I went to see Barbie with two friends of mine earlier this year. Together we spanned three generations of women. The youngest pushed me to go. “You have to go” she emphasized with urgency. “You have to!” So we went, snacks abounding, to the movie theater which was a treat after the isolation of Covid.
I spit laughed at the opening scene and then throughout the movie. I enjoyed it and since I actually still have my Barbies, thought this movie was an interesting and nostalgic take on contemporary culture. Not only did this speak to my age, my childhood memories and the indoctrination such cultural mythic elements played and continue to play on women’s development as human beings today, it showed me the kinda large but coherent gap between my experience and my two younger friends as young women. Fascinating.
I posted this response to a Barbie movie review posted by one of my contemporaries on the the Feminsim and Religion blog started by women’s spirituality scholar and theologian Carol P. Christ. https://feminismandreligion.com/
esikiesays:I spewed my drink outa my nose when Ken whined that when patriarchy wasn’t about horses, he lost interest. My favorite joke in a semi-enjoyable campy joke-filled movie – and I like to think, a nod to Gimbutas, or at least to Jane Auel. But the resurrected, perpetually-monetized Barbie phenomenon and the pedestrian discussion it invoked, and the o so obvious Oscar snubs that keep it artificially relevant in our media-fueled social discourse illuminates a larger issue. Our collective American Zeitgeist is retarded – in the true sense of that word.
At this late apocalyptic historic time, we find our Western cultural development stunted through generational trauma and manipulated by constant media delivery of childish narratives delivered by ever more sophisticated technology designed to keep us perpetually acting up like teenagers. We have lost the ability to behave collectively as responsible, critically thinking adults in this reality at this current time. Stanley cup fad? (Nope) The grand Superbowl bread and circus pageantry? (imma make wings in my new air fryer)
So does Barbie represent a real discussion of feminism and patriarchy? Does it open us up for inquiry and explorations of the complex concepts of intersectional feminism, colonialism, ecofeminism, womanism, and all the complicated ideas and histories that anyone reading this blog already knows, and sweated to know, and deconstructed childhoods to know, and sacrificed to know? Maybe if you are 13-years old. Anyone wearing pink?
You can find it here: Is “Barbie” Feminist Media? (feminismandreligion.com).
Blessings to all sentient beings, the Ancestors, our Relations in this exciting and tumultuous time. Namaste!