UNPOPULAR OPINION

I don’t care about the Barbie movie. At all. Well, a little bit, I do. I care that, because I’m a woman, some of you out there assume I want to watch it. It reminds me of how, when I was a little kid, adults assumed that, because I was a girl, I wanted to play with baby dolls and/or Barbie. I didn’t.

Fortunately for me, my parents didn’t push.

I know part of the attraction of the Barbie movie, for some, is nostalgia. That is utterly lost on me. So, for me to be interested, there should be some other draw—and there isn’t one.

I resent the implied message, from so many people all over the internet: If you are a woman, this movie is for you. Because pink. Because Barbie. Because girl power.

Barbie has had about every career a person—man or woman—can have. Why isn’t that empowering? Is it what I suspected all along—just another Barbie costume?

One aspect of the movie that annoys me most—and note I haven’t seen it, but this plot point is impossible to miss. Why is Ken stupid? Is it 100% necessary to make Ken a dolt to show how Barbie is strong and competent? That feels to me like an underlying message that women are only successful when the men around them are fools. I’d rather Ken was her equal, with his own interests and his own life, and they are supportive friends or spouses or co-workers or whatever.

To sum it up: Ain’t buying it. Ain’t watching it. I know my worth as a woman and a human being, and it sure doesn’t need bolstering by a movie playing into tired stereotypes.