Since it hit theaters on July 21, “Barbie” has already grossed over $300 million globally, far exceeding its already lofty expectations.
However, despite its outward success, “Barbie” has been quite polarizing. Some float out of theaters aglow in pure hot pink girl power, while others stomp out of showings cursing the movie for its man-hating, liberal agenda.
Allie Beth Stuckey joins with producer Bri Schrader to discuss the highly controversial film.
Allie plays one of the trailers for the “Barbie” movie, which is undeniably entertaining, full of big-name celebrities, and seemingly all-inclusive – it even boldly claims to be a movie for Barbie lovers and haters alike.
“If I just saw that trailer, I would want to see that movie, not knowing everything that I know now about our entertainment industry,” Allie says.
But since she is well acquainted with the corruption of Hollywood, Allie doesn’t plan on seeing “Barbie” any time soon.
Bri, as a Greta Gerwig fan, however, did go see the movie on opening weekend and has some valuable insight to share.
From Bri’s perspective, the plot is quite erratic, as Barbie and Ken venture back and forth between Barbieland, a matriarchal society, to the real world, which is – you guessed it – dominated by the patriarchy.
In short, Ken, after learning about the patriarchy of the real world, brings his newfound man power back to Barbieland, which he effectively turns into Kendom, but it doesn’t go well. The Barbies devise a crafty plan to regain their dominance through essentially manipulating the Kens in “a very toxic way,” according to Bri.
Meanwhile, Barbie, who is no longer the stereotypical, superficial doll she was before her adventures, decides to return to the real world to be a human, leaving behind Ken, whom she never liked anyway.
“This whole movie is about patriarchy and feminism,” Bri says.
“The overwhelming point is that women don’t need men and women don’t enjoy men, and it’s because of patriarchy, and in the end men are still subservient to women and that’s how it’s intended to be,” she rants, clearly disappointed in a film she was eager to see.
“So my question is: do you think it’s a promotion of that idea or a critique of that idea?” Allie asks, adding, “because [Barbie] goes back to the patriarchy … some people are saying ‘no, this has a conservative message.’”
To hear Bri’s response, watch the full clip below.
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This content was originally published here.
