Viewers complain about the Barbie movie’s ‘feminist’ storyline and accuse it of being anti-men
Topics: Barbie, Film and TV
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Topics: Barbie, Film and TV
The Barbie movie has well and truly taken over the world and has smashed box office expectations over its opening weekend.
People are dressing up in their best pink outfits to soak up Greta Gerwig's flick about the legendary doll.
While loads of viewers are praising Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling's performances as well as the incredible storyline, some people are leaving the cinema a little frustrated.
They've taken to social media to complain about the feminist storyline that plays out as Barbie leaves Barbie Land to go to the real world to right some wrongs.
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If you haven't seen the film you better stop reading now because there are spoilers below.
Ken travels with Barbie to visit the humans and discovers the concept of the patriarchy.
Because he has always lived in Barbie's shadow, this realisation completely blows his mind that he could be the one making all the rules.
He goes back to Barbie Land and transforms it into Kendom and gets close to making the change permanent.
There are also little moments all through the film that hit hard about the reality of being a woman.
There's an incredible speech from America Ferrera (who also plays a human) about how women have to be seemingly perfect all the time and how it's virtually impossible to achieve that.
While it might be an incredible platform to highlight the issues that women still face in society, some viewers were not happy.
One person wrote on Twitter after seeing Barbie: "Barbie is a two hour woke-a-thon brimming with feminist lectures and nuclear-level rage against men."
Another added: "This is possibly the most anti-male film ever made."
A third called it 'weaponized, radical Feminism' and said: "The hatred of motherhood is even more stunning than the pervasive hatred of men, the repetition over and over and over again of 'patriarchy' of this 'film'. And all this pretend, pretentious, subversion is actually to sell more corporate garbage."
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro was so annoyed after seeing the film that he created a 43-minute video about the experience and even burned some Barbie dolls in a trash can.
However, those criticisms are being drowned out by thousands of women who have found it incredible to see their struggle portrayed on the big screen.
Gerwig told ABC's 7:30 Report: “It most certainly is a feminist film. But it’s feminist in a way that includes everyone; it’s a ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ version of it.
Margot Robbie added: “I think some people hear the word ‘feminist’ and think that means it doesn't mean men…And I’m like, anyone who believes that men and women should be equal is feminist.
“If you look at Barbie Land from the beginning…the Barbies are on top and the Kens are kinda disregarded…that’s not equal.
"So, whatever the opposite of misogynist is actually what Barbie is, Toward the end when they balance things out..then it might be feminist.”