie will be a "spot the references"(I totally geeked out when the first teaser was released, as Margot got the ponytail hairdo with curly bangs right for 1959 Barbie). It does sound like most Barbie collectors will enjoy it, if they have enough of a sense of humor for the tongue-in-cheek satirical aspects and are comfortable with the overt feminist themes. I think Greta did make a very fair point that in an interview that it would be dishonest to make a Barbie movie that portrays her as a flawless feminist symbol and doesn't acknowledge at all the controversy and mixed feelings many people have about the dolls.

Last question from me (today). Anyone else wondering if this movie could help WB make up the lost money from The Flash?

I suck at math, and I don't know much about how studio profits work, but there's no question that it will gross much more than The Flash, that's for sure. I think the question box office watchers are asking is what its "legs" in theaters will be like. It seems fitting for it to have good legs, as the puns regarding Barbie dolls' proportionally long legs write themselves, but the question is if the overt feminism and the fact that it's not really a kids' movie will hurt WOM in some circles.

I mean, it's clearly not meant to be a kids movie though. It's rated PG-13, and it's obviously aimed at adults more than children.

I just got out of Barbie. It may be the trippiest movie I have ever seen. And I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey! In theatres! For maximum impact!