{"id":24126,"date":"2023-08-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=24126"},"modified":"2023-08-09T11:04:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T18:04:01","slug":"open-space-if-youre-offended-by-barbie-youre-part-of-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2023\/08\/09\/open-space-if-youre-offended-by-barbie-youre-part-of-the-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Space<\/em>: If you\u2019re offended by Barbie<\/em>, you\u2019re part of the problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greta Gerwig\u2019s Barbie<\/i> premiered on July 21, and it inspired a mass wave of people to put on their favourite pink outfits and head to the movies, selling out theatres across the globe in the process. The movie is a massive success: the opening weekend saw $162 million in sales and broke the first-weekend record for a film directed by a woman.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s caused backlash as people (mostly men) have taken to the internet to christen Barbie<\/i> as an \u201canti-man\u201d film. (Not to be confused with the film Ant-Man<\/i>; however, I do blame men for creating that gem.)<\/p>\n

To fully understand why people are burning Barbie dolls out of rage (I wish I was kidding), we must first understand the plot of Barbie<\/i>, so, beware: spoilers ahead.<\/p>\n

Barbie<\/i> follows the life of Stereotypical Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, who lives in a matriarchal society called Barbieland. There are Kens in Barbieland, but they have less important roles like Beach Ken, played by Ryan Gosling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This story originally appeared in our August 9, 2023 issue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Life is good in Barbieland until Stereotypical Barbie begins having an existential crisis, which leads her to the real world for answers. Beach Ken accompanies Stereotypical Barbie to the real world and they\u2019re both surprised, for different reasons, by the patriarchal society that offers a stark contrast to Barbieland. Ken, feeling important for once, brings patriarchy back to Barbieland, which soon begins to crumble under his regime.<\/p>\n

Barbie<\/i> flips the script on sexist themes seen throughout movies since the beginning of, well, movies. Turning Beach Ken into a sexy object whose only obsession is winning the affections of Stereotypical Barbie is not a tactic used by filmmakers to suggest that this should be the new way of the world. Instead, it points to how women have been viewed in film: as objects dripping with sex appeal who stand daintily beside the men who save the day, or as empty boy-obsessed characters devoid of personality beyond having breasts. (On that note, someone please tell male writers that this isn\u2019t actually a personality trait.)<\/p>\n

To sum up the negative backlash that Barbie<\/i> is facing, Twitter user @TechnicallyRon does a nice job by incorporating one-star reviews into the art in the Barbie<\/i> movie poster. For example: \u201cAn alienating, dangerous and perverse film,\u201d \u201cThe feminist agenda will kill us all,\u201d and my personal favourite, \u201cThey won\u2019t be happy until we are all gay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone who sees Barbie<\/i> and suddenly feels threatened has either missed the point entirely or, worse, related to one of the toxic characters. For example, Beach Ken\u2019s personality once he discovers the patriarchy draws resemblance to people who create self-centred podcasts that drone on about alpha males, beef (for some reason), and, of course, the gym. If that\u2019s you, and you\u2019re offended by this dramatized portrayal, therapy is a super-duper powerful tool.<\/p>\n

As well as pointing out gender inequalities, Barbie<\/i> also sweetly touches on how difficult and scary the transition from girlhood to womanhood can be. While a portion of movie-goers may not understand that transition, or know what it feels like to be considered an object, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re being cruelly ridiculed.<\/p>\n

Not every movie is made for every person.<\/p>\n

I know that a certain demographic isn\u2019t used to not being the centre of attention, but, as Barbie<\/i> reminds us, it\u2019s a personality trait they should acquire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greta Gerwig\u2019s Barbie premiered on July 21, and it inspired a mass wave of people to put on their favourite pink outfits and head to the movies, selling out theatres across the globe in the process. The movie is a massive success: the opening weekend saw $162 million in sales and broke the first-weekend record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,293],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views","category-august-9-2023"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24127,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24126\/revisions\/24127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}