2023, Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) -- download
This movie is a dear of the film industry, in that it is considered topical, intelligent, and made boat loads of post-digital post-pandemic cinema money. We all know the Barbenheimer legend. But was it a good movie. Thankfully, yes. But was it a great movie? Ehhhhhnnn, somewhat.
Weeks after I wrote the above, the Oscar noms (nom nom nom) come out and its up for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actors (Ryan and America), Adapter Screen Play, etc. Notably missing are Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig. Seems... weird.
The best thing about Barbie is that it is exactly what it should be, but it is also a subversion of everything it is about. On the surface it is full of beautiful, known faces and even has a very very Barbie blonde playing "stereotypical Barbie" and one of today's most popular male faces playing Ken. It is all about the pink, and the plastic, and the so-called Great Lives the Barbies all live. It could have been just about that, as most of Hollywood would have been entirely satisfied to have a Barbie movie about the world they live in, producing a Pixels level movie about a popular toy franchise.
Instead, we get a feminism-lite subversion of what Barbie is -- the unattainable role model based entirely on looks and a life very few can have. This subversion leads to some very loudly heard but not very nuanced monologues on what it is to be a woman in the current age. It was the kind of commentary that pissed the fragile male ego off, made women around the world cheer, but also made others groan at the over simplifications made.
In a way, it was a very tactical film, in that it played both sides but satisfied the Purple Suits well enough. The funny thing is that I don't think it diminishes what it was trying to attain. Our current age seems very determined to erode whatever progress women have made in my lifetime. At least in The West; the rest of the enlightened world is probably just facepalming hard. This is probably as loud Hollywood can be without being shutdown. This might explain the "Oscar snubs".
Wow, that is a lot said from the point of view of a cis het white male. And without even saying what the movie was about.
The movie is fun. Barbie (Margot Robbie, Birds of Prey) wakes up in her perfect world, until one day, its not so perfect. Something is wrong. Someone in the "real world" is playing with her... wrong. So, Barbie, on the advice of a Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon, The Bubble) goes to the real world to find the little girl playing with her wrong, to set things right. Stereotypical Ken (Ryan Gosling, Bladerunner 2049) sneaks into her pink car and joins her on her Hero's Journey, but only ends up discovering Male Fragility. And horses. The real world is just as plastic as the Barbie world, just more toxic, but Barbie has escape Evil Mattell with the disillusioned little girl (actually a disillusioned mom [America Ferrara, How to Train Your Dragon]; the little girl is quite fine actually) to return to the Barbie world, only to find out Ken has returned earlier and set about an incel revolution. Together they remind the Barbies of Barbie world that they are independent, strong Barbies that run their world. The movie is fun.
I will desist from having any more "enlightened" opinions.
Kent's post.
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