hot take ahead on barbie (2023) INCLUDING SPOILERS
i don't think barbie is about feminism. in this essay i will...
but no, really. according to the cambridge dictionary, feminism is "the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state". nowhere in the movie does it show any character wanting to become part of the feminist movement. i want to emphasize that feminism is about being treated the same way, including women having the same rights as men. barbie isn't a feminist. neither is ken. don't even get me started about the elf of the shelf aka mattel's ceo.
everytime i go on youtube i get bombarded (due to the algorithm i created lmao) with barbie videos and how everyone talks about feminism or anti-feminism for that matter. and from a sociological point of view (i missed using this fancy term), it shows how individuals will see/hear exactly what they are looking for - they will see/hear everything that goes along or, on the contrary, what contradicts their own set of beliefs that they had before watching the movie. if someone was looking for feminism, they will look at all the signs for women rights in barbieland being equal to men rights in the real world. or, vice versa, if someone was looking for anti-feminism, they will look at how all male dolls were treated (that includes the kens, allan/s and all the other dolls too as long as they fall into the masculine gender).
but let's break down the feminism definition to prove this point. my archnemesis emile durkheim said that "the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to average members of the same society forms a particular system that has its own life; one might call it the collective or common consciousness". in that sense, beliefs become part of a group (or subgroup) if they are agreed upon by a majority. the term women is too broad, so instead i will use another: individuals who identify with femininity (this is still skewed since it doesn't cover that much ground on all gender identities, but hopefully it's enough to make the point). the rest of the quote in the beginning basically agrees upon all genders having equal rights, power and opportunities in a society. to limit this even further, it means no discrimination whatsoever, regarding any aspect of one's life and activity in a society.
this brings me back to the barbie movie. the movie isn't about matriarchy vs patriarchy. from an empirical point of view (and it was hard to do that bc i adore the actors/actresses and the dolls), the movie can be considered at the very most satirical. barbieland was ruled by matriarchy until the kens overthrown that government. but the barbies did manipulate the situation so that they could take the power again. in the end, the barbies said they will allow some positions for the kens, but definitely not something important, suggesting that they couldn't face it. that isn't feminism. it's not about equal rights. it's exactly what we see in societies. let the minority think they won something when in fact, you don't give them at the very least the bare minimum.
i woke up and chose violence. but this is my hot take on the sociological aspects of the movie. i'm oh so tempted to make an actual paper including the political but that'd mean someone will have to read about 30 pages in word. and i feel sorry for that person already.