Barbie Vs. Patriarchy

Yes, we all loved Barbie. The summer of 2023 was all about wearing pink, sharing memes about Barbenheimer and enjoying the feast of cinema. We all celebrated the message of female empowerment and the various unique and inspiring Barbie characters including the Pregnant Barbie, President Barbie, Stereotypical Barbie and it was all fun and games until- let's just be honest... We realized that there was something missing, and it was the consequences of the fact that Ken's are kind of... misguided, ignored and poorly written; which would, in turn, be the reason why some people saw the movie as a destructive critique of the whole gender a.k.a Kens.

As you all know the story, the message of female empowerment and themes like sisterhood, feminism, gender equality and female solidarity are pitch-perfectly studied. We all discussed the power of this new Barbie movie and some of us even thought that this movie might even serve as a new wave of feminism, -jk, but you know what I mean. We celebrated this empowering nature that challenges the norms and beauty standards that have been the nightmares of children, teenage girls and women. And you know what, those scenes are filled with pure joy, pure tears and pure feelings of womanhood.

“The real world isn’t what I thought it was.”

But behind this pink world, there is a door that opens to the reality. When they land in the real world, Barbie realizes that what she had in mind with the Barbies was nothing but a piece of imagination. Upon stepping into the real world, Barbie confronts the world of patriarchy, and she experiences assaults, objectification, and anxiety for the first time in her life as a 'doll', isn't it funny how anxiety is literally everywhere, for everyone?

“Do you know how many times I’ve just wanted to stand up in a board meeting and say, ‘Let’s just tickle each other!’” — Mattel CEO

As noted above, anxiety also haunts Ken. But wait a miute, let's first see how this real world beatified with patriarchy bewitches Ken. The policeman, the CEO's, gym bro's, horsemen... Ken realizes the fact that in this world men hold the power and they are all so goddamn serious. And to his understanding, Ken belongs there.

...Until the moment he realizes that patriarchy is not all about horses. It is about this injustice in between sexes, this rivalry between corporates, it is about people willing to do anything to be better than the rest.

MOJO DOJO CASA HOUSE

After the fall of the dream, as Ken wants to rule the world, he builds patriarchy anew, which is basically all about Barbies serving to Ken. Does that sound familiar to you?

I know, I know it reminds you of the truth of patriarchy. Everybody wants to rule the world, just like Tears for Fears tells us in their song. At first, even though we see that Ken is now an individual, the dream of ruling and the struggle for power ruins him. And he adapts his new project by making Barbies his servants...

So, in conclusion, it was never about downgrading men or Kens, it was all about criticizing patriarchy and its consequences.

Patriarchy is an unjust system that causes the collapse of anyone, anywhere; and as studied in the movie, it not only haunts Barbie but also Ken.

Let me translate this sentence into a more comprehensible one; Ken basically means 'SMASH THE PATRIARCHY!'