When Ken Became the Villian of the Barbie Movie
And why it’s an important story to tell
The Barbie movie isn’t really about Barbie. It’s about a “utopia” created by Barbies. Which, is just a matriarchy.
The Barbie cinematic universe is about all the various positions Barbie holds. It’s about astronaut Barbie, president Barbie, doctor, and lawyer Barbie. It’s a society that’s completely run and operated in an opposing fashion to the “real world”. Which, as we know is a patriarchy.
At face value, I’d assumed the real enemy of Barbie was Mattel. Mattel is the company that created Barbie. I’d assumed they’d be more of an “evil overlord” type of presence. I’d assumed the movie was going to be a subversive, meta-analysis of the capitalistic construct that Barbie exists within. But, the direction was a far greater, and potentially more fruitful, message than that.
Some background (and some spoilers)
A capitalist angle would have been bad for business. Or, boring. The film doesn’t shy away from the fact that Barbie is a business. A product. They acknowledge it, without necessarily critiquing it. The bigger critique is less capitalism and more that men are at the helm of the business; the patriarchal aspects of capitalism, that don’t benefit women.
