Barbie Spoilers - Blog Posts

And another reason why I cried while watching the Barbie movie :]

go watch Barbie

Yes. Oh my god yes.

the thing that gets me about the barbie movie being framed as an "anti-men" movie is that it's fundamentally untrue to the message it's sending out. the movie is an empowering feminist piece as much as it is a cautionary tale about men letting their insecurities and doubts about their place in the world lead them to falling into the alt-right/incel/mra pipeline. it's looking out for men just as much as it's looking out for women, and the only reason you might find this as an "anti-men" message is because you somehow deeply believe that this is the wrong message to send

the fact that the first female human experience barbie goes through is being self conscious and experiencing sexual harassment mirrors how growing up as a girl one day you’re okay and the next all of a sudden you feel bad about your appearance and are receiving unwanted advances is something that can be so fucking important to be recognized in film

About to watch Barbie!!!

go watch Barbie

I’d lose interest if I found out it wasn’t about horses too

greta gerwig really said. when this girl gets a little sad and confused by the weird and complicated and uncomfortable parts of being human and growing up, she meets god and sits at her kitchen table, drinks her tea, holds her hands. and she asks god if she’s allowed to be happy. and god tells her she doesn’t need her permission. she tells her she’s going to be okay.

Just noticed the change on his shirt 💀

Assigned Horse at Patriarchy

hot take ahead on barbie (2023) INCLUDING SPOILERS

i  don't  think  barbie  is  about  feminism.  in  this  essay  i  will...

but  no,  really.  according  to  the  cambridge  dictionary,  feminism  is  "the  belief  that  women  should  be  allowed  the  same  rights,  power,  and  opportunities  as  men  and  be  treated  in  the  same  way,  or  the  set  of  activities  intended  to  achieve  this  state".  nowhere  in  the  movie  does  it  show  any  character  wanting  to  become  part  of  the  feminist  movement.  i  want  to  emphasize  that  feminism  is  about  being  treated  the  same  way,  including  women  having  the  same  rights  as  men.  barbie  isn't  a  feminist.  neither  is  ken.  don't  even  get  me  started  about  the  elf  of  the  shelf  aka  mattel's  ceo.

everytime  i  go  on  youtube  i  get  bombarded  (due  to  the  algorithm  i  created  lmao)  with  barbie  videos  and  how  everyone  talks  about  feminism  or  anti-feminism  for  that  matter.  and  from  a  sociological  point  of  view  (i  missed  using  this  fancy  term),  it  shows  how  individuals  will  see/hear  exactly  what  they  are  looking  for  -  they  will  see/hear  everything  that  goes  along  or,  on  the  contrary,  what  contradicts  their  own  set  of  beliefs  that  they  had  before  watching  the  movie.  if  someone  was  looking  for  feminism,  they  will  look  at  all  the  signs  for  women  rights  in  barbieland  being  equal  to  men  rights  in  the  real  world.  or,  vice  versa,  if  someone  was  looking  for  anti-feminism,  they  will  look  at  how  all  male  dolls  were  treated  (that  includes  the  kens,  allan/s  and  all  the  other  dolls  too  as  long  as  they  fall  into  the  masculine  gender).

but  let's  break  down  the  feminism  definition  to  prove  this  point.  my  archnemesis  emile  durkheim  said  that  "the  totality  of  beliefs  and  sentiments  common  to  average  members  of  the  same  society  forms  a  particular  system  that has  its  own  life;  one  might  call  it  the  collective  or  common  consciousness".  in  that  sense,  beliefs  become  part  of  a  group  (or  subgroup)  if  they  are  agreed  upon  by  a  majority.  the  term  women  is  too  broad,  so  instead  i  will  use  another:  individuals  who  identify  with  femininity  (this  is  still  skewed  since  it  doesn't  cover  that  much  ground  on  all gender  identities,  but  hopefully  it's  enough  to  make  the  point).  the  rest  of  the  quote  in  the  beginning  basically  agrees  upon  all  genders  having  equal  rights,  power  and  opportunities  in  a  society.  to  limit  this  even  further,  it  means  no  discrimination  whatsoever,  regarding  any  aspect  of  one's  life  and  activity  in  a  society.

this  brings  me  back  to  the  barbie  movie.  the  movie  isn't  about  matriarchy  vs  patriarchy.  from  an  empirical  point  of  view  (and  it  was  hard  to  do  that  bc  i  adore  the  actors/actresses  and  the  dolls),  the  movie  can  be  considered  at  the  very  most  satirical.  barbieland  was  ruled  by  matriarchy  until  the  kens  overthrown  that  government.  but  the  barbies  did  manipulate  the  situation  so  that  they  could  take  the  power  again.  in  the  end,  the  barbies  said  they  will  allow  some  positions  for  the  kens,  but  definitely  not  something  important,  suggesting  that  they  couldn't  face  it.  that  isn't  feminism.  it's  not  about  equal  rights.  it's  exactly  what  we  see  in  societies.  let  the  minority  think  they  won  something  when  in  fact,  you  don't  give  them  at  the  very  least  the  bare  minimum.

i  woke  up  and  chose  violence.  but  this  is  my  hot  take  on  the  sociological  aspects  of  the  movie.  i'm  oh  so  tempted  to  make  an  actual  paper  including  the  political  but  that'd  mean  someone  will  have  to  read  about  30  pages  in  word.  and  i  feel  sorry  for  that  person  already.

when  curiosity  doesn't  kill  you,  other  external  factors  will  work  on  that.  this  barbie  was  supposed  to  end  up  in  california,  to  fix  the  problem,  but  little  did  she  knew  before  she  embarked  on  this  suicide  mission  that  nothing  will  go  according  to  plan.  weird  barbie  explicitly  told  her  :  drive  the  car,  row  the  boat,  fly  the  rocket,  ride  the  bike,  drive  the  van,  ride  a  snowmobile  and  finally  rollerskate  into  the  real  world.  pretty  simple,  actually.  in  theory,  that  is.  alas,  at  some  point  when  she  was  driving  the  van,  earth  quacked  beneath  her,  though  she  mistaken  it  for  a  van  problem  –  that  was  seismology  barbie's  field  of  expertise,  not  hers.  she  was  just  actress  barbie.  in  just  a  few  seconds,  she  landed  on  the  pavement,  knees  scratched  at  impact.  as  soon  as  she  batted  her  lashes  to  see  the  real  world,  anguish  takes  over  barbie's  frame  as  she  watches  in  horror  at  what  the  real  world  looks  like.

there's  thick  smoke  surrounding  the  area  and  somewhere  not  too  far  in  the  distance  something  seemed  to  burn.  everything  seemed  to  stay  still  :  time,  nature,  even  the  doll.  she  doesn't  know  how  to  react  at  first,  therefore  she  takes  a  few  to  take  in  all  that  she  sees  and  feels  and  experiences.  the  real  world  is  an  odd  place,  she  thinks  to  herself,  maybe  that's  why  i  had  to  come  here.  that  thought  alone  leaves  shivers  down  her  spine,  knowing  all  too  well  she  wasn't  some  superhero  ;  she  was  just  actress  barbie.  her  only  role  in  the  world  was  to  inspire  little  girls  that  they  can  become  actresses  too.  she  can't  save  the  world.  not  if  it's  set  ablaze  anyway.  the  picture  perfect  smile  upon  her  countenance  begins  to  fade  as  a  sentiment  started  to  dig  at  her  chest  –  must've  been  the  scorching  fire  nearby  reacting  with  the  plastic.  another  thing  to  worry  about.  but  barbie  can't  just  give  up,  she  hasn't  even  tried  to  do  anything  yet.  she  was  stuck  there,  in  the  middle  of  nowhere,  with  no  other  living  being  in  sight,  scared  at  what  she  was  seeing.  if  that  was  a  movie  set,  it  surely  was  realistic.

taking  a  deep  breath  –  and  quickly  coughing  it  back  out  –,  barbie  finally  moves  from  where  she  initially  landed.  one  step  after  another,  glancing  all  around  her.  she  was  looking  for  someone  (anyone)  that  could  help  clear  things  out  for  her.  she's  not  yet  aware  that  she  hasn't  completed  all  the  easy  steps  weird  barbie  has  told  her  ;  hopefully,  she'll  get  there,  at  some  point.  and  she  walks,  dragging  her  plastic  frame  forward,  away  from  the  source  of  warmth.  she's  glancing  around  the  houses,  but  all  lights  are  cut  out  –  the  residents  must  be  sleeping,  she  can't  disrupt  them.  and  she  walks.  it's  been  for  maybe  half  an  hour,  though  it  felt  like  forever  and  more  to  barbie,  until  she  finally  landed  her  eyes  upon  someone  in  the  distance.  she  jogs  towards  the  silhouette,  hope  twinkling  inside.

"  hi  there,  can  you  tell  me  what  happened?  "    ask  and  the  answer  shall  come  –  or  wait,  because  ken  will  always  show  up  to  the  rescue.  though  this  wasn't  barbieland.  and  ken  didn't  join  her.  she  shakes  her  head,  trying  to  brush  off  that  dreadful  thought  –  that  she's  alone  and  she  might  never  find  her  way  back  home  –  with  a  slight  smile  upon  her  visage to @shadowedvales.    "  because  this  world  seems  like  it's  falling  apart.  and  if  that's  the  case,  tell  me  what  can  i  do  to  save  it.  "    she's  confident  in  her  illusions,  but  she  has  to  start  somewhere.  losing  all  hope  would  be  like  admitting  defeat  before  even  trying.

there  were  about  a  million  reasons  why  barbieland  was  far  superior  to  the  real  world;  and  yet,  this  barbie  too  wondered  about  the  world  beyond  those  pink  plastic  walls.  she  wasn’t  smiling  anymore,  instead,  she  took  all  the  information  allan  was  giving  her  in,  nodding  her  head  ever  so  slightly.    "  i  get  it,  "    she’s  quick  to  affirm  and  support  her  friend,  though  her  own  mind  has  been  subjugated  to  peculiar  thoughts  lately.  she  wasn’t  even  phased  anymore  about  the  language  used  by  other  dolls,  it  became  a  habit  for  such  words  to  be  uttered  with  nonchalance.    "  but  you’re  not  alone,  allan.  i  think  we’re  all  broken  or  sick  or  …  "    there’s  a  pause,  in  which  she  tries  to  find  the  appropriate  term  ;  it  was  easy  to  feel  the  feeling,  but  not  so  much  to  explain  it,  it  seems.    "  we  are  simply  becoming  something  else.  i  don’t  think  we  were  meant  to  stay  the  same.  nothing  is.  just  because  we  take  the  same  route  everyday  doesn’t  mean  it’s  supposed  to  be  the  same.  i’ve  noticed  recently  more  dolls  seem  to  have  problems  with  their  schedules  and  everything.  but  that’s  okay.  "    it  wasn’t,  because  she  doesn’t  know  why  that  happens,  only  that  she  accepts  it.  but  there’s  a  small  flicker  for  knowledge,  a  hunger  that  no  pancake  could  fix.    "  i  think  we  should  take  a  trip  into  the  real  world  and  see  where  the  journey  will  take  us.  we  can  conduct,  as  scientist  barbie  said,  an  experiment.  and,  if  the  conclusions  are  good  for  us,  maybe  the  others  can  join.  "

b4rbieroberts asked: 🙶 do you really want to leave barbieland? 🙷 / sidenote but i think allanland should be a thing. i'm just saying....

" YES. " did he say that a bit too quickly ? there's a lot there.

a sigh. he sits down next to barbie , looking out at the painted pink sky. " i mean , i feel like i'd be lost .. but when ken came back , he seemed like a completely new person. i wanna feel like i belong. you've always been nice to me though , barbie. i just .. i'm just so gosh darn confused ! " he threw the d word in there. surely if the other barbie's would hear such a phrase uttered , they'd be disgusted. but he wants to be real with barbie. REALLY REALLY REAL. like , not plastic.

" i think about dying a lot. "

everyday  used  to  be  the  same  in  barbieland  until  it  wasn’t  –  a  rupture  of  some  sorts  occurred  about  a  year  ago,  when  stereotypical  barbie  had  to  go  to  the  real  world  and    solve  the  issue.  and  apparently,  it  was  this  barbie’s  turn.  she  waved  farewell  to  every  barbie,  ken  and  midge,  skipper  &  allan  too.  it  was  comforting  to  know  someone  was  waiting  for  her  return  before    she  even  left,  but  it  was  something  that  had  to  be  done.  urgent,  nonetheless.  no  more  barbies  should  bare  witness  to  these  horrific  conditions.  as  it  turns  out,  the  scenarios  get  worse  each  time!  barbie  found  out  the  hard  way  that  her  morning  milk  was  spoilt  and  that  water  is,  in  fact,  wet  (  also  that  showers  seem  to  work?? ).

and  off  she  went  into  the  real  world,  to  fix  this  catastrophe.  but  this  world  seems  duller  than  barbie  mentioned.  ceruleans  wander  in  horror  at  the  sights  of  …  she  squints  at  a  bill  barbieboard,  reading  G  -  O  -  T  -  H  -  A  -  M    .    E  -  L  -  E  -  C  -  T  -  I  -  O  -  N  -  S.  interesting  name,  she  thought,  wondering  who  gotham  was.  as  she  walked  down  a  busy  street,  barbie  tried  to  stop  individuals  to  ask  them  about  mattel  headquarters,  but  everyone  seemed  to  ignore  her.  weird,  definitely  weird.

🙶  excuse  me  sir  -  sir!  sir?  🙷  another  failed  attempt  and  melancholy  started  to  set  in.  this  was  harder  than  stereotypical  barbie’s  encounter  with  the  real  world.  🙶  sir,  excuse  me,  🙷  she  tried  once  more,  this  time  lightly  patting  @chaoticjoke's  shoulder,  unlike  the  previous  attempts  which  were  exclusively  verbal.  🙶  hi!  can  you  tell  me  where  to  find  mattel?  🙷  a  bright  smile  flashed,  she  couldn’t  let  down  courtesy,  even  if  time  was  important  and  ruth  knows  what  would  happen  if  she  took  too  long  to  fix  the  rupture  in  barbieland.

there’s something really special about the way that, during barbie’s breakdown, gloria comforts her with (loosely paraphrased), “it kills me that someone as beautiful and smart as you feels this way”

and the point, of course, is that stereotypical barbie and stereotypical ken have both suffered under the constraints of their titles, that neither have ever had any room for self-actualisation as dolls, but barbie is surrounded by powerful women. doctors, physicists, presidents, judges. amazing women who—unlike barbie—hold massive amounts of power and influence in barbieland outside of just being barbie. stereotypical barbie goes through her arc asking questions and believing that everyone else around her is more qualified, more intelligent, more capable, more-whatever than her, despite the surface thesis of her story being that she has to confront the inequalities still faced by girls and women in the real world. even in barbieland, this utopia for women, barbie herself does not feel on par with her other aspects

because even the narrator pauses the action for a second to acknowledge that, yeah, margot robbie is fucking gorgeous, and any situation where she’s saying she isn’t pretty is objectively wrong. but the narrator doesn’t stop to say, “hey, stereotypical barbie, you don’t have to be called anything special to also be intelligent and creative and worthwhile,” because despite the utopian ideals of feminine power, stereotypical barbie is still regarded as the blonde bimbo who has to rely on others to tell her what to do, even if it’s meant kindly

but gloria, who she’s deeply connected to, whose emotions and fears barbie has taken on, who feels inadequate and small in her own life, looks at stereotypical barbie—before barbie became the doctor or president or construction worker or anything other than a pretty girl in a swimsuit—and says, “how brilliant you are, already, all on your own, without any special titles at all,” knowing that the changes that she needs to go through at the end of her story aren’t to make her smarter or more capable, but simply for her to find her own place

Anyway Barbie sitting on a bench, just having cried for the first time and looking over at an old woman and very genuinely complimenting her beauty was such a lovely moment. Because not long before, Barbie was freaking out about cellulite. But here in the Real World, where everything is so much more complicated than she could have imagined, so much more painful, she looks over and sees a woman who has actually lived. Aging is a privilege not afforded to everybody, and this little old woman, with all these years and experiences inside her, quite happy and at peace and secure with herself (she knows she’s beautiful), represents what Barbie is only starting to understand, that real death is staying the same forever.

That’s why it’s so important that The Ghost Of Ruth Handler, a little old lady herself, is the one who guides her into real life. She warns Barbie that by choosing to live, she must by necessity die. But in keeping with the themes of growing up, of adulthood, of womanhood, Barbie now knows that you can’t ever really return to the version of yourself that didn’t know something. Children, most children anyway, don’t really understand death. Part of the emotional struggle of adolescence and young adulthood is having to come to grips with the inevitable fact that your parents will die someday, as will everyone you love, and you yourself. If you’re lucky, not for many years. But it will happen.

And I think that’s why the turning point is “do you guys ever think about dying?” That’s why it matters that the girl playing with Barbie and changing her is a middle-aged woman. Gloria is grappling with her own morality and stifled creativity and feeling her daughter slip away from her and looking back on those days of innocent joyful play and the thing is that it’s all so sweetly painfully joyously human that it changes Barbie.

There’s a maiden(s), mother(s), and crone(s) aspect at play, and Barbie is all three and none at all. She is Ruth’s daughter and she is at once old (64 this year) and young (a toy for children, sexless and innocent and optimistic). Sasha is her past and Gloria is her present and the old woman on the park bench, filled up with years and life and peace and joy, is her future.

Barbie chose to become human, but it was also never really a choice. You can’t un-know something, you can’t ever go backward, you can only go forward. Humans only have one ending. The only alternative to growing is dying. And death may be inevitable, but better later than sooner. The child must become the adult. The adult must become the elder. The elder must eventually die. And living all those years is a gift even when it’s painful and Barbie embraces it.

the thing that gets me about about barbie is that barbie land wasn’t even purposefully a matriarchy, barbie land came about because of the way little girls were playing with their barbies, it wasn’t created by mattel it was created by the people using the toys, so the fact that the barbies ignored the ken’s and had girls night every night wasn’t because they had some bias against him, it was just an accurate depiction of how kids play with barbies. I had some ken dolls as a child and they were essential to the plot in the sense that of course my barbie has a boyfriend because that represented the world i saw around me, but also he didn’t have any purpose in my dream world because i was only interested in what the girls were doing because they represented me and how i wanted to be, I wanted girls night every night I wanted the girls to be president and austronauts and not because of some inherent feminist idea but because I was a girl and I wasn’t thinking about boys, ken was an accessory. this movie wasn’t made to change the world but it showed a different perspective than what we usually see which I thought was fun. Men don’t have to be the centre of all our stories and its not even because we hate them, sometimes we’re just not thinking about them

I’d lose interest if I found out it wasn’t about horses too