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Man, this film was weird as a nonbinary person that had a whole lot of Barbies foisted upon me. I never begrudged Barbie, to be clear, because I never related to Barbie the way I think the film expects. Barbie was simply a doll I was given, but since she didn't fit in my doll house, she always went to "college," where my baby brain assumed people were doing important things unrelated to the soap opera I was unraveling. There was a teenage phase much like the tween in the film where I wanted nothing to do with Barbie, and if anything the film seems to be trying to address that specific mindset. The problem is that the teenage opinion of Barbie is kind of silly and lacks nuance, because teenagers are silly and lack nuance, and when the film tries to pivot to "actually we care about women who grew up with Barbie" it feels... insincere? Contrived? On the nose? I don't know what it feels but for me personally it was not a relatable shift. If anything, the attempts to acknowledge critics made it more weird. "Barbie has unrealistic beauty standards" is literally lampshaded by the narrator mentioning Margot Robbie was the wrong person to cast if you wanted someone to ugly-cry. I get it. I understand. This is as close as you could come so you're drawing attention to it. But that's how a lot of the film feels. Like I'm being booped on the nose by subtext and text just to make sure I understand. And I do. But it isn't new. I know I am supposed to be assertive yet nonthreatening. Inspirational yet not needy. I have attempted this my entire life. In a weird way, it feels like a power fantasy for cis women and a morality play for cis men, and anyone outside of that gets to be perhaps confused and unsatisfied. It's not unreasonable, it's not revolutionary, it's not unexpected, it just is. It's cute, I'll give it that. If you want a "I see what you did there" film this is probably it. But I will say if you're trans or nonbinary it will most likely not just be not revolutionary, but actively weird. Actual real life end of film spoiler, which may not actually matter to non-trans people? It ends on Barbie asking for gynecological care. I understand WHY it happens -- gynecology is weirdly stigmatized and this is an attempt to alleviate that. But heck if you're trans it's weird. Barbie is kind of presented as this epitome of Womanhood, with all it's complications and tribulations. And I'm not upset by that, I understand why that's what they want to do. But a film that actively tells people mid-film Barbie does NOT have a vagina switching to her needing medical care for a vagina is weird and specific in a way I did not expect. I'm not upset by vaginas. I have one. But the specific combination of "Barbie is complicated Womanhood" "genitals are not Barbie" and "Barbie now has specific genitals" was real weird.
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Feb 12, 2024 11:34
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 07:39 |
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Ravenfood posted:A woman in a movie has a vagina and goes for a routine medical exam. Somehow, this is interpreted as the movie saying "all real women have vaginas". I think I explicitly mentioned that I understood the purpose and value of the scene (destigmatizing and in fact encouraging gynecological care is good!), just that it was odd when accompanied by other scenes and themes in the film. As you mentioned, Barbie's journey is discovering her humanity, her place outside a brand or symbol. I just the thought the specific combination of gaining humanity and "I now have genitals" was kind of weird. I know that's not what they meant, it's just how I took it. 
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Feb 13, 2024 06:05
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