sky garden
watercolour on arches paper
hate that english makes you say things like "that that" and "do do"
yeah. hate that that's something i do do sometimes
im screaming and crying and throwing up
hhhough barbie movie thoughts…
i don’t think the “im going to see my gynecologist” line isn’t only just for us to know that barbie is fully human. the scene of her in the real world for a second (at least to me) seemed to imply barbie was getting some sort of dream job and found her purpose. but no. she’s just going to see a gynecologist. but the way she is so EXCITED… the way she’s taking the joy in this mundane thing that woman go through… the barbie movie is about enjoying just being ALIVE
But seriously….when Ken said “They’re staring at me and there’s no violent undertones” while smiling and Barbie says “They’re staring at me too and there’s definitely violent undertones” while worried were the realest moments in that movie.
I work at a movie theater.
And personally? To be in the tickets booth, and see young girls, teenagers, adult women, coming in to see Barbie,
the most highlighter pink outfits, some of them coming in with the dolls they’re dressed as, laughing to each other, cheering for each other,
to see the men they’re coming to see it with, dressed in pink, cheering them on, taking their pictures with smiles and cheers in the lobby at the photo op
touches something so deep in me
I can’t say any nuances of the movie that haven’t already been said, but like, fuck man, love is so deep and so kind and to be able to see glimpses of it from behind my little ticket desk makes me a little less nihilistic.
can you believe that the main thing about the Barbie movie (2023) is kindness.
Ruth’s ghost offering a moment of reprieve for Barbie. Gloria saving Barbie. Barbie offering to show her and her daughter barbieland. Weird barbie getting barbie out of the mojo dojo casa house whatever it’s called. Allan seeing trouble and helping Gloria and Sasha without a second thought. Gloria and Sasha returning to help barbie. Barbie apologizing to ken. Ruth giving barbie the choice. Gloria and her husband and Sasha accompanying barbie to the gynecologist.
Everything friend and ally made and reconciliation in this movie is about being kind and learning to be kind to others. and while that seems like such an obvious thing “how do you make friends if you’re not kind to them” it’s not obvious to be kind. it’s not obvious to barbie that being nice to ken while disregarding his feelings isn’t being kind to him. it’s not obvious that weird barbie was a kind person who’s willing to help everyone who comes to her with problems. it wasn’t obvious to sasha that she actually wanted to help barbie instead of abandoning her.
realizing how to be kind and knowing what kindness is is such an important thing. and barbie 2023 really said this is the way you treat others, despite everything. this is the way you treat yourself. i love this movie so much
crazy that anyone thinks barbie is “anti-man” when it literally depicted the ways society also has a set of rules for men and how they feel empty having their worth be defined by their girlfriends, material goods, and their expression of masculinity — and how boys are victim to falling down an alt-right pipeline trying to get that value back. even when it’s all said and done and ken cries, and barbie tells him it’s okay, he’s embarrassed and says he shouldn’t be — but barbie talks him through how it’s important. where are all of the men’s mental health warriors now?? how is it anti-man when barbie acknowledged the emotional suppression men face at the hands of the patriarchy as well?
The Barbie Movie.
A small, non-comprehensive list of things that stood out to me (spoilers? Kind of?)
- The soundtrack
- All the jokes that played off of what it was actually like to play with barbies (the pool & ocean being flat, the cups having no drinks in them, the shower having no water, etc.
- TRANS BARBIE
- The choreography
- The "I Am Kenough" tie-dye sweater
- Barbies of many shapes and sizes! All very beautiful!
- THE ENDING, OH MA LORD. Both the way the story concluded really beautifully, but also the ending joke that no one was prepared for—
- Just... everything about Ryan Gosling's performance
- Kate McKinnon playing the deranged, "ugly" Barbie
- In the same vein, that movie would NOT have been complete without representing the kids who played with their dolls "too hard" (cutting their hair, bending them in weird ways, etc.)
- Acknowledging that Barbie did in fact mean a lot to some girls. This movie was geared towards everyone, whether you grew up loving Barbie or hating her.
- The mom and her daughter
- The fact that when Barbie was starting to become "defective" and/or when she was in the real world, you could start to see her ""flaws"". Like I noticed in some scenes her eyebrows were unplucked and no longer perfectly sculpted, or her skin no longer perfectly smooth with foundation.
- It was clear that SO much thought and research was put into this. I couldn't believe how many references there were to specific clothing items, certain playsets, etc.
- The fact that Barbie and Ken DIDN'T end up together, and that Barbie DIDN'T indulge Ken in his flirtations (is that a word?) even once
- THE FACT THAT I WAS SO CLOSE TO ACTUAL TEARS LIKE SEVEN TIMES???? LIKE WHAT????
- The weird dark humor coming out of nowhere
- The fact that Barbie never once looked at the human women (who were "imperfect" in comparison to her) with disgust
- ......the moment between her and the woman on the bench 😭😭😭
- The mom's rant about how hard it is being a woman (esp a mother) and how you can never win 🙌🙏
- The misogyny in the Real World was so well done. It wasn't overexaggated or over the top it was just NORMAL EVERYDAY LIFE
- THE JOKE ABOUT HAVING A MAN SIT YOU DOWN TO TALK ABOUT THE GODFATHER ASDJGKDLW
- The moment where I went "OH so THAT'S where the mugshot memes came from"
- Ruth Handler <3
- The fact that everyone came to the theater dressed either in pink or Barbie-like attire :)
I’m genuinely obsessed with the alpha male discourse this movie is provoking, 10/10 Greta Gerwig, no notes
the complexity of feminism in Barbie (2023) is just *mwah* chef’s kiss
residents of barbieland thinking barbie fixed everything. barbie near-immediately being sexualized and objectified in the real world. teenage girls thinking barbie is horribly misogynistic and supports the patriarchy. so many people on the Mattel board only valuing barbie due to consumerism. barbie thinking she can’t do anything and someone else will come and fix misogyny. barbies brainwashed into enjoying being subservient. barbie feeling like she isn’t enough. gloria telling her she is enough. gloria pointing out the difference between giving women equal treatment and “society claiming they have empowered women by actions they have already done to justify any possible misogynistic action in the future.” gloria saying how nothing women do ever satisfies the patriarchy. the movie itself acknowledging that the movie’s view on feminism is from a white perspective. THE MOVIE EMPHASIZING HOW FEMINISM ISN’T SUPPORTING A MATRIARCHAL IDEAL, IT’S GIVING ALL GENDERS EQUAL RIGHTS AND RIGHT TO IDENTITY. paralleling real world society by giving kens only a foothold in power like giving women only a foothold in power.
feminism isn’t a giant chunk of an idea that can easily be discredited into something as simple as “support women.” it’s a complex issue with individuals of different perspectives that deals with intersectionality and confronting completely new worlds in an attempt to understand others. long story short this movie is a masterpiece
the part of barbie that resonates with me the most is how it depicts leaning into humanity as a part of maturing. naturally, witnessing a life/society that isn’t a one-dimensional, happy fantasy broke her. through experience, she learns that her past self no longer fits in the complex world she’s come to know. she discovers anxiety, sadness, shame, disrespect. she discovers mortality. she questions her worth for the first time. not only does she deal with internal dilemmas, but she also experiences institutionalized issues that extend beyond her direct control.
she knew she couldn’t retreat back to her previous ideal world anymore; if she did, she’d be living a lie. life stays complex…but she learns to navigate it. institutionalized issues still exist but she’s contributing in finding small ways to ease the burden. she still has to figure out who she is but now she’s shed the expectation placed on her to be a beautiful prodigy.
the scene where she calls the old lady at the bench beautiful is the start of barbie seeing that perhaps accepting a full life—with the good, bad, mundane and the will to contribute positively to humanity despite how absurdly insignificant the effort may seem—is better than holding onto the illusion of a perfect life. by the end of the movie, she’s embraced the possibility of suffering as part of a truly human life, knowing she’ll find joy and wonder despite.
not over the fact that every member of nsync is an allan that escaped barbieland
that one scene where ruth shows barbie what it's like to be human and it's just scenes of humans at birthday parties... humans dancing... humans playing in the park... humans doing mundane and everyday things and having FUN meant so much to me. the fact that it didn't include extraordinary things that only a few people accomplish in their lives but rather things almost every human as experienced, or a FEELING that almost every human has felt - joy, happiness, love - was so beautiful and important. you don't need to be the president or a nobel prize winner to be barbie, because barbie isn't about all that. yeah those are things that several barbies HAVE been and it's not impossible to be them, but stereotypical barbie is just... barbie. and she's enough as barbie. she doesn't need to be anything else. she doesn't need to win an award to be happy. she can just go to the gynecologist with the same smile. she's just barbie and that's everything. and who's barbie if not all of us.
i'm so fascinated by the "just ken." in the context of the tagline (she's everything, he's just ken) it makes it sound like ken is just an accessory to barbie and is nothing without her, but in the actual movie in the speech barbie gives, she turns the phrase on its head. ken isn't an accessory to barbie, he isn't the attention barbie gives him, he's just ken. and that's not even mentioning the "she's everything" part of the tagline and how it goes with gloria's speech of women having to fulfill the impossible task of fitting into every box and juggle conflicting expectations and roles just to be liked by society. the tagline represents opposite ends of a spectrum but by the end of the movie barbie and ken meet in the middle, where they're each allowed to be their own person independent of the expectations and insecurities they've been operating on. this movie, man