For most people the idea of a movie about the infamous Barbie doll sounded cute in theory. I think most people were under the assumption that the movie would be targeted towards a younger audience, myself included. However, once the movie premiered the buzz was instant, everyone was raving about how great the movie was. Not only were the reviews positive but every post I saw made sure to include how much the movie captured womanhood today. As soon as I heard that, I was hooked, I knew I needed to go see it.
The Impact it Made
I can genuinely say I’ve never seen a movie quite like it, it was the perfect mesh of comedy and whimsy with an entire sublayer of the hard truth of being a woman today. I felt it completely captured every thought and feeling I’ve ever had, something every woman (who I’ve spoken to) agreed with. The idea of the perfect woman is forced upon us at such a young age we have no choice but to assume its correct and follow along the path set out for us. We are always expected to present ourselves in the best way possible, act in a way that best suits others, and have a respectable amount of intelligence but not so much so that we intimidate others, especially men.
Watching this movie was like a lightbulb going off in my brain, we give men the power the make us feel less than what we are. We allow their opinions of us to completely control our self-worth, we live in a society created by men and look at where it has gotten us. Men hate women and women hate women, but for what reason? This whole idea of competing with each other and tearing each other and ourselves down just to get the attention of men is ruining us. I’ve seen and heard from many other women that feel the same, but what about the men?
What Should We Take Away?
It’s hard to really gage the impact the movie made on men in general, most of the men I know did not even see the movie, and if they did, they felt like men were just the punching bag throughout the entirety of the film. Men couldn’t take a two-hour long movie where they were second best, they did not even look past themselves to realize what women have to go through their entire lives. Of course, this cannot be said for all men, some walked away really grasping the concept of being a woman today. Without this simple compassion and willingness to educate yourself by looking beyond what history has shown us not to do, change cannot be made. In a world full of Ken’s, be an Allan.