This is the dude who runs our Accounts Payable department.
[id: a toddler stands on a box next to a desk. (an adult’s arms are in frame, occasionally darting in to offer support, as the baby isn’t super stable.) The adult rings the desk phone from their mobile, and the baby waggles their arms excitedly and picks it up.
Baby babbles into the phone, in the unintelligible manner of a child who is vocalizing, but not yet speaking, but their tone is copied from hearing their parents, as it rises and falls conversationally. They dance happily and almost fall over. They catch their balance, and look at the out of frame adult with pride, hand over the receiver, as if to block their parent’s laughter from the line. They speak a few more ‘words’ before face-palming exaggeratedly.
Their tone turns more genial, and they turn and rest an elbow on a nearby shelf. They chatter for moment, before arching over backwards and taking on a more ‘good ol’ boys talking over the cooler’ type tone.
They over the receiver once more and turn to look at the adult of of frame, with the expression of a small child who has Done A Thing and checking their parent’s face to make sure it was appreciated. end id]
I hope that they feel good about themselves watching it. Like I don’t know, I feel like there’s some sort of relief in this movie in that the message ultimately is you’re good. You’re good as you are. You are enough just as you are. You’re crushing it. - Margot Robbie
“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You’re so beautiful and so smart. And it kills me you don’t think you’re good enough. Like we have to always be extraordinary. But somehow we’re always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin! You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money, because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about you kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior which is insane but if you point that outyou’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood but always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged so find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old. Never be rude. And never show off. Never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory! And nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong but also everything is your fault! I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie ourselves into knots so that people will like us.” -Gloria (America Ferrera, BARBIE)
new metric for media literacy for film bros is if they understand the barbie movie.
the kens are first presented as accessories to their barbies and it’s pointed out loud that they don’t even have places to stay in barbieland. one of the barbies straight up asks “wait, where do the kens stay?”. they’re just arm candy made to look pretty and cool while the barbies run their world.
but that’s fucked up!!! the film presents it as fucked up! that’s why ken screams “YOU FAILED ME!” and why he is insecure in the first place because he wanted to be respected and seen as a person, not someone who only exists in relation to someone else. should he have done what he did? no!!! that’s why it’s part of the conflict! the root of both of their breakdowns was in their society in that the barbies are supposed to be perfect and the kens exist in relation to them! it’s barbie and ken. he was a footnote. that’s why barbie apologizes to him in the end and tells him he can be himself. she doesn’t have to exist by some set of rules and neither does he! it’s barbie and it’s ken! sure, the resolution to the whole barbieland issue wasn’t perfect, BUT KEN’S WHOLE ARC IS ABOUT HOW THEIR WORLD FAILED MEN. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS MOVIE WAS ‘WOMEN GOOD MAN BAD’. WHAT ABOUT THE NUANCE
