The Mattel doll (who co-produces the film) has been accused of promoting unattainable standards of beauty and has even been described as paying homage to patriarchy, but she’s also responsible for popularizing female roles that, to say the least, were very rare back then. Date of its appearance in 1959: an adult, single, childless, working woman living alone.
It’s not surprising that the controversy accompanies a doll that has sold more than a billion copies in 150 countries, according to Mattel whose film had a budget of $145 million Add to that a huge campaign that reached such proportions that its advertising resulted in a lack of pink paint, the company Rosco confirmed to CNN last June.
The premise of the Barbie film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is based on the idea that the doll will be evicted from Barbieland because she doesn’t look perfect, and then make her way to the human world to save one to find meaning behind it. than I had understood until then.
A picture from the movie “Barbie”.
Photo credit: AP
But the questions about the film were not long in coming and came from the most conservative wing of US politics to communist parties in Asia.
Vietnam’s communist government had already announced that it would ban the film’s release because a map showing a dashed line in the South China Sea, which is claimed by Beijing, appears for a few seconds in the film.
The official Vietnamese newspaper called it an “offensive image”.
From some, like Republican Texas Senator Ted Crux, the event sparked a contrary reaction, as they viewed the film as “Chinese propaganda.” that it “brainwashes” the girls and boys who want to watch the tape.
Along the same lines as Cruz, Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher wrote on his Twitter account: “The fact that a cartoon map shows illegal claims illustrates the pressure from Hollywood to please Chinese Communist Party censors.”
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn said the map – which resembles a child’s crayon drawing – supports Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea and is “legally and morally wrong and should be taken seriously.”
Warner Bros., the distributor of the tape, says the image only shows Barbie transitioning from her fantasy world to a map that’s modeled on the real one and has no political message whatsoever.
That’s what Bill Hayton, an expert on Vietnam and the South China Sea, explained in an interview with the New York Times “I didn’t get what all the fuss was about.”
“The map in the film doesn’t appear to be related to an actual world map,” Hayton added. “It seems like the censors in Vietnam are trying to show their patriotism and usefulness to the regime,” he said.
Does the Barbie film deny faith and family?
Ginger Gaetz, wife of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, was another critic of the film for allegedly denying faith and family.
The pair attended the Washington DC premiere, and Ginger Gaetz wrote a fiery review, lamenting that the film had moved away from the “female empowerment” she grew up with, and instead ” refuses to address any notions of faith or familyand tries to normalize the notion that men and women cannot work together in a positive way.”
Gaetz’s wife’s review alludes to an element of advertising for the Barbie film, in which she refers to Ken and the doll as “He’s just Ken.”
Ryan Gosling (left) and Margot Robbie in a scene from “Barbie” in this image from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Photo credit: AP
Republican criticism of the inclusion of LGBTQ characters in Barbie
The film’s cast includes openly lesbian actress Kate McKinnon and trans actress Hari Nef, in a nod to the LGBTQ community.
Charlie Kirk, president of the conservative group Turning Point USA, even considered boycotting the film. Call it “trans propaganda”for which he blamed an alleged “transgender mafia,” he said on June 30.
Also commenting on the controversy over the inclusion of a transgender doctor, a Twitter follower named Just Mindy criticized Gaetz’s presence in a tape starring trans actress Hari Nef. “I wonder why we can’t win the ‘culture wars’?” he wrote. Gaetz jokingly replied, “If you let a transsexual stop you from seeing Margo.” [sic] Robbie, the terrorists are winning.”
Does the Barbie film promote capitalism or is it satire?
The critics are divided so far. Some say Gerwig’s film successfully addresses criticisms that have surrounded Barbie for decades, such as the lack of diversity and unrealistic depictions of the female body, by showing the absurdity of the fantasy world in which the doll lives.
Ross Bonaire, a reviewer for Collider, notes that the film could have been “little more than a toy commercial,” but says it delivers “an existential look at the difficulties of being a woman, the terrible nature of life and the certainty that trying to be perfect is absurd.
Rolling Stone’s David Fear describes the film as “the most subversive blockbuster film of the 21st century yet”.
But others, like Vulture and The New York Times, point out that the film fails to critique the multi-billion dollar industry behind the puppet, whose film was blessed by Mattel.
Alison Willmore from Vulture notes that the film “It’s not a critique of corporate feminism, it’s an update” and that the quote demonstrates a certain “defensiveness” to possible criticism the film might face.
“Although Gerwig offers some critical nudges, these seem more like a nod to the adult audience than anything else,” writes Manohla Dargis of the New York Times.
Is Barbie a Feminist?
Mattel has taken pains not to label the Barbie film a “feminist” film, although its director has films like “Lady Bird” and her 2019 version of the classic “Little Women” in her filmography that deal with the new roles of women deals .
But the debate goes much deeper.
Carol Hay, professor of feminist philosophy and author of Think like a feminist, explains in a piece published in The Conversation that Barbie’s “hyperbolic blonde femininity represented everything that was wrong about patriarchal standards of beauty.”
However, Hay confirms that the tape seems to reinvent the image of the doll towards a more modern panorama and even I appreciate some of its features that were revolutionary at the time of its release (like being single with a job).
“I think that Barbie has long served as a proxy onto which cultural aspirations and fears about femininity are projected,” she writes.
“The toy first came onto the market in 1959. For previous generations As the first doll to encourage girls to strive beyond motherhood, Barbie could have represented the uncompromising ambition of the independent professional woman.
But for women growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Barbie represented a standard of beauty created to please straight men.
The philosophy professor concludes that the film examines (and even satirizes) these standards and prompts an even more interesting debate: Is femininity itself superficial? He quotes author Ruth Wippman: “L Fashion is seen as vain and superficial, while baseball is hailed as a branch of philosophy..
There is a wide debate as to whether the film answers these unknowns, but Hay reiterates, “I come to the realization that the portrayals of Femininity can serve other purposes than conquering a man“.
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