Barbie Girls Nuke the Nuclear Family
“It’s only a movie,” is what people will tell you when speaking of the influence of Barbie on societal views of traditional values. But movies, music and literature have heavily swayed ethics and culture throughout history. On the surface, the Bible is simply a book, the Constitution is a piece of parchment and Die Hard is just a Christmas movie. What they contain, however, has started wars, sparked political debates and ended relationships. Barbie, as an artform, is no different and humorously embeds its dangerous rhetoric into the minds of the adults and, terrifyingly, the children of this generation under the shroud of “it’s only a movie.” Traditional households, meaning a home in which both parents live with their children and tasks are designated by typical gender roles, received light-hearted lashes by the creators of Barbie throughout the entire movie, going as far as being critical of pregnancy, a traditionally powerful female ability that has been worshipped throughout history. Children, whether male or female, who are constantly developing logical, emotional and social skills, may be influenced by the exaggerated and negative outlook of both male and female roles in society, spreading fear and hate of the opposite gender under the guise of reality without true understanding of how modern society is structured. But, remember, it’s only a movie.
Wow! A World of Make Believe
In the opening scene you see a little girl playing with a baby doll, as girls do, who often mimic their mothers who love and care for them. The solemn narrator, is obviously discontent with the representation of baby dolls on a little girl’s future and deems Barbie Dolls the saviors from the burdens of motherhood. The baby dolls then soar through the air and hit the ground without a second look from the child. This vivid, nearly violent, portrayal of letting go of motherly traits at an early age is obvious to any viewer paying attention. The message, that women deserve or even want to be released from the bondage of motherhood, could rather have easily been about Barbie’s triumphant success in implanting small dreams in children that are capable of blossoming into flourishing career aspirations in a time that women were traditionally homemakers. Needless to say, the film did not make a strong first impression to the eyes of the traditional family watching it, nor did it bode well to act as if Barbie, a female icon, shows any reluctance towards the compassionate and loving nature of a mother. Nevertheless, according to Barbie, that was the birth of Barbie.
Barbie awakes to the feminine utopia of Barbie Land where, as quoted straight from the movie, the Barbies are “living their best life.” All of the different Barbie types are wishing each other good mornings and showering one another with affection and words of affirmation, except for one of the live action dolls and that is a Barbie named Midge. Midge is “weird,” according to the movie’s narrator, simply due to the fact that she is pregnant. Near immediately in sequence child raising and child rearing are both attacked by this narrator. But it was quite hypocritical given the fact that Barbie had just stated that ‘girls can do anything they want to,’ besides being a mother, that is too “weird.” It was apparent at this point that Barbie was going to be a piece of radical feminist propaganda that neglects the core of womanhood and treats it as a butt of a joke rather than a source of power. The traditional family then turned off the television due to the damage it could cause to daughters that may be influenced by it and mine hopefully wasn’t the only one that did this for the sake of an entire generation of future mothers.
Ken, and a multitude of other Kens, are introduced as the female equivalent in Barbie Land. Ken still demonstrates many male qualities and are treated closer to children than they are the women of reality. Of these male qualities, the one that rings most true is his need for validation from Barbie, quoting that “Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.” Which is humorous throughout the movie due to the fact that Barbie is not interested in a relationship with Ken, and finds him to be a mild inconvenience, despite his desperate attempts at courtship. Barbie never outrightly denies Ken’s attempts, rather his attempts go unnoticed or are treated as awkward lulls in the script. But this does not stop Ken from trying to win over Barbie’s full attention and finds himself jealous of other the other Kens that Barbie may invest any time into. While courtship is a typically male trait within reality, Ken does seem to want Barbie’s full attention at all times, and is goaded and teased by the other Kens when he does not receive this attention making his attempts more forceful each time. This is not a healthy quality of men and does often happen in reality. Barbie frames this concept as an awkward and humorous relationship between the two, but in reality, this type of male behavior leads to stalking, threatening behaviors and sexual assaults. The movie has a right to shine light on these obsessive male issues, despite the traditional view that men are supposed to pursue and court a woman, men also need to learn when enough is enough.
The “Red Pill”
Following a tickle-me-pink road trip, Barbie and Ken, who forced himself upon Barbie’s quest to remove her cellulite due to its unsightliness and apparent drift from perfection, end up in the land of Reality. As the not-so-couple rollerblade onto the beachside walkway, Barbie is immediately berated by testosterone fueled men who begin to sexually harass her and even slap her buttocks without warning or consent. Barbie then punches the assailant in the face, a valid response, and, unrealistically, finds herself in jail rather than the male assailant. Constructions site workers and police officers take part in this harassment as well, giving the impression that men in professional settings are willing to sexually harass a random attractive female. While sexual harassment and assaults in society are alarmingly frequent, the vast majority are committed upon victims that are known to the assailant. The film is quite selective with the realities of social issues that our world has and, in this instance, sows fear of all men for young women and generalizes crude and criminal behavior of men, making upstanding young men feel misrepresented in society.
Ken and Barbie decide that the best way to find Mattel, the Barbie corporate headquarters, is to divide and conquer. Ken and Barbie go their separate ways in Reality and both individuals have differing experiences that lead to the plot of the film. The experiences are overly exaggerated, blatantly crush any female involvement in modern society and disrespects women’s value in history and the world today.
Ken’s experience creates a subplot within the film by discovering patriarchy, the idea that men control all governmental, economic and social aspects of daily life. Male historical figures are plastered upon bill boards and male executives belittle the only female that is featured in the scene. This realization completely disregards any of the powerful female voices that we have in our history and society such as The Virgin Mary, Cleopatra, Harriet Tubman, Queen Elizabeth and Oprah Winfrey. Ken does come across a valid obstacle; patriarchy is not the only component in order to become a powerful and wealthy man, one must earn a degree or have experience in the field first. He does conversate with a male executive who outrightly jokes that patriarchy is hidden within organizations to keep the bias from the public eye, but again, hypocritically states when Ken requests a high-ranking position based on being a man, that this “patriarchal qualification” is reversing. Nevertheless, Ken takes these concepts of patriarchy back to Barbie Land, which begins the subplot of crushing male power in Barbie Land.
Barbie’s trek through Reality held much more substance that exposed more exaggerated issues and more motherhood-bashing. As Barbie walks into a park filled with people and children, she observes the burdens of motherhood and an argument between a couple where the boyfriend and insulting his girlfriend while both parties are frantically trying to work out a solution. A tear of sadness then rolls down Barbie’s face. This sadness was quickly reversed by the sight of a homosexual couple enjoying a beautiful day at the park. This is the first identifiable attack on the marriage portion of the traditional household.
A vision was given to Barbie where she sees her doll’s owner at a school and begins to follow the magical gravity of this girl which leads her and Ken, who has recently been pumped with toxic masculinity, go to the school in her vision. As she sees the girl of her vison, Barbie begins to feel anxious and a disgruntled mother again expresses her frustrations with motherhood. Stating that children are awful at middle school age and the children take it easy on fathers while constantly making a mother’s job more difficult. Children tend to turn to their mothers first when they need things or are having issues. Children are not actively attempting to burden the lives of their mothers but are simply trying to learn in a safe space. The mother is the safe space. The woman’s comment outright diminishes the trust that her child placed in her and treats that trust as an inconvenience.
One of the main characters of Reality is now introduced, Sasha. Sasha is a moody teenage girl set on the destruction of gender norms and has developed a deeper understanding of modern women’s issues. Unknown of correlation, she is also extraordinarily rude, disrespectful of her mother, and emotionally taxing on anyone in her general vicinity. When confronted with Barbie, she demolishes her identity as a doll that helps little girls follow their dreams and argued that Barbie Dolls somehow set the feminist movement back fifty years due to unrealistic body standards that damages a girl’s sense of self worth and sexualized capitalism, meaning that the doll’s consumer base is targeted towards little girls widening the difference between men and women interests. Sasha’s argument, while filled with intelligent sounding vocabulary, is a childish and acute point of view. Sasha fails to see that Barbie provides young girls with the seeds of their aspirations. Sasha’s argument truly falls apart when “sexualized capitalism” is dissected. The majority of products on grocery shelves, especially toys, are gender selective and have not been a media target for undermining women’s issues.
After being thoroughly dismantled by Sasha’s narrow minded social equality views, Mattel collects Barbie and brings her to the company headquarters where she meets the CEO and board members who are all male. As Barbie demands to see the woman in charge, the CEO begins to gaslight Barbie immediately and comments about the number of female CEO’s Mattel has hired, which is three CEOs out of seven total. After a humorless rant by the CEO, Barbie is asked to get back into her box, which is supposed to be representative of the box that men keep women in. Barbie initially obliges and then begins running from the Mattel CEO and his goons. Barbie receives help from her owner that she’s been trying to find, Gloria, Sasha’s mother. Rather than attempting to find Ken and return to Barbie Land, Barbie simply brings Gloria and Sasha back with her to escape Mattel and continue to try and cure her cellulite.
Honey, I’m Home!
The arrival into Barbie Land is bittersweet for Barbie and her new found crew, Gloria and Sasha. Ken had arrived in Barbie Land before Barbie along with Ken’s patriarchal ideas. Barbies began serving Kens in housewife-like ways, from serving them beers to dressing in maid outfits, Barbie left no room to imagine that the Kens has put the Barbies “in their place.” This is supposed to be regarded as negative to the viewer, but even the other Barbies, that seem to be under a hypnotic spell, enjoy serving the Kens and enjoy releasing their day-to-day responsibilities. In our modern society, the ability to do that would be a luxury in most households. The film exaggerates and twists traditionalism to trick the viewer to believe that a woman’s role is frivolous. However, in a traditional home where the husband provides financial security and the wife keeps a household running smoothly, there is mutual respect for another’s role and understanding of the workload that each person takes on. This is not at all represented in Barbie Land because nobody works or has children, because pregnancy is weird, child bearing is frowned upon and male existence is a mild inconvenience.
Ken’s transformation over the course of the movie is based in being unrecognized for his efforts and ignored by the woman he loves. This made him radically change his mindset toward Barbie, and Barbies as a whole. This is the stereotypical “red pill,” where men congregate with other men, spewing hate for women based on personal anxieties from past trauma and current toxic situations. Where Ken wanted to be respected simply for who he was by Barbie and the other Kens, which is the case for most people, without bias, in our modern society today. The filmmakers took Reality a bit further when Ken explains it to the other Kens. Ken states that, “Everything exists to expand and elevate the presence of men” when speaking on it. If Barbie Land is simply the opposite of reality, as insinuated throughout the movie, then the only thing that could elevate and expand the presence of women would be pretty clothes, childlessness and lack of romantic endeavors. The filmmakers show their own opinions of modern women when Kens brainwash the entire Barbie populous within a day and Barbie gives up on Barbie Land immediately, suggesting that Barbie doesn’t have a willful mind in any way. This is not the case for women in the slightest. At this point in the film is where the filmmakers display their true disgust for both femininity and masculinity. Matchbox Twenty’s Push begins to play on Ken’s radio station on repeat, which is a song about an emotionally grueling relationship where the male half of the relationship is abusive towards the seemingly stuck female half. This is a colorful display of hate for any traditional relationship implying that a man will cause emotional turmoil in a woman’s life and will be punished for trying to get out of it. This is a dangerous message plaster in front young women and children.
Solving the Barbie’s magical brainwashing and how the Kens are overthrown from the Barbie Land government was particularly concerning leaning further into the territory of disgusting. Gloria and Sasha help Barbie remember who she is, as a powerful and beautiful woman, unique in every way. Gloria then speaks on women as a whole, explaining the societal, personal and emotional expectations placed upon them. However, Gloria’s emotional rant does not speak on the expectations of others, rather it speaks of the anxieties that women may have about themselves based on past trauma and current toxic situations. Gloria paints many vivid pictures of women attacking women, male expectations and even more complaints about being a mother. In reality, Gloria took two-and-a-half minutes to complain about fake or self-imposed expectations placed on women. Magically and humorously, Gloria’s speech broke the spell. Why? According to Barbie, complaining about being a woman in society robs patriarchy of its power. Ironically, it also adds to the stereotype that women will complain about anything and everything. As the movie continues, the Barbies have been freed and implement a plan to overthrow the Kens and take back Barbie Land. The Barbies then succumb themselves to the Kens wishes, who bring the Barbies to the beach for a romantic beachside picnic. The Kens then serenade the Barbies by playing them Matchbox Twenty’s Push and then the Barbies begin to text other Kens to make their current Kens jealous of one another so that they may tear themselves apart. In simpler terms, the Barbie used Ken, a man trying to court Barbie the entire film, as a means to an end, and when he was most vulnerable, she cheated on him in order to get what she wanted. Barbie is a blatantly immoral and destructive film for the image of our modern women. To act as if virtue is less important than power is a direct insult to women as a whole. Making matters worse, they again insult Midge, the pregnant doll, after the plan came to fruition. The film had been silently vocal in its hatred for traditional relationships and children throughout the entire film and then showed support for infidelity and conniving behaviors in women for a means to an end.
Venn Diagrams Are Sexist
The film Barbie, while possibly the most heinous and dangerous movie to be produced with young men and women in mind, made a number of valid points between its nonsense. As stated previously, traditionally, men provide financial stability while women stabilize the household. But for most families, responsibilities have changed due to rising costs and societal progresses. Being a stay-at-home-mom, which until the last 60 years ago, was just called being a mom, is a luxury. The issue is that economically forcing women into the workforce has caused contentions regarding positions and wages earned. Women in any position, not just leadership roles or high earning positions, make significantly less than their male counterpart in the same position. This could be due to a number of reasons but the worst of them should be addressed outright; sexist employers simply just offer a lower wage to a female candidate. Most men in the society have grown in a diverse environment where acknowledgment and respect are freely given unless affected by an outside source. Therefore, paying someone a lower wage simply based on gender is a disgusting, predatory and even illegal practice if proven. A secondary reason that a female may receive a lower wage is due to personal commitments such as children, which I believe is why Barbie was so against child-bearing. But this reason is multifaceted for the company or the individual themselves may be to blame. Companies may ‘prepare” for the possibility of exorbitant use of sick time, paid time off, or FMLA due to women typically being the primary caretaker of her children. This leads some companies to offer a lower wage. As an employee women may also take unpaid time off in order to care for her children leading to lost wages. Lastly, the idea that women are paid less or less likely to be hired for position is rampant across our society. This lack of confidence may lead to women taking the first high paying offer they receive without negotiating with whoever is offering it, leading to a lesser wage.
The best course of action would be to reverse the economy well enough that society could go back to traditional style living, but at this point it is a pipe dream. Fixing the wage gap, however, is not as simple. Laws that expect companies to sink funds into people based on their gender cannot be passed, that is a slippery slope that goes against all capitalist values and further alienate other groups that may also feel the pressures of bias. There is no simple answer to fixing the wage gap because men and women are supposed to do different things, the only hope is that we veer back into traditional values that would help the economy, help our children and give a sense of purpose back to both genders that seems to have been lost over the last few decades.
Conclusion
There is much to be said about a film that can twist such an innocent toy and turn it into a weapon against young men and women. Young men will watch this and believe that their romantic efforts towards women may be misconstrued as creepy or annoying. They may believe that women are an enemy that needs to be conquered, which is the reverse of what Barbie’s lesson was initially meant to be. Men may find it difficult to trust a woman who finally accepts him and acknowledges his efforts towards her in fear of being broken by her. Young women may expect nasty men the moment they step into adulthood, but they will be looking at the wrong men. Women may find themselves having a negative correlation between their lives and the possibility of children, which is who we live for. These are dangerous messages veiled by humor and light-hearted jabs. But the film itself did not get to the two genders independent issues, it only complained about them. It didn’t address the wage gap, only the hierarchy. It didn’t address sexual harassment; it just embarrassed the good men that don’t glorify that behavior. It didn’t address the stress of the working mother, it simply complained about it. The expectations for this movie were for it to be a fun-loving children’s movie, and it became political propaganda. The scariest part is that some may take the messages within and treat them as gospel. But its only a movie.
