Barbie v. Oppenheimer: YOU DECIDE

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So Barbie it was.

And?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The manosphere melting down over Barbie being a feminist movie is possibly the best marketing for the film yet.

What, exactly, did they think it was going to be?

 

[Zardnaar]

The manosphere melting down over Barbie being a feminist movie is possibly the best marketing for the film yet.

What, exactly, did they think it was going to be?

I haven't seen to much meltdown bit maybe because algorithm doesn't feed me that type of stuff.

I'm more about target demographics and where it's appropriate. Let's go Barbie lol.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

And?

It was good.

I'm sorry, I'd already discussed liking it in another thread. I thought this was just the thread about the great decision of out time: which movie to see.

The manosphere melting down over Barbie being a feminist movie is possibly the best marketing for the film yet.

What, exactly, did they think it was going to be?

I mean, of the various tensions the movie had to balance it was the one where no balance was deemed necessary, very understandably. It is a little ironic given Barbie's long history as object of feminist ire, but this is a movie primarily by and for women built on a brand that claims to be about female empowerment and there was only one way it could have gone. I personally found it a little too on the nose with the feminist applause lines at times, but I'm not the target audience. I think one's mileage on that point makes the difference of whether it is a good film or a great film. Of course if you're some sort of men's rights activist it's doubtlessly the worst film of the year until they get upset over something else next week.

How the movie navigated the tensions of satirizing Mattel while being a Mattel product and being an exercise in crass commercialism while also being art in its own right, are both more interesting stories I think, pulled off with a more subtle and graceful hand. I'd say the same about how it handled the brand's (as opposed to the movie's) relationship with feminism. But I won't get into spoilers.

The resolution to the rather silly tension over how to deal with the song Barbie Girl by Aqua, was least impressive. The song's opening line of "I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world" is clearly a major inspiration for the initial set-up of the movie, and its sexually predatory take on Ken also seems influential. But the song, as a whole, is very brand unfriendly, there was major Mattel-Aqua legal beef back in the day (it's actually a textbook IP case), and many people find it a deeply annoying song. The solution was to have a lame hip-hop remix over the closing credits that basically just used the chorus. It was not nearly as good of a match for the film's aesthetic as the original.

 

[RangerWickett]

I got out of the double feature - Oppenheimer first, then Barbie.

I think I made the right choice. Oppenheimer to me was a deft work of filmmaking that did a great job conveying an important historical event, but it did not land the emotional arc for me. Barbie meanwhile had some plot beats that I felt did not serve its overarching theme, but the emotional arc was more compelling. And there are some truly delightful segments that were just fun to watch.

With Oppenheimer, I expected a think piece, but I guess it didn't make me think anything I hadn't already been exposed to in the history of the atomic age and the tangle of politics and peace.

With Barbie, I expected fun, and I had a lot of fun. And I got to laugh at the patriarchy.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Of course if you're some sort of men's rights activist it's doubtlessly the worst film of the year until they get upset over something else next week.

A very prominent conservative commentator -- I won't go into names, lest this tip over into politics and get the thread closed -- went to an exclusive Thursday night preview showing packed with superfans just so he could get his angry screed out before everyone else, which is an amazing image.

A sea of pink and happy faces and him scribbling angrily on his notepad "they said 'patriarchy' TEN TIMES!" Classic.

 

[Umbran]

I was reminded today that one could go watch a double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer...

...or you could just watch Tank Girl.

 

[Zardnaar]

I was reminded today that one could go watch a double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer...

...or you could just watch Tank Girl.

Well I said earlier someone in marketing deserves a binds.

Sort of caught on organically online and both studios and cast kinda went along with it for completely different genres.

 

[Ryujin]

I was reminded today that one could go watch a double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer...

...or you could just watch Tank Girl.

I was going to do exactly that, tonight

 

[Orius]

The manosphere melting down over Barbie being a feminist movie is possibly the best marketing for the film yet.

What, exactly, did they think it was going to be?

That's asinine. It's a movie based on a girl's toy. WTF were they expecting, Conan the Barbarian?