Directed by Greta Gerwig, if I had to describe the movie Barbie in a word I would say: Girlhood. It begins with the perfect pink world where all the Barbies and Kens (and Allan, Ken’s bestie) live.
It is all wonderful until Barbie (Margot Robbie) starts having bad days – as bad I mean a normal day as an average human being – and goes see Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who advises her to go to the real world because a Barbie having problems means that their human owner is also having some.
With this in mind, she goes to the real world, which sucks and finds her human (America Ferrera). However, do you know who falls in love with the real world? Exactly: Ken (Ryan Gosling), who is also in love with Barbie follows her in this adventure.
Why, you ask, does he like the real world that much? Contrasting with Barbieland, which is run by Barbies, our world is run by Patriarchy – and Ken goes insane because he could be the one ruling it all. Well, if you want to know the rest, Barbie is a must-watch movie!
Barbie debuted on July 21st, 2023. Since then, it has been breaking many records, such as the most successful global release in Warner Bros. history, the First solo female director with a US$1-billion movie, and the top film ever in Ireland; you can see more here.
The movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song (twice), Costume Design, and Production Design. But apparently, the picture is not good enough for the Oscars to nominate Margot Robbie as the best actress and Greta Gerwig as the best director.
But enough for the sarcastic song, “I’m Just Ken” to be nominated for an Oscar? Are you serious? Briefly, the song speaks from Ken’s perspective, saying that Barbie is everything and he is just Ken and wants the doll’s attention. The song is an obvious satire, you can see it by looking at the clip, the lyrics, and Gerwig’s sense of humor.
I admit, it is a fun song to jam to. However, it is not Oscar-worthy – and I am not the only one affirming that. “I’m Just Ken” was taken so seriously that it won a Critics Choice Award as the Best Original Song, and Gosling’s reaction summarizes it all.
I wish I could be joking. Sadly, this is a pattern not only in the movie industry but also in all aspects of our society. Its name is patriarchy and we, as girls and human beings, should all be concerned about this issue.
We see this at school when a boy who gets the same or even worse grade than you getting praised for his “intelligence”; we see that in relationships when girls fall in love with guys for doing the “bare minimum”; and at work, when a guy just do this job and gets paid 16% better than you.
Above all patriarchy has been with us for millennials – and by millennials, I mean forever, since the beginning of the world. Wistfully, it is hard to notice when we are being prejudiced by it. It is so settled in our mindset, lives, and vision that it is impossible to be aware of how badly it affects everyone.
Nonetheless, we can see when patriarchy does its job very well, and the situation of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie being snubbed by the Oscars is one. And when we note that, we must speak up. As Queen Taylor Swift said, “I would be a fearless leader, I would be an alpha type, when everyone believes you. What’s that like?”.
The article above was edited by Clarissa Palácio.
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