I saw Barbenheimer the weekend it came out. Oppie is overrated as shit. I liked it but Barbie was 3x better. It’s apparent in the way women are written and the fact that Greta, Margot and Barbie are being snubbed for Nolan is a disgrace.

Oppie isn’t even his best work and it sure as shit doesn’t deserve a dozen fucking Oscar noms.

Whatever criticisms you have of Barbie being white/pop feminism are absolutely tossed aside when fucking OPPENHEIMER is the one winning shit. Cmon.

They’re giving noms to Poor Things instead of it as the “feminist” film cuz they’re cowards scared of women succeeding behind the camera in addition to in front of it and in the box office, and they’re horny teens horned up by Emma Stone and enraged Margot didn’t do that.

Edit- And before you come at me, I saw Oppie on proper film. Don’t tell me I didn’t get it or didn’t have a good experience or whatever. I liked it. But Barbie was better.

    • LibsEatPoop [any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      16·
      10 months ago

      I’m not going to argue feminism here. You could argue Barbie and slutty Halloween dresses and fucking bikinis are pro-feminism or anti-feminism till the sun envelopes the earth.

      But here’s what I know.

      Nearly every woman I know was super excited to see the film. They couldn’t stop talking about it in a way they didn’t about other movies. We were planning out what to wear and if it would match and there was a genuine sense of excitement and camaraderie there even before the movie came out.

      Then, on the day, fucking everyone wore pink. Everyone said “hi Barbie” in the theatre. During the film, the entire crowd, which was filled with women in a way I found so comforting and reassuring, laughed and whooped along with the movie.

      Afterwards too we couldn’t stop buzzing about it. Anyone we met on the street who was wearing pink? Hi Barbie!

      Was it basic? Yes. Was its feminism and (lack of ) criticism of capitalism a bit safe? Of course. But literally everyone I went with knew that going in. We are all leftists of different flavours and we still enjoyed the moment and the communal sense the movie was able to create in a community that often lacks such spaces in cinema.

      And we fucking felt that lack when we went and saw Oppie next. The difference was fucking stark. I may not have even caught on it had I not seen Barbie first but I’m glad I did. Watching Barbie and Oppenheimer back to back forces you to see the way women are portrayed on screen by women and by other men. People talk about the “Male Gaze” but this is how you really experience it. It’s not just women’s bodies being looked at.

      No, I could feel the camera in Oppenheimer look at its women, especially during certain scenes, like a predator would on a prey. It made me feel disgusted and unsafe.

      It’s hard to even explain it properly.

      Anyways, what I’m trying to say - there’s a lot more to life, and there’s a lot more to leftism, than just debating theory and whether or not something is good or bad. It’s important to cultivate a sense of community and recognize the things that do it and why they are able to do it. Of course Mattel is a horrible company. Everyone knows it. That doesn’t mean the sense of community we felt during Barbie was not genuine. You’ve got to be able to understand that if you want to take your politics into the real world.

          • LibsEatPoop [any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
            4·
            10 months ago

            I’ve read your replies to mine and other’s comments in the thread. I’m sorry for coming across as defensive and attacking.

            Even if I think Barbie does have redeeming parts and is not as bad as you make it out to be, the point you raised here is extremely important and one I hadn’t thought of. So thanks for bringing it up.

            Much love and solidarity.

          • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
            3·
            10 months ago

            barbie is a CHILDREN’s movie,

            This is one bit I’d definitely disagree on - Barbie is a children’s brand, but this specific movie is directed squarely at adults (at the very least, older teens who are over Barbie). The movie was meant to recapture part of an older market that has outgrown the dolls, but could be convinced to buy for their kids or, with declining birth rates limiting future profits, to buy other merchandise.
            Making Mattel bumbling fools allows them to acknowledge previous controversies without taking responsibility by pretending everything was just a big mistake by people trying to do their best.

        • macerated_baby_presidents [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          12·
          10 months ago

          You’re right about Barbie (I haven’t seen Oppenheimer). The jokes were good but even an uncritical reading of its message fails. It needed to articulate a real theory of change through collective action, not vague “trick the men somehow”, but it couldn’t be revolutionary because it was at its core an ad for Mattel toys (and GM electric vehicles lol). I was honestly amazed to hear arguments about how it’s impossible for women to meet the contradictory feminine ideal applied in genuine defense of a DOLL. Extremely clever, pernicious co-optation. Punching left with the wokescold caricature girl to attack radical feminism seals the deal for me. Pink bloc and Hi Barbies! are important; the movie intends to bring “feminism” to everyone by having it mean nothing (and by enormous advertising spend).

          However we need to put this in the site header carousel messages right away:

          I probably am in the top 20% of grass touchers on this site

    • WithoutFurtherBelay@hexbear.net
      English
      11·
      10 months ago

      how anyone could call themselves a leftist and think that this toy ad is feminist is beyond me.

      Woman in real life literally told me “this is the first movie I’ve watched that makes me feel seen”