berb

[frandroid]

We saw the Barbie movie! What a confused mess. My own mixed thoughts, in bullet point* form. (No spoilers)

- It was full of clever tricks and fun jokes didn't really get anywhere.
- I don't understand why Ryan Gosling is being touted for an Oscar
- Gosling's plasticky abs were disturbing, even in the context of him being Ken
- I love America Ferrera's voice, and I thought her character was the most interesting out of the whole thing
- The Weird Barbie business was not as funny as they thought it was, and was a waste of Kate McKinnon
- The line about the Barbies being infected with patriarchy because they hadn't been exposed before, like how indigenous people were infected by European diseases, that was clever, but once again, huh?
- The whole film was made with practical effects, blowing their budget, and it showed. No CGI here. That was refreshing. All the set decoration and design people should be winning Oscars.

I feel that the film was trying to surf the border between camp and not-camp? I think they kept surfing that line well throughout the film, but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that? I hate camp, so I'm glad they didn't go all-in.

Anyway. What a liberal mess.

*: (How do I render Edward Tufte's bullet-point graphic as a 100x100 user pic?)

Comments

[cactus_rs]

I have a feeling my reaction is going to be similar. I read a Wikipedia plot summary and was like... all of this seems like an incoherent reach. I've seen articles comparing it to, like, The Myth of Innana but you're going to get that vague similarity with any "woman goes to another world" (hopefully not too much of a spoiler?) story.

Plus it's still an extended marketing ploy at the end of the day.

[frandroid]

I don't think Gerwig and Baumbach wrote this because they felt like they wanted to market dolls, though. Why they wanted to take on this character / concept on remains a good question, because in the end I couldn't tell at the end of watching it.

[frandroid]

I went to look for Zizek's take and it's utterly bland.

[cactus_rs]

Not surprised lmao

[cactus_rs]

Maybe not, but Mattel let them write something because they saw it fit for their brand. Supposedly their new CEO as of a few years ago declared that the company is now shifting to an IP company, rather than a toy company, and a Barbie movie is exactly in line with setting yourself up as an IP brand...

https://labusinessjournal.com/manufacturing/ip-push-helps-drive-mattel-transformation/

the key phrase there being "content development"

[frandroid]

Oh yeah for sure. But that came after. Now apparently they've green-lit 10 other films? I'm looking forward to most of them to crash and burn. Barbie the film is clearly a meta-concept, I bet you the others won't be meta...

[sabotabby]

I do want to see it but it was so hyped that I think my reaction would be similar to yours.

[warriorsavant]

I like your point about its trying to surf the line between camp and non-camp. I saw it (https://warriorsavant.dreamwidth.org/865613.html) sorta liked it, sorta didn't.

[frenzy]

Yeah agree that any point they wanted to make was a fucking mess. It was fun, I laughed, any point was lost by the fact the character I related to the most (gen Z hyper critical of Barbie) just changed into pink dress addled fans for no reason.

[frandroid]

I didn't care for that character too much, but it really did get under my skin that she switched to a pink dress for no reason!