Thanks for exploring the extremely important human "appetite" issue with this film! I wrote about the Barbie movie too, twice (!) and found that there is so much to unpack, and so much that is emotional (for women), and because of some major flaws in the film it's just damn hard to decipher.
I'm a 60-year-old woman, married for 40 years, a feminist, and I have not been a "career woman" in the Barbie-sense as I helped with our home business most of those years. I did not own barbies as a child (though I played with them a few times). I was much more interested in nature and books (and just about everything else). Still, my two daughters played with these dolls and had a lot of fun with them. They are now grown, brilliant, emotionally-secure women (in spite of our insane culture). My favorite take on the film was by ShoeOnhead, who made the point that the discussion surrounding this film is better than the film, and it really is a Rorschach test--which I guess that means it's a good film! (Hope it's okay to share that link. I especially like her humor.) https://youtu.be/2CsTzVyZP4M
P. S. I'm also glad you brought up how damaging Barbie can be for children (and adults!) regarding body image. While I love that they have all the professions now and 4 variations on body type, this has only happened in the last 20 years! I was surprised, though, to see that the "curvy" Barbie is perceived as plus size, but that's understandable as women have been groomed to see: curvy = obese. The "curvy" Barbie would actually be a size 6 in American human size and have a low BMI.
This is really interesting about the Rorschach test. I think that assessment is pretty spot on, and I guess it could be true of all art. What we see says more about us than the art itself. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this post!
Correction: The professions have increased dramatically over 20 or so, but the new body types were only introduced in 2017. We have a LOT of work to do!
Thanks for exploring the extremely important human "appetite" issue with this film! I wrote about the Barbie movie too, twice (!) and found that there is so much to unpack, and so much that is emotional (for women), and because of some major flaws in the film it's just damn hard to decipher.
I'm a 60-year-old woman, married for 40 years, a feminist, and I have not been a "career woman" in the Barbie-sense as I helped with our home business most of those years. I did not own barbies as a child (though I played with them a few times). I was much more interested in nature and books (and just about everything else). Still, my two daughters played with these dolls and had a lot of fun with them. They are now grown, brilliant, emotionally-secure women (in spite of our insane culture). My favorite take on the film was by ShoeOnhead, who made the point that the discussion surrounding this film is better than the film, and it really is a Rorschach test--which I guess that means it's a good film! (Hope it's okay to share that link. I especially like her humor.) https://youtu.be/2CsTzVyZP4M
P. S. I'm also glad you brought up how damaging Barbie can be for children (and adults!) regarding body image. While I love that they have all the professions now and 4 variations on body type, this has only happened in the last 20 years! I was surprised, though, to see that the "curvy" Barbie is perceived as plus size, but that's understandable as women have been groomed to see: curvy = obese. The "curvy" Barbie would actually be a size 6 in American human size and have a low BMI.
This is really interesting about the Rorschach test. I think that assessment is pretty spot on, and I guess it could be true of all art. What we see says more about us than the art itself. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this post!
Correction: The professions have increased dramatically over 20 or so, but the new body types were only introduced in 2017. We have a LOT of work to do!