What is the Barbie movie trying to say? (Update)
Hot Air,
by
John Sexton
Original Article
Posted By: Dreadnought,
7/26/2023 12:06:45 AM
I haven’t seen the Barbie movie but I’ve read several reviews coming from different perspectives which make me think I may need to rent it eventually. My expectation for this were about as low as they could be and the reviews I’ve seen from conservatives have suggested it lives up to those expectations. But even the conservative critics seem to have been surprised by just how ambitious this film is. It’s clearly trying to say something though there’s disagreement over exactly what the message is.
For instance, the Critical Drinker opened his review by praising the marketing team that sold this as a bland
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Dreadnought 7/26/2023 12:09:10 AM (No. 1520566)
I've seen the YT critiques from Drinker, Shapiro, and Oden, but I've heard from women, culturally and politically (to apolitical) aligned with those reviewers, who found the movie to be layered, complex, smart, and silly. It was not what they were expecting. Boring and lame for 8 year old girls (too long, and the PG13 language goes right over their heads) but older members of those weekend family groups were not put off by the film. That kind of disparity is a sign of success, not failure.
0 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
smokincol 7/26/2023 12:27:53 AM (No. 1520569)
"What is the Barbie movie trying to say? "
- that girls are girls and some boys are girls? but then again,
some girls are boys? but then again,
boys can be girls if they want to be but only on Saturdays? and
girls can be boys but only on Wednesdays? and
they can all be whomever or whatever they want to be on any day of the week? but then again ...
11 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 7/26/2023 1:12:03 AM (No. 1520585)
Don't know, don't care;
Even if I'm bored to tears I wouldn't watch it on free TV or waste the bandwidth to view a pirated version on the internet.
31 people like this.
After seeing Margot Robbie as a raunchy silent film actress is the masterpiece Babylon I can’t picture her as Barbie.
4 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 7/26/2023 3:07:54 AM (No. 1520599)
"What is the Barbie movie trying to say?"
A: That pink is a really neat color?
12 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
mifla 7/26/2023 4:29:33 AM (No. 1520608)
That Hollywood is still making bad movies.
26 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DiegoDude 7/26/2023 5:33:46 AM (No. 1520631)
Like the line from The Kinks 1970 song "Lola" said: "Girls will be boys and boys will be girls."
7 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
skacmar 7/26/2023 7:56:40 AM (No. 1520703)
People will read into the movie whatever they want. Sometimes, a movie is just a movie and people go to see it for mindless entertainment. Barbie certainly would qualify as mindless entertainment.
.
5 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
PostAway 7/26/2023 8:56:44 AM (No. 1520755)
If the movie has an existential message Barbie dolls are ridiculous vehicles. The message I get is “we’ve run out of ideas so…..girl power!” + “even woke chics like the androgynous Ryan Gosling” + “We’re Hollywood. We’re untalented hacks. What did you expect? Entertainment for its own sake?”.
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
felixcat 7/26/2023 9:04:28 AM (No. 1520767)
I don't know except that this is the best creativity that Hollywood can come up - a movie about a doll?
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
RayLRiv 7/26/2023 9:11:56 AM (No. 1520776)
That it's not a Wuthering Heights with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier?
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
MickTurn 7/26/2023 9:46:37 AM (No. 1520838)
All I know is that PINK SUCKS!
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Strike3 7/26/2023 9:52:42 AM (No. 1520849)
I'm about as likely to watch Barbie as I am "Star Wars XII" or "Harry and Meghan go to Ames Iowa."
8 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
red1066 7/26/2023 9:53:46 AM (No. 1520850)
Don't care. My view is that any movie that needs an advertising budget the size of the budget that this movie has can't be worth watching. If a movie is any good, word of mouth will sell it. The latest example of that is the movie about child trafficking. The Barbie movie may make a profit simply because people will be curious about it after all the advertising. I'll bet it gets several Oscar nods next year simply based on the sets and wardrobe.
6 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
udanja99 7/26/2023 10:19:20 AM (No. 1520890)
Hubby and I went to see Sound of Freedom last Saturday and saw previews of the Barbie movie. My only thought at the time was “obnoxious”.
I played with Barbies and believe that I had the very first version as I was seven years old when it debuted. My daughter also had a few Barbie’s but she didn’t play with them in the traditional sense - she cut off their hair, scribbled all over them with Magic Markers and removed their heads and limbs. Not sure what that means but she is now a conservative mom with 3 kids and another due any day now.
13 people like this.
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