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鈥楰enough鈥: Is 'Barbie' more revolutionary for men than women?

鈥楰enough鈥: Is 'Barbie' more revolutionary for men than women?

Top image: Warner Bros. Pictures

兔子先生传媒文化作品 PhD student鈥檚 paper argues that the hit film exemplifies 鈥榤asculinity without patriarchy鈥 in media


M.G. Lord, author of Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll听and co-host of the podcast LA Made: The Barbie Tapes, describes Greta Gerwig鈥檚 Oscar Award-winning, box-office behemoth听 as 鈥渋ncredibly feminist鈥 and widely perceived as 鈥渁nti-male.鈥

Meanwhile, conservative critics rail that the movie is 鈥渁nti-man鈥 and full of 鈥渂eta males鈥 in need of a testosterone booster. Conservative British commentator Piers Morgan called it 鈥渁n assault on not just Ken, but on all men.鈥

headshot of Julie Estlick

兔子先生传媒文化作品 PhD student Julie Estlick argues that Greta Gerwig's award-winning film Barbie is "a really good film for Ken."

But University of Colorado Boulder women and gender studies doctoral studentJulie Estlick sees things differently. In her recent paper, ,鈥 published in听Feminist Theory, she argues that the movie is 鈥渁 really good film for Ken.鈥

On first viewing, Estlick noticed a woman nearby having a 鈥渧ery visceral, emotional response鈥 to the now iconic monolog by actor America Ferrera, which begins, 鈥淚t is literally impossible to be a woman.鈥

She wasn鈥檛 particularly moved by the speech, and walking out of the theater, she realized she didn鈥檛 see the movie as a clear-cut icon of feminism.

鈥淚 really questioned whether the film was actually about Barbie, and by extension, women, at least in the way people were claiming,鈥 she says.

Once Barbie was available for streaming, Estlick took a closer look and arrived at a heterodox conclusion:

Barbie is not anti-man; it is pro-man and is not necessarily a revolutionary film for women, at least not as much as it is for men,鈥 she writes in the paper鈥檚 abstract. 鈥淭his is because Barbie espouses non-hegemonic masculinity through cultural critiques that are rare to see in popular media.鈥

Hegemonic vs. toxic masculinity

For Estlick, 鈥渉egemonic masculinity鈥 is a kind of stand-in for the 鈥渢oxic masculinity鈥 so often featured in media: superheroes, gangsters, vigilantes, killing machines who are also 鈥渓ady killers.鈥 Always strong, rarely emotional, such men are absurdly impermeable to harm, and sport chiseled features and perfectly sculpted abs, she says. Yet many are also 鈥渕an children鈥 whose 鈥渦ltimate prize鈥 is to have sex with a woman.

鈥淭hat kind of media comes at the expense of women, works against women, and often oppresses women by sexualizing and objectifying them,鈥 Estlick says.

Movie poster of Ryan Gosling playing Ken in the film Barbie

In the film Barbie, the patriarchy ultimately doesn't serve the Kens any more than it does the Barbies, argues 兔子先生传媒文化作品 PhD student Julie Estlick. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Non-hegemonic masculinity is strong without being oppressive, and supportive and protective of women without regard to any quid pro quo. It allows for men to openly express emotions and vulnerability and to seek help for their mental-health struggles and emotional needs without shame, while retaining their strength, vitality and masculinity.

鈥淚t does the opposite of hegemonic masculinity,鈥 Estlick says. 鈥淚t works alongside women and doesn鈥檛 harm them in any way.鈥

The Kens are first represented in the movie as clueless accessories to the ruling Barbies of Barbie Land. But after Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) and Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) find a portal to our world, Beach Ken returns and establishes a patriarchal society in which women become mindless accessories to hyper-competitive men in the thrall of hegemonic masculinity.

But ultimately, the patriarchy doesn鈥檛 serve the Kens any more than the Barbies.

鈥淎s people always say, men鈥檚 worst enemy under patriarchy isn鈥檛 women. It鈥檚 other men and their expectations, who are constantly stuffing men into boxes,鈥 Estlick says.

Which isn鈥檛 to say that women don鈥檛 also enforce strictures of hegemonic masculinity.

鈥淲hen little boys are taught to suppress emotions, little girls are watching. They are watching their fathers, and fathers onscreen, acting in certain ways,鈥 Estlick says. 鈥淕irls internalize toxic ideologies the same ways boys do.鈥

Allan the exception

In Barbie, there is just one male who stands apart from Kendom: Allan, played by Michael Cera.

鈥淎llan is positioned as queer in the film in that he is othered but not less masculine in the traditional understanding of the word,鈥 Estlick writes. He 鈥渄eviates from the conventional canon of masculinity鈥 and 鈥渦ses his masculinity for feminism and to liberate women while also protesting patriarchy.鈥澨

Allan doesn鈥檛 fit into Kendom, with or without patriarchy. As the narrator (voiced by Helen Mirren) notes, 鈥淭here are no multiples of Allan; he鈥檚 just Allan.鈥

The character is based on a discontinued Mattel doll released in 1964, intended to be a friend to Ken. Fearing the friendship might be perceived as gay, the company swiftly removed Allan from store shelves, later replacing him with a 鈥渇amily pack鈥 featuring Barbie鈥檚 best friend Midge as his wife, and a backstory that the couple had twins.

In the film, non-toxic Allan is immune to patriarchal brainwashing and sides with the Barbies in re-taking Barbie Land.

Ryan Goslin as Ken in film Barbie

鈥(T)he film can be understood as a vital framework for masculinity that allows for vulnerability, emotion and heterosexual intimacy among men,鈥 says researcher Julie Estlick. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

鈥淩ight off the bat we see (Allan) as queered from the rest of the Kens and Barbies,鈥 Estlick says.

But Beach Ken, too, eventually senses that he鈥檚 not happy in the patriarchal society has created. In one of the movie鈥檚 final scenes, a tearfully confused Beach Ken converses with Stereotypical Barbie from a literal ledge:

鈥淵ou have to figure out who you are without me,鈥 Barbie tells him kindly. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not your girlfriend. You鈥檙e not your house, you鈥檙e not your mink 鈥 You鈥檙e not even beach. Maybe all the things that you thought made you aren鈥檛 鈥 really you. Maybe it鈥檚 Barbie and 鈥 it鈥檚 Ken.鈥

In other words, Barbie is rooting for Ken to claim his individuality.

鈥淏each Ken鈥檚 house, clothes, job and girlfriend all represent boxes that society expects men to tick, but this scene illustrates that it is okay to deviate from normative behaviors of masculinity and that manhood is not solely defined through heteronormative bonds and behaviors,鈥 Estlick writes. And 鈥渋t is acceptable for men to admit to a woman that they need help.鈥

Barbie is pure, candy-colored fantasy. But in our world, Estlick believes it points the way toward further non-toxic media representations of masculinity and ultimately contribute to better mental health for men trapped in a 鈥渕an box鈥 鈥 as well as women who have borne the burden of men鈥檚 self- and societally imposed strictures on their own humanity.

鈥(T)he film can be understood as a vital framework for masculinity that allows for vulnerability, emotion and heterosexual intimacy among men,鈥 she concludes. It 鈥(opens) the door to the creation of more media that subverts societal expectations of toxic masculinity.鈥澨


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