By Aiden Plumbe

The Movie and its Message

The new Barbie movie has blown up since its release date, making over 1.38 billion dollars in the global box office. On its first weekend out, Barbie made $155 million and by September 4, 2023, Barbie officially became the biggest global earning movie from Warner Bros ever. The movie focuses on women’s empowerment and offers insight into reimagining feminism without ignoring men and their struggles and problems as well. The director, Greta Gerwig, highlights the unfair and unrealistic expectations regarding behaviour and appearance that women bear and the urgency of it stopping. As well as conveying this crucial message in our modern society, Barbie has a stellar balance of comedy, emotion, and engagement with the audience.

Personally, I loved the movie and thought it was definitely worthwhile. It is a great watch with many references, relatable and humorous characters, and a super creative plot. Within all of this, Barbie still projects a powerful message on the harm of our patriarchal society. This is cleverly illustrated in ‘Barbieland’, an upside-down version of our world, where women have power and men are only there to please the Barbies. It was fun and vibrant, and I would definitely recommend to anyone. Like the advertisement, whether you hate or love Barbie, this movie is a must watch for 2023 and years to come.

However, with the rise of the Barbie movie, critics and the public are producing controversial claims on its output. These global debates are growing in publicity as they spread throughout social media and the news.

Enough of Ken

Although the producers aimed to capture the everyday struggles of women, many people have complained that the movie focuses too much on Ken and his feelings, instead of that of Barbie’s. In contrast, individuals are also taking to the side that the movie is anti-men. This continuing argument has left the true intentions of Barbie mislead. 

Allan has recently become an extremely controversial figure in the movie. Where there are several Kens in Barbieland, Allan is the only one of his kind. This is because Mattel (the company who created ‘Barbie’) stopped producing him as he never caught on as well as Ken did. The movie uses this history to make Allan the comic relief character throughout the film, being a naturally clumsy and awkward person. His embarrassing persona also makes Allan one of the most relatable characters and allows the audience to connect with him. Undoubtedly, this subsequently made him one of the most popular characters. A large number of viewers believe that, for a movie on women empowerment and feminism, a man should not be the central attention. Personally, I love Allan and his role, but that doesn’t distract me from the key idea Barbie is putting forward; he is just a funny and understandable character. 

A bigger debate is occurring, regarding Ken’s massive role in the movie and how the directors should not have focused as much on him. Ken’s character development is arguably one of the most significant, as he goes from worshipping Barbie to becoming and being satisfied with his own self. Influencers are saying that because of this, Barbie feels like a ‘side character’ in her own movie. One tweeter said, “I hated how everything was made about making him feel better.” At the end of the film, Barbie apologises to Ken that she was never romantically interested in him and this itself has also sparked up controversy. Viewers have said that this damages the movie’s entire message on feminism, as it reinforces the idea that women should be ‘sorry’ to not love a man. However, the producers have a different view. The apology scene is supposed to reinforce their new insight on feminism, where women don’t have to ignore the struggles of men for equality. Some public members agree with this, saying that it is essential we recognise the issues that lure men into patriarchal views, often because of loneliness and alienation in our world. I agree with this idea, that we don’t need to punish the other gender for equality.

Anti-Men?

It is not a surprise, though, that men around the globe are arguing that the movie ‘bullies’ men. Throughout the movie, Ken is constantly rejected by Barbie and left trying to please her again and again and people are saying that this is unacceptable. Piers Morgan, famous broadcaster, specifically stated that the movie produces a misandrist message (anti-men message) and that there is no movie that does this to women. Piers Morgan’s thoughts have consequently grown. A group on Reddit, called r/MensRights, has over 350,000 members and agree that Barbie treats men as second-class citizens. 

On the other side, other men claim that the point of the movie is to show the problems that happen when men aren’t properly taught to deal with their emotions, leading them to rely on the patriarchy. I disagree that the movie targets men and purposely treats them badly. Barbieland is meant to reflect our society, where one gender is completely in power and the other is mistreated. Barbie shows us the unfairness of our world and the need for change.

Does it Hit Home?

People have not only been criticising men’s role in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, but also the feminist message itself. Influencers have insisted that the message and idea is surface-level and is not very powerful or significant. Apparently, Barbie fails to recognise the individual struggles that different groups of women go through in 2023. People claim that the movie only touches on the depth of feminism. Some protest it doesn’t address the numerous other varieties that inequality present itself excluding gender such as race, ethnicity, class, and sexual identity. 

One TikToker, jordxn.simone, posted that the movie doesn’t promote anything ‘radical or revolutionary’ in the act of feminism. ‘It would’ve been groundbreaking in the 60’s but in 2023 it falls flat and completely ignores any intersectionality.’ 

However, I do not believe this to be true along with many other others on the internet. Barbie has done a fantastic job on showing the harm of a patriarchal society and the importance of equality. Although it might not cover other issues, the movie was still extremely engaging in plot and successfully promoted their idea on gender and women’s empowerment. It would have been undeniably difficult to create such a globally popular movie that mentioned all issues in society past a surface level. Many people agree, saying that even if it isn’t groundbreaking, it provides as a solid refresher on feminism. This is exactly what the younger generation needs so that they can begin to understand the harms of the patriarchy.