this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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For some women in China, "Barbie" is more than just a movie — it's also a litmus test for their partner's views on feminism and patriarchy.

The movie has prompted intense social media discussion online, media outlets Sixth Tone and the China Project reported this week, prompting women to discuss their own dating experiences.

One user on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu — a photo-sharing site similar to Instagram that's mostly used by Gen Z women — even shared a guide on Monday for how women can test their boyfriends based on their reaction to the film.

According to the guide, if a man shows hatred for "Barbie" and slams female directors after they leave the theatre, then this man is "stingy" and a "toxic chauvinist," according to Insider's translation of the post. Conversely, if a man understands even half of the movie's themes, "then he is likely a normal guy with normal values and stable emotions," the user wrote.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have to admit, Barbie becoming a Chinese feminist icon was not on my 2023 bingo card. Anyone taking bets on when we're gonna get a kpop version of this classic?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=gqeTb0j2nr4

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=3UiZLj_jC-E

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

We really should have clients redirect to Piped by default

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Barbie starting the revolution in China? Hopefully other countries as well. Good timeline.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Little Pink Cookbook!

Little Pink Cookbook!

Little Pink Cookbook?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You've got to do the cooking by the book ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am genuinely amazed this movie wasn't banned in China

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Well they included the nine-dash line in the movies silly map (I believe Vietnam banned the movie because of this) and there's no zombies or Winnie the Pooh references so all good as far as the CCP goes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I think if anyone gets mad at a Barbie movie or some random article on the internet that has nothing to do with them, that's a good sign they're emotionally unstable

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

I'd call it emotionally immature.

A surprising number of the people I grew up or work with act like they're still in high school when it comes to social/interpersonal skills -- these people are all well over 30 years old.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I thought the movie criticizes both extreme feminism and male chauvinism, or did I watched a different Barbie movie?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

That's what the article is saying as well.

Any gendered chauvinism sucks and patriarchy causes suffering to anyone.

And if someone comes out of the movie angered by this knowledge, they can be a troublesome person to other people.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Yeah. Barbie Was not the good guy in the Barbie movie, right? Like, even in the end they admit that they will not give the Kens true equality, just enough that they basically won't revolt again. People here calling Barbie a feminist icon, what movie were you watching?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Obviously she wasn’t the good guy. She developed a nuclear bomb for heaven’s sake. To be fair I did fall asleep for a bit but I’m pretty sure I got the big plot points.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

That's the point. They blatantly say "someday, the Ken's will have as much rights as women do in the real world"

The entire point is that treating people as second class like thst isn't good, regardless of which side its coming from and that we should all be equal. The only time I'd see men complaining about that is when they don't get it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

"Stereotypical Barbie" (the Margot Robbie one) actually seems to get it by the end. In fact, her main character arc was going from being like the other barbies—watered down stereotypes of feminism—to actually a feminist who has a better grasp of why just equalizing out positions of power, while still good, does not address the root of patriarchy.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (5 children)

If you base your relationship on a fucken Hollywood movie then that should be a litmus test in and of itself.

Also, guys, if your girlfriend constantly feels the need to "test" your relationship, then she's not the right one. Thats a massive red flag.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago

I mean there's no harm in using a cultural moment as a starting point to see if two people are compatible?

I think the language in the article and perhaps from the influencers is a bit rigid.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that if a man has valid reasons for disliking the movie they are automatically exist. The idea is that the film is causing a knee jerk reaction in men who are otherwise prone to hiding their misogyny.

I didn't get a lot of the inside jokes about the product. And the barbies and Ken's did not unite to kill Will Ferrell.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wanting to test if your new boyfriend is a misogynist is hardly a red flag. The article doesn't say anything about testing dudes constantly. It doesn't even say he has to like the movie, just understand some of its themes.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not basing the relationship off of the movie. It's just a way to test if any red flags come up.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think it's healthy to observe your partners reaction to things. Especially when it comes to things that are quite important for a long term relationship, like their thoughts about gender roles. If you organically went to see the movie and your partner is clearly displaying red flags from it, then that's just good (not the red flags but that you now know).

I guess the trickery of going to assess them specifically can be seen as a asshole move. But I think it's a good move compared to alternatives ^^

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

because reaction to art can be a good indication to what someone thinks. For example, a negative reaction to the song 'Alabama' by Neil Young might indicate that the person thinks that Alabama is a swell place and people shouldn't be putting it down just because it's government is racist as fuck.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My boyfriend and i can't wait to watch this movie 😊 💕 (but cinema got expensiv dudeee 🥲)

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Of note....American conservatives/confederates absolutely detest the Barbie movie.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Correct. Honestly, if a dude gets offended by a movie that says “hey dude, learn how to love and value yourself without basing all of your sense of self on your romantic relationship to a woman and you’ll be much happier”, they are NOT a catch at all and they need to shed some shit about their lives.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's interesting. I read that the film was about radical feminism, but gender switched with Ken as the feminist to overthrow the Barbie-dominating system. Really look forward to seeing the movie.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I think that analogy doesn't work a 100 %. But I guess you could say that the film explores something like that.

But go ahead and watch the film. I enjoyed it very much.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They're allowed to watch Barbie in China? How censored is it?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

The world map clearly isn't censored

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

According to the guide, if a man shows hatred for "Barbie" and slams female directors after they leave the theatre, then this man is "stingy" and a "toxic chauvinist," according to Insider's translation of the post

Nothing against female directors, but the movie went from pretty damn good to pretty damn boring after a while.

You've got a fun and quirky beginning that makes light fun of barbie, mattel and patriarchal society. Then you've got the bits where

spoilerBarbie and Ken get to the real world, get arrested twice for doing stupid shit.
This part was funny and for a bit there I felt like it was mainly not about driving a message home, but still had SOME things to say. Great!

Then you've got the parts where

spoilerKen went on his own journey to discover patriarchy (which he thought had something to do with horses and was disappointed to find out it didn't), Barbie meets her owner's daughter, goes to Mattel HQ, then gets chased out and rescued by her owner.

Many hilarious moments here, poking lots of fun at patriarchy again, but it never felt like it was too on the nose. I mean I kinda expected that from the trailers and everything.

Where the movie started changing for me was when

spoilerBarbie, her owner, and the latter's daughter went back to the Barbie world to help fix the balance, only to find out that the Kens had completely taken over.

While the twist was predictable, it was still interesting because I wanted to know how they would resolve it. But it just kinda... fell off after that? At this point you have the expected low point in the protagonist's life, and then they figure out how to fix everything, but it was just so... boring and uninspired somehow. By this point, the movie's quirky and fun nature has worn down its' course and the

spoilerbattle of the Kens

just did nothing for me anymore.

What's worse, I was expecting

spoilerthe Mattel board of directors, particularly Will Ferrell's characters to be villains and instead they just... arrived by the end of the movie and had a change of heart.

That subverted my expectations for sure, but not in a good way whatsoever. Slightly reminiscent of the last seasons of Game of Thrones.

And lastly, I really expected the resolution of the plot to have something to do with horses and I was sorely disappointed about that too.

TL;DR: Movie starts out great, but foreshadows things it doesn't follow through on very well, ending is boring and sappy.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

About at the part where

spoiler Barbie is comforting Ken on the bed ::: I said to my partner "It feels like this movie has been ending for a while now," and that was still a good way off from credits. I did appreciate that ::: spoiler spoiler Barbie and Ken didn't end up together, it was a good message that men and women both need to be okay with themselves before they pursue a relationship. I loved the "I am Kenough" shirt. :::

A couple of issues I had personally:

spoiler spoiler They really hold their punches on toxic masculinity. There are no men who are outright misogynistic and believe women to be subhuman. They're all just dumb and misguided. They also made a small attempt to point out that patriarchal society is negative for men too with the "sometimes I wish we could all have tickle fights" bit, but I do wish they would have dug a little deeper into how awful it is that men are expected to never have emotions and bottle up. It was also really weird that the kid called Barbie a fascist... It almost felt like they were using that word wrong on purpose to reduce its meaning, or get Republicans in the audience to roll their eyes at the stupid SJW calling everything they don't like fascist. Also weird that at different points the movie claims Barbie saved women or set them back 50 years...like, it's just a doll. Yes, a popular doll, but it's weird to claim women gained or lost power in society solely because of a doll and not through the actions of feminists. :::

I'm general, I'm happy with the film's lessons, although it feels weird for Hollywood to be the one preaching them to me.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It is in my very unbiased opinion that is totally not a promotion (as that would be against strike rules) that everybody should see this movie.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

That kinda makes sense..

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (17 children)

Classic. What countries have insecure men?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

... if a man shows hatred for “Barbie” and slams female directors after they leave the theatre, then this man is “stingy” ...

Didn't knew there were that many female directors in China. Let alone having to watch their back to not get sucker-punched.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if a man understands even half of the movie’s themes, “then he is likely a normal guy

And when ask about the movie, if he says "she's hot" and starts masturbating?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

According to the guide, if a man shows hatred for “Barbie” and slams female directors after they leave the theatre, then this man is “stingy”

Does stingy have a different meaning than cheap? Seems like a weird thing to infer.

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