I'm not gonna pretend that the first bit of the movie didn't make me think of Marklar - the fictional planet that is inhabited by Marklars, who refer to all people, places and things and Marklar. I swear that the energy of Barbie just saying "Hi Barbie" or "Hi Ken" and specific Barbies or Kens reacting back was pretty much the same. Also, the whole plotline kind of reminded me of Wreck-It Ralph (2012), as the idea that a fictional character must leave his digital/fantasy home has some similar connotations in the storytelling.

I can say that I had some fun during the movie. I'm not a big fan of comedies but there were genuine moments where I did have a laugh. At the same time, there were a lot of moments where the nature of the comedy just didn't resonate with me well. To be completely honest, if I had done some research prior to watching this movie and had noticed that Will Ferrell was part of the cast, I probably wouldn't even think about watching the movie (long story short - I just cannot stand his style of comedy) but thankfully, on Barbie he wasn't a major character and his presence wasn't half bad.

Now to address the elephant in the room - as a white male, I've never felt comfortable talking about patriarchy, feminism, genderism, etc. I just feel that, as a man, I'm not in a position to understand the struggles of a woman. I can say I can relate to their problems, but I can't step into their shoes to actually feel them. So, during political media courses when we covered gender studies, sexually and similar topics or when we went through the literature of Judith Butler and similar authors, I was just lost and felt completely incompetent. I still feel lost to some extent. Even though this movie was highly satirical, I still felt uncomfortable that various stereotypes, both of male and female quirks, were presented as signs of weaknesses. Both masculinine and feminine traits (which I'd argue don't "exist" outside of discourse) create such an atmosphere where neither men or women can live together without one of them submitting to the other. It was more saddening than funny to see it playout. Both the patriarchy taking control and the women taking the power back segments just felt uncomfortable and even the music tracks didn't make it better for me.

I mostly went to see the movie out of curiosity as I had hints of there being political underlines and corporative positioning (as in how ideas are sold instead of products, creating a fake sensation of wants and even needs) ideas in a movie that covers the pink Barbie world where life is fantastic. Unfortunately, I felt disappointed in that regard, but the happy vibes did get to me, especially in the first half of the movie, so I can't say my experience with the movie was that bad.