Comradeship // Freechat

I've seen it twice, I thought it was really fucking funny, me and my friends were cracking up basically the whole show. I do think they should've been harder on capitalism, of course, I thought it leaned way too hard into girlboss territory.

Still waiting for a quality torrent. Not paying shit to Hollywood.

Haven't seen it, don't plan to, don't care to tbh.

But having talked to some people about it, this is my takeaway: "Messaging" is simply a new tool of marketing, especially "subversive" messaging. You're not buying a car - you're committing a revolutionary act of activism against climate change and fossil capitalism. You're not buying an ethically farmed, grass-fed, local steak, you're fighting animal cruelty and big farming lobbies with your consumption. You're not simply dressing up skandidly in pink to watch a multi-hundred million dollar Hollywood production of Barbie produced and approved of by its parent company, giving new legitimacy to that old rubber toy franchise and boosting sales numbers. You're totally subverting gender roles and criticizing capitalism by doing so.

Imo you're not. You're just buying a new car, munching another steak and going to the movies again promoting one of the most famous IPs of all time. It's the same thing we've done our entire lives. Changing the messaging around the act without changing the act, doesn't change the act. You're just doing the thing.

There can't be anything really subversive coming out of the hegemonic culture industry. By the very nature of its production, via the commodification it undergoes, it has already become toothless and assimilated. Neoliberal anti-capitalism is just the newest sales-pitch. It's along the lines of "diverse" CIA targeting officer recruitment ads. Just like capitalism can't produce true anti-war movies, it can't produce anti-capitalist or real anti-gender-role movies. It would be self-defeating if it did.

That being said, if you enjoy it more power to you. Nobody needs a grand narrative of subversion and messaging to go see and enjoy a movie at the theater. If you get something deeper out of it, even better.

Yeah I saw it.

It's good. And worth watching. But there are so many people on social media saying this is going to be revolutionary for the feminist cause.

You're right about the corporate puff piece part. And the rehabilitation of Ruth Handler's image like she was anything other than a cynical capitalist whose creation played a huge part in calcifying the concept of gender roles in generations of children that came after her.

Mattel signed off on the movie. It exists with their permission and approval. They are not going to start or enable a cultural revolution against their own interests, and if they reinvent themselves so that it is in their own interests, they'll be doing it for profit, not for the liberation of women.

But fuck if anyone will listen to the skeptic's take. This thread is the first discussion I've come across where saying negative things about the movie (not even saying it's bad, just criticizing) doesn't result in a dogpiling of misogyny accusations.

The face of feminism in 2023 is a fictional character and it's copyright belongs to Mattel.

I'm going to see it this Friday at a local, independent cinema. I don't know how revolutionary it will be, but I have heard several men saying they had a reality check because of the movie. So it's doing something positive, I guess?

God damn fantastic film. Say what you will about the capitalist motivations/backings, but visual narratives are often the most accessible to the general populace. It's not a revolutionary creation, but it is fun, well executed, and it might get people to pause and take an extra moment to consider the position women hold in North American society.

Now we can watch as capitalism fucks it all by taking the completely wrong message from the success of the film and creating a flood of low-effort remakes in the so called 'Mattel Cinematic Universe'. Catchy soundtrack though.

I watched it a while ago and had fun, but the barbies literally vote patriarchy away, so it's just your harmless liberal "feminism" piece.

I need to get me a mojo dojo casa house.

Seriously though, i'm trans, I know what male privilege is, and I saw the effects of giving it up. The movie is certainly on point in that regard.

i only saw the first 30 minutes so far but i rly liked it. funny and quick and bright and interesting (barbie is suddenly worried about death even tho shes in 'barbie dreamland'? fun)

I haven’t seen it yet but my friends and I are planning on a Barbenheimer double feature, I’m looking forward to it since I’ve heard a lot of good things.