The thing about whiny misogynist pissbabies calling the Barbie movie “anti-men” is that the emotional resolution of the narrative is the male character being told that he is enough as the person he is, regardless of status qualifiers like a girlfriend or a career. It’s the most pro-men message imaginable. You don’t have to be successful in societal-mandated ways to matter. You don’t have to be in a relationship with a woman to matter. Not meeting unrealistic standards of masculine success does not make you a loser.
Ken dives in a performative exhibition of hegemonic masculinity (he literally says he lost interest in the patriarchy when he realized it wasn’t about horses: his adoption of hegemonic masculinity behavior is a performance. Hegemonic gender roles ARE a performance.) because he’s scared. The original state of Barbieland is indeed toxic (the point is that Stereotypical Barbie fixes everything by leaving Barbieland and becoming a real woman, not a sterotype of a woman), and that makes Ken insecure and frustrated. He heals by being told that he matters regardless of the achievements that he is supposed to have in order to be a Man™.
The movie is a love letter to both women and men, it’s just anti-misogynists who feel threatened by women existing as people.
Between Ryan Gosling Ken and Benoit Blanc I’m starting to think that it’s some sort of animal abuse to keep casting big name actors in stoic macho manly man rolls instead of giving them goofy little guys to play. Like look at them their coats are shiny, they seem so much more lively and energetic. We need to make sure all actors have enough goofy little guys to play before peta gets involved.
