I felt bad for Ken the whole time. They say a patriarchy is bad because it oppresses wmen ...but the matriarchy is good because it oppresses men? Makes no sense

I was so thrilled for Barbie to go to the real world and be shocked... Not by patriarchy, but the fact that jumping off of a building will land you in hospital, not perfectly on your feet... Missed opportunity for an incredible comedy piece.

Spoiler: I love Barbies message to Ken "Your girlfriend should not be your identity, you should have your own"

I think this movie showed very well the unfairness of both patriarchy AND extreme feminism

I took the message as both matriarchy and patriarchy are bad and that it's healthier to find approval in yourself just as you are. 🤷🏽‍♀️

as a Child i thought ken was supposed to be the perfect boyfriend, a gentleman like a prince, intelligent brave and strong like the perfect man. and barbie was the best perfect girl, she could do anything and everything from cooking to being a surgeon same with ken the barbie world was just a utopia. I played barbie my entire childhood, is sad to see they were not equal and were actually just stupid.

honestly the message that i got from this film was that you can be your own person, you don’t have to rely on someone whether it’s a man or woman to feel like your worth something. like ken realized at the end that he didn’t need Barbie to feel like he had worth, that’s how everyone should think. i don’t think the creators of the film wanted us to think that women are dumb or that men lack personality, they wanted to show us how stupid it is to have that mindset in OUR real world. because women are often viewed as stupid in society and no good except for taking care of their men.

I think a lot of people miss the main point of the movie. It was never about Matriarchy vs Patriarchy. First remember, where Matriarchy exists in this movie, Barbieland - a dreamland for little girls that does not reflect the real world. Second, by the end of the movie, the old lady straight out said that Patriarchy and Barbieland(which is Matriarchy) are concepts made by humans to cope with the discomfort of life. Third, Barbie herself in the end decided to leave Barbieland to embrace the real world. She even stated that she doesn't want to be the concept, she wants to be human. The main point was never about Matriarchy vs Patriarchy, it's about moving on from these concepts and working on yourself. We can see in real life how people are so caught up in chasing social justice that they just want to play the victim instead of actually working on improving themselves to gain the power to change their own lives. Be like Barbie, stop chasing those childish fantasies while forcing the world to follow them, embrace the real world for what it truly is, and start working on yourself.

As a woman in the real world, at least in AMERICA, I can say I have never felt oppression for my gender. Well...until trans people become mainstream.

Another Irony is that the only reason Ken brought the Patriarchy to Barbie Land was because of how badly the Barbies treated the Kens.

Sasha (Gloria’s daughter) and her friends were the Bratz dolls. They looked like them, had the same names, and Sasha is told to “Destroy Barbie” like the Bratz dolls were supposed to destroy the Barbies.

Strange how you left out that at the end, Barbie apologizes to Ken about how he was left out and acknowledges the pain and rejection he felt. And remember it's a movie about dolls in a fictional world without crime, complex emotion, or even sex. The movie is satire and isn't supposed to be some blueprint of how we should function in the real world. I only agree that it's definitely not a children's movie.

Oppenheimer is about 80% political and was still less political than Barbie.

Barbie sounds like it had potential. Back in 2000 there was a movie called "life size" featuring Tyra Banks and Lindsay Lohan. It could've easily been the blueprint to this movie if the woke cult wasn't throwing their weight around. Could've actually been better than the Tyra Banks version of the Eve Doll. Would be a huge battle between the nostalgia of Barbie vs. Eve

If I were a man I would be highly insulted by this movie. They portrayed men as stupid , easily distracted , manipulated and outmaneuvered ….in addition to being unnecessary to women. Felt sorry for Ken the entire movie. I didn’t see the equality she speaks about at the end of the movie.

Omg I felt the same way about the Chevy product placement 😂 I actually thought the movie made fun of “wokeness” in some ways! I appreciated the way they portrayed the daughter’s “wokeness” because they made her look super snarky with how quick she was to jump to conclusions, cancel Barbie, calling her a fascist, etc. and how she was wrong about it in the end. On another note, I think it’s a bit ignorant to say the patriarchy doesn’t exist. Sure, the movie exaggerated it but I think the point is that matriarchy / man hating isn’t the answer either. I thought the movie was mostly about being anti-extreme and finding middle ground. At least that’s what I took away from it!

Did I imagine the last part of the movie where Barbie encourages Ken to find himself? That way they both could be a compliment to each other and the world. I took that part of the movie to show that neither a patriarchy or matriarchy are good and that we are meant to compliment each other.

It was annoyingly woke but man Ken was the best part about it. 😂 He was hilarious. If the messaging at the end just said hey both extremes are bad and we need each other for good things then I wouldn't have cared so much. both sides were so obnoxious it made it cartoonish.

I do think that you may have missed a deeper message. The director swapped the societal/stereotypical roles of men and women in Barbieland, which is why the Kens had no real deep character, were dumb and pointless, and simply existed to be with Barbies. The point was to show how women are portrayed historically in film, stories and society. If you think they were saying that men were pointless, they were actually trying to get the audience to think about "if roles were reversed" and men were portrayed in film as women typically are. We can definitely agree to disagree, but this film is a satire. it is supposed to be extreme, over-the-top and excessive to make a point. I left the film feeling like the deeper message was that both matriarchy and patriarchy are not what we should be striving for, rather, true equality and balance of decision-making in society is what is best. Any extreme (extreme feminism or extreme misogyny) is not good for society.

It looks like someone didn’t understand the message of the movie.

The Barbie movie would be better if Barbies and Kens just compete with each other without including some kind of "patriachy" or "matriachy" element that we don't want to see. 🙏

The opposite of misogyny is misandry

I kind of liked the movie and I even felt that some of the messaging was not stereotypically woke. I interpreted the Barbie world as the world I used to play in with my girlfriends. We all were bosses, and Nobel prize winners, lawyers and etc. and Kens were - well just Kens. None of us had a Ken, and love interests were just a faraway thought and not even needed. I kind of laughed when Ken’s seemed to have no home and just appeared from time to time as a side character - because that was exactly how we played. Some of the positive snip bits: America Ferrera character’s husband was nice and supportive, Ken’s decided that they worth is not determined by Barbies, Barbie decided to live in the real world, the female doctor that had Ken escorted from the building. Finally, as someone that live not in America, related to Ferrera’s speech that you must be thin, but never on diet, be perfect, but wear no visible make-up and many others. Also, although Mattel board room was comical, it was more comical because I have been in such rooms.

Amala, how could you miss that it was all a SATIRE OF RADICAL FEMINISM?

To the moms out there, just remember that when you say all men are trash that you're talking about your sons.

I think the point of the movie was that barbie was unhappy in a patriarchy and ken was unhappy in a mariarchy. So the two genders should really be equal. Neither a female nor a male character should be there as just a love interest. The movie is supposed to make you uncomfortable and make you think. When I played with barbies as a kid, I really though I could be whatever I wanted and wear whatever i wanted. When you grow up, you realize that its not that easy. It reminded me of how I used to dream and imagine, and how that innocence is lost. People grow up and get old. You learn about death. You realize that a big part about being a woman is going to the gyno and taking care of yourself. Its not all glamor and happiness all the time.

I LOVED Ken. I felt like the movie was best around him and his struggle. When he sees Barbie is hurt by him taking over Barbieland and you see the hurt on his face when she isn't looking. But he needs to be cool and pretend it doesn't bother him. He loved her and he wanted those feelings returned. But mainly they wanted respect. I immediately bought a I'm Kenough shirt. I loved him and Ryan Gosling was amazing. You are right though. That daughter was insufferable. Ugh. I loved all the history of Barbie in there too. And Alan??? Omg I loved Alan. Lol

People need to stop throwing around “woke” to describe anything with some opinion and diversity

“It’s impossible to be a woman.” Well yes when you can’t define what that is, quite impossible to meet the definition.

Why not just have Barbie help this woman heal her inner child and be done with it?

Why are people freaking out about a movie about growing up and coming together? It’s just a movie, calm down.

I remember I watched Barbie and Oppenheimer the same day, and I chooses to watch Barbie first because I thought it was going to make me feel happy before all the Oppenheimer depression. I felt so uncomfortable during the majority of the movie and I even considered just leaving the theater. My reaction was literally, “what the hell did I just watched?” I don’t want to sound insensitive, but that movie caused me a worse reaction than Oppenheimer.

The marketing was brilliant. If they had actually shown in trailers what this movie was about it would have cratered

I was hoping for a fun fluffy comedy that took you to an adventure tied up with a romance with Ken...nope.

Idk, I didn't start hating on men when I watched it... I felt deep empathy and finally understood what my husband was going through for the majority of his life. I guess I just watched the movie without having any expectations about it and had a chance to really allow the movie to affect me the way it was supposed to affect me personally. The message that was the most prominent to me wasn't the society and what works the best for it but rather what I want to be and what is the best for ME. And surprisingly enough not in a selfish way at all. If anything this movie was one step for me to becoming even more selfless especially after hearing that speech about how it is 'so hard' being a woman... I was like 'I don't think this sounds fair.... I don't feel like a victim of my life...' and so on. I guess we all take from a movie what we want but I won't argue that in some ways there could have been a better messaging so everybody would be able to understand. This movie must not be for everybody... My husband on the other hand found it really funny and had a really good time, he could relate to a lot of stuff, and like I said, it made me want to be a better wife.

THANK YOU!!! You iterated so well what my brain was struggling through while watching the film. I felt personally violated and disgusting in my female body by the time the movie ended, and it helps to walk through this with you to process what for me was a very painful experience and to reassure myself that I'm not crazy in how disgusted I felt after watching the movie. (You also did a great job of pointing out the positive qualities in the movie while holding the film accountable for the messages it put out.)

Seriously why wasn’t the message at the end of the movie be that ‘we can work together with kindness, empathy and equality’. That’s such a better message then ‘men are stupid and women are better at everything’. I just don’t get it. Yet another movie that completely missed a perfect message, at least it’s not going to be a flop this time 😶

Barbie and Ken was always sold as a romance. It would have been a great story line to just show a real relationship where a woman follows her dream and her and Ken are in love and how you can have a healthy couple that pushes each other to be better..

It is very important to realize that under capitalism/patriarchy, both men and women; every person, is oppressed, but patriarchy needs oppressors so it divides society artificially into two sorts, two genres, and give one the role of oppressor and the other genre, that of oppressed.

Honestly, this movie will be used in the future in the classrooms... for discussion purposes. Its a great vehicle for discussion. Perhaps it deserves kudos for that alone.

In my cinema, people weren't very cheery at all they all stayed quite which made it quite boring but peaceful. As a girl in the age of 14, Im okay with the movie being about feminism but im sad that the marketing made it seem like a fun movie with fashion then barbie discovering the real world and goes on an adventure. I thought it would be exciting but it's before she comes to the real world and my brain died for the "patriachy" word in it. I really didn't enjoy as I should've and i hated how poorly kens were treated it's like barbie doesn't need love and everything and she goes to be human and a sad beige girl and a very dark joke at the end. Props to the marketing team and fashion and architects.

Why can’t we just watch good solid movies anymore🤦‍♀️

It so funny, because a matriarchy will never work, because men would physically take their rule away.

Heard all the commentary about how "woke" this film is. Was ready to fully roll my eyes at every scene. Instead, I loved it! I think it's very tongue-in-cheek how it represents the issues facing women and to some extent, men. It was more about the human experience in my opinion. How to find your self, your purpose.

I felt throughout the whole movie there were a lot of things where I wasn't sure if they were meant to be satire or real world messages to the audience. Are they actually suggesting that matriarchy is a good thing and that all men are stupid perverted pricks or are these just jokes? Is it feminist or is it a satire of radical feminism? A child is only going to be more confused watching it. As a guy watching this movie with my girlfriend, I kept trying to convince myself that it wasn't offensive and that I should just enjoy it but frankly I think it is problematic

I thought Barbie was going to be this decade’s ‘Legally Blonde’ but instead they made this mess

this is probally the only time ive ever disagreed with her

You forgot about Alan. Alan was the only good man in this movie.

Women are so oppressed that they can direct multi million dollar films like this with huge marketing and get away with it without being attacked for misandry

Not worried about all the spoilers, because after your review and other truthful ones, I have no intention of ever seeing this movie.

So Barbie hates capitalism yet let's remember, it's only BECAUSE of Capitalism that a movie like this could ever be made.

In my opinion it highlighted the difference between a patriarchal vs matriarchal world, and the message at the end was striving for balance and to focus on being a good human being fulfilling your own potential independently, regardless of sex.

Let’s be 100% honest _Barbie_ wouldn’t have made half of the money it did if it was Amy Schumer (who was originally slated to play the titular role) and not Margot Robbie.

As a Barbie collector is an 9/10. But with my political lense it's a 3. I agree with every point you made.

I’d be curious to know what you think a better plot or message would be for this movie. Would you prefer this be yet another love story where Barbie falls in love or needs saving from whatever situation she’s in? Maybe a story where Ken is actually the main character, he’s the stereotypical “macho man” and the movie is all about how great patriarchal societies are? Haven’t we seen enough of those character tropes? Not every man is a “manly man” and not every woman needs to be saved. In my opinion, this wasn’t a movie promoting either a matriarchy or patriarchy as they both were shown to be oppressive to some degree. Towards the end, the main message ended up being that what’s best for everyone is somewhere in the middle. Barbie land will always be Barbie land and run mainly by Barbies, but now the Kens have more respect and status. Kinda equal to how women are in the real world. I can agree about the men in the real world being overly sexual and lacking basic decency. But at the same time everything in the movie was taken to the extreme for entertainment… including the interactions between all the Barbies. I also agree with your point about the daughter. She was certainly insufferable and honestly useless as a character. The movie wouldn’t have changed at all if she were not in it. She was mean to everyone for no reason, especially her mom, she wasn’t funny, she wasn’t insightful, she wasn’t supportive. She was literally just there… annoying everyone like a lingering fart.

It's satire against matriarchy and patriarchy, misogyny and misandry. A commentary on the current battles of conservatism and libertarianism. It also focuses on the protagonists personal journeys and struggles rather than pushing a woke agenda although, elements of wokeness are present. It's not the worst thing that has come out and is fairly entertaining. The main thing I appreciated about it is it is open to interpretation. If you choose to see it under a woke lense, you will find it dry. On the other hand, if a 3rd wave feminist sees this, they'll might be concerned there were not enough points to scrutinize men under. As Margot said, 'It's a film for everyone.' It pushes in neither direction and shows how either side of can be detrimental right and wrong. Overall, it was alright and probably deserved of the 1 billion profit, especially after such great marketing.

I hate when movies try so hard to make a statement. What happened to movie we could just watch for entertainment

I was waiting for this one since I watched the movie yesterday. My goodness, I feel cheated. The marketing was beyond deceiving.

As very conservative woman and soon to be a mom, I saw this movie from a completely different lens than you. There was commentary on how both a male centered or a woman centered society has major problems. Barbie land, kenworld, and the real world all have major problems due to a lack of balance. One of the major issues in the movie is a mom and daughter not getting along. A family having strife is such a large problem that it causes Barbieworld to go from perfect to having major issues. A lot of this movie is clearly satire and meant to be funny. But at the end, Barbie has to make a choice, stay in her “perfect” world where the women run all the careers or go to the real world. The song “what was I made for?” Starts playing and she sees images of children and parents going through the stages of life and decides that is what she was made for. As conservatives, we get so focused on being anti-feminism (which is fair, because it sucks), we forget that there are major problems in both patriarchies and matriarchies. The solution is the core of society’s, families. I loved this movie, it was hilarious and had a great message. It made me think about how I want to raise my children, I wouldn’t want them in kenworld or Barbie land, and our world seems to be constantly competing for these. Instead I want my children to learn balance and men and women to compliment each other, with the family being the foundation of society and culture.

I really wanna give this movie a chance. But I really don't want another instance of the reminder that "you should feel bad because you are man therefore you have it easy" and how I am such a piece of shit because my existence oppresses women.

Yesterday I didn't go to the Barbie movie, I went to Sound of Freedom.

the most unrealistic part is that barbie land was drama free. you best believe my barbie’s knew how to throw a punch

Can't they just make a simple movie on women empowerment without downgrading men

I got more of the feeling that this movie was satirical and pointed out the flaws of full patriarchy and matriarchy. Ken misunderstood the “real world” that actually neither and both men and women have struggles. Still, trying to over dissect it is like trying to explain a joke. It’s meant for entertainment and move on.

A friend of mine always says he doesn't like horror movies because he "doesn't want to pay to be scared". I don't want to pay to be lectured... only difference is, this film is disguised as a kids movie which is particularly sinister. At least you know what you're getting when you go to a horror movie.

I can’t believe Toy Story 3 had a more entertaining Barbie and Ken storyline than a whole 2 hour film about Barbie…

You missed the worst point of all, Amala. This movie hates motherhood and despises mothers. The opening scene of girls bashing out the brains of baby dolls over tea sets couldn’t have been clearer, as well as the snide remarks whenever pregnant Barbie was in frame. Face it. Barbie hates women and womanhood as much as she hates men. (I went to see it with my wife on my daughter’s recommendation. She thought it was funny and even insisted that I wear a pink shirt. Being a loving father, I complied, hoping the movie would in fact be good. It was grotesque. The only comic relief for me was that my wife fell asleep halfway through because she was so disengaged.)

I watched this film in China the other day. When Barbie said she didn't have a vagina and that Ken didn't have a penis the audience was silent and very confused. They had never seen a naked Barbie doll so they didn't get it at all. Not a good movie for the international market or for any kids.

At this point, I've come to despise the term "Patriarchy".

the amount and level of marketing that they pushed the barbie movie with was insane. i swear i could not escape it.

I hope she’s joking. It’s a movie about Barbie. It’s for women and highlights the issues they have experienced and how Barbie was there for women. My mother is 50 yrs old I went to see it with her and she cried she loved it so much. You should stop making everything political. Just bc it’s women doesn’t mean it’s “woke”

"the irony of it being a feminist film while casting trans actresses to play women". But only one of the 30-something roles went to a transwoman? Do you not think transpeople should be cast in any films at all? Not really sure what the point was here...

Ken was the ONLY character I love and was rooting for in the entire film. I left very sad because he didn’t get the ending he deserved.

Single dad of 3 amazing young daughters and a couple of older ones here .... we saw the movie. The blatant hatred of men, male-female romance, and motherhood/caregiving was abhorrent. This review is spot on. I want my daughters to know that they can be *anything* they choose.... INCLUDING a wife and mother.

This is obviously an F-inist movie. The director tells you everything you need to know. These types of movies contribute to what 20 year-olds will think in 2030.

tbh i liked the first few minutes of the movie, it felt like there was true potential to develop the storyline. as the movie kept going it felt more and more like one of those weird fever dreams. the final scene where she owns her feelings is touching but felt too serious compared to the rest of the movie.

EXACTLY what I felt throughout the movie. The Barbieland was organized and beautiful but the Kendom was just chaotic and a mess Towards the end, the Kens and the Mattel workers give up saying it's very hard to lead, and eventually settle for less. The movie was just downplaying men and preaching "women run the world" or they run it better. It would've been wayyy better if they actually portrayed equality at the end.

Wow...I Love handing my husband a cold beer...he works out in the elements in 110 degree heat 5-6 days a week. I'll gladly hydrate, feed, massage, serve him. If that's problematic, I'll be that.

Your opinions are delightful to watch, even when i dont agree with them . Like i loved barbie and i think they wanted to say its okay to be who you are, . Extremes Like matriarchy or patriarchy create problem. Balance and acceptance are important. I congratulate you on your effective communication skills though.❤

I was entirely confused the entire way through, I honestly couldn't tell where the actual humor starts and the story takes over. You go from a cartoon parody of what people think would be good, to a cartoon parody of the real world too. Its hard to laugh at humor when they make jokes one second, yet try to take those jokes as real and serious the next. And all the speeches from the two women, always felt like the movie was made out of spite, malice, anger, and hatred. Life's too short to live like that. Go out and enjoy life, be happy, don't live as miserable forever.

People misunderstand so much of this movie. This movie criticizes Barbieland and its perfect feminist world since the first minutes with its satirical humor. It actually makes fun of this perfect feminist utopia. It transform the pitiful and unimportant side character Ken- who represents the replaceable husband, into a toxic, masculine villain who many fans can side with or at least understand his anger and anxiety. In the end, Barbie acknowledges him, give him the necessary respect and tells him not to seek female validation, but find his own purpose in life. That is the most powerful message for us men to be independent from women. In this way we become more masculine than an average male simp can ever hope for.

1:29 it's misandry, Margot...they conveniently forget to teach you that vocabulary word in woke university

I feel like they made feminism look like a joke, by not only making it seem like women want a matriarchy, and by only referring to real feminism (equal rights for all genders) in the end of the movie, and even so they treated it like an irrealistic scenario that's just meant to sound funny. Idk for me it was a bit of purplewashing, a movie that wants to make money at the cost of feminism.

Thank you, Amala, for this thorough review. Now i know I'm not the only one who did not like this movie. Still, the number of us who didn't like it is in the single digits😂

If you want a movie that makes men and women lose total respect for each other, this sounds like that movie!!!

If I had a nickel for every time the word patriarchy was said in the Barbie movie I definitely would have earned back my ticket price and maybe free popcorn

The state motto of Maryland is "manly deeds, womanly speech" -- is that sexist or empowering?

I feel that the movie was more a reflection of those watching it. It used heavy satire to show how bad both extremes are (extreme patriarchy and matriarchy). Whats hilarious is that the left are saying its a movie made for the right because it mocks wokeness, and the right is saying that its made for the left because it mocks men. Either way, love it or hate it, here you all are talking about Barbie and the box office was a huge success. Tells me that the producers are geniuses. Remember... Conservative rage makes money too. Lmao.

My gf saw it with her mom. Said people were visibly upset in the theatre lol.

I went to go watch the Barbie movie with my cousin and I told her that I felt bad for Ken and that they never answered the question of where do the Kens live. The entire movie the treatment of the Kens made me uncomfortable and made the Barbies feel like horrible hypocrites. My cousin hit me with the "Well that's because you are not a feminist." My cousin is very left leaning, like so left leaning she was happy when the Queen died, I lost a bit of my respect for her that day. She also spent movies of the movie taking pictures of Michael Cera's character.

This girl completely missed the plot and message of this movie

Ken took doofenshmirtz’s spot for number one villain I feel bad for

You know the part when Barbie is throwing a tantrum because the Ken’s took over and Ken says, “now you know how it feels” but she just continues to feel bad for herself? Yeah that part

I'm a man. I did not feel attacked very much. If anything, Ken reminded me a lot about myself when i was younger and thought i had no value. When i lived to please the women in my life because that's the only way i thought i could get validation. And when i wouldn't get validation, I'd often act out and ruin relationships with these women. Then at some point i realized that i had value apart from the women in my life. It was ok to just be me and figure out my own place in the world apart from a woman. I also related a lot to Barbie and The Mom's character. Didn't really see their issues as feminist issues. I saw them as human issues. All humans have impossible expectations thrusted upon them by the world around them and it often breaks us down. Coz we're just human. It was never lost on me that most things in the movie were exaggerated to comical effect and to make a point. I didn't look at the screen and clutch my pearls. But that's just me. Obviously different people have different interpretations of art. This was just mine.

The movie started out well. But ended up being a very feministic movie almost to the brink of alienating the men. Fun movie but yes, a very woke movie indeed. I can see why some or many women would enjoy the movie.

I’ve heard of people taking their young children to this movie. This is a bad idea. Not a single thing in this movie is made for kids.

But there was more to the ending of this movie. It didn’t end with the barbies restoring the matriarchy. It ended with both barbies and kens realizing they couldn’t go back to how things were in barbieland. And that Kens deserved more representation in their government. Which is what women do in the real world. Also, in the ending there was a ken that said: “ i just want my barbie back” and then barbie hugs him and you can tell they just want to be together romantically. In my opinion the movie did a good job at making the point that neither a matriarchy nor a patriarchy are good, and both men and women can co-exist and appreciate each other.

The most glaring example of the 'patriarchy' is men dominating in women's sports.

Wow!! Thank you so much for saving me and I assume countless others from watching this. Barbie was a huge part of my childhood and I was soooo pumped to see this! I had too many too count and remember getting my Barbie dream house for Christmas! Such a let down. Every show and movie coming out has to be woke in one way or the other. Even when it doesn’t do ANYTHING for the storyline. So over it honestly. Great video! I thought I was subscribed to you. It apparently not …. But I am now !

This movie makes no sense! "Stereotypical" Barbie was played by so many little girls all around the world. What makes ONE human female in the real world soo special and have so much power that it affect Barbie in Barbieland? So stupid. 😂