By Isabella Geltman, Staff Reporter
A movie that initially inspired everybody’s pink fantasies ended up leaving behind a sheen of red and blue. Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, has inflicted a great deal of emotional whiplash on the world after backlash from some viewers.
Shortly after it’s release claims began circulating that the premise of the movie perpetuates a so-called “man-hating agenda,” but others feel quite the opposite. This film is empowering women across the world to take back any whisper of power they’ve ever felt given in the first place. The theme of the movie, quite plain and simple, is to paint a picture of an inverted patriarchy, showing how women are viewed and treated in society. It perfectly portrays the shame women are currently and continually experience for purely existing.
Those who missed the point of the movie are unfortunately the ones who needed the message the most. While trying to provide a union , the movie has cracked a large ironic divide regarding the movie’s “political intentions.” Claiming children will be swayed by a “liberal” belief system, while all it ever wanted was for those to see the inequality and double standards women everywhere face every single day.
The film gives a clear and poignant outlook from a woman’s perspective, showing how all relationships are or can be tainted by patriarchy and sexism. Despite this, Greta, in many different ways shows the beauty and slippery slope that mothers and female providers sit on. Mothers give their lives to nurture not only their children but the world around them. Instead of receiving any thank you’s, it is taught that it was only ever expected, just their job. “We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back and see how far they’ve come,” this quote alone shows the power of the real message behind the movie. No woman is teaching you to hate men (if anything they provide those reasons themselves), they simply want understanding on how the values of what a woman should be is shoved into their mouths and slipped under their tongues on the daily.
Barbie has shown girls and women that just being you is something to be proud of. You can just be “Barbie” without a “Ken.” So to those who left Barbie thinking it was immature or promoting anything but universal positivity, allow yourself a moment to self reflect. Take those words from your lips, hearts, and thinking. Grant whatever enlightenment needed to see how and what you take for granted from women. Push your ideas into something that can and will truly bring equality.