January kicked off with this year’s Golden Globes, and already Jo Koy has proven that even in 2024, men will attempt to derail and discredit women’s successes.
Audience reactions that night of the Golden Globes indicated the appalling statements he made that quite literally emphasized the conversation surrounding toxic masculinity present in last year’s blockbuster hit, Barbie. The fact that he reduced the entire message behind the movie to something as superficial as appearance proves that some men missed the point of the movie entirely.
The comparison between Barbie and Oppenheimer isn’t what shocked people; it’s how it was said. Among his many jokes that didn’t land, the “Barben-heimer” one was by far the worst and most degrading.
During his comparison, the comedian commented, “Oppenheimer was based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies.” Reactions from celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Emma Stone, Barbie actress America Ferrera, and director Greta Gerwig, along with the lack of laughter from the audience in general, indicated the worst — men will take every opportunity they can find to discredit the triumphs of hardworking women.
Apart from the fact that both Oppenheimer and Barbie are based on two entirely different stories and are wonderful movies in their own merit, Koy’s joke misrepresented the larger idea that centres the movie. Barbie is a movie based on the multifaceted experiences of womanhood, a film that essentially changed the world and evolved feminist narratives within the media.
It represented a message of how not only women but every individual are continuous victims of the patriarchy. The patriarchy has controlled women for centuries into believing that they must act and look a certain way to please the male gaze. Likewise, the patriarchy has always drilled the standard that men should be tough, show no emotion, and resort to violence if they don’t get their way. The arc of the film shows the characters rising above predetermined gender ideals and how they find meaning in the world on their own terms.
But did Jo Koy stop there? Not even in the slightest. He goes on to comment how Barbie (Margot Robbie) became a person with real “problems” when she entered the real world, where she acquired cellulite and flat feet. Koy chose to take a stab at the film industry this time, calling this epiphany in the movie and diminishing Margot Robbie’s role to a “character actor.” In the industry, the character actor usually refers to the supporting role in a movie, but more specifically, the less attractive or “ugly duckling” compared to their lead counterpart.
Not only is this insulting to those who are character actors — those of whom can still be household names, extremely talented, and book just as many gigs as “main character” actors — but Koy essentially targets Barbie in a way that reduces her as secondary once her “perfect” physical appearance “disappears.” This proves, once again, that Koy missed the point of Barbie’s existential crisis: the fact that she can still look absolutely beautiful in anyone’s eyes even when she no longer has to adhere to Barbie doll world standards.
Perhaps the most notable reaction from the audience is from the director of the film itself, Greta Gerwig. When the camera panned towards her, she could be seen nodding and smiling. This wasn’t to celebrate or appreciate the joke, but her silence indicated something even more profound. This was the reason she made the movie in the first place. Koy was a perfect example of falling victim to the patriarchy.
It proved that Barbie inevitably was right: “The real world is forever and irrevocably messed up.”