My In-Depth Opinion of the Barbie movie (as an autistic person, and a Barbie fan)

[@Hopie_T]

One tiny correction because I saw it again recently: When they went to the real world together and Barbie was harassed by the construction workers, she did say "just so you know guys, neither of us has genitals" and that shut them up. So they did in fact not have genitals the first time they went to the real world, so they didn't need to pee. I hope that gives you comfort somehow 😅

[@foggyozarkg7396]

😄

[@thetonytaye]

Not gonna lie… when I was watching the movie in theaters, I was like, “man, I wonder what Paige Layle would think of this.” And now there’s a 40 minute video about it, so thanks for this.

[@chrissytamulis1755]

Growing up as a young undiagnosed AuDHD girl in the 80s, I had no idea what to do with barbies. To me, they didn't have a purpose. I only played with toys that had a very clear purpose to them-or else I'd be bored with them. For dolls, I was instead obsessed with Jem from the Jem and the Holograms cartoons (1985-1987). She was a rock star, therefore had a purpose to me.

[@j_me]

Growing up as an undiagnosed austistic girl in the 90's/00's, I really liked Barbies because I thought they were pretty, and it was really satisfying to dress them and 'set them up' like it was a movie scene 😅

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

I actually got to hang out with Samantha Newark when I volunteered at a ComicCon about 7 or 8 years ago. She was there first thing in the morning and stayed through the whole day for the 3 days that she was there. So down to earth and sweet. She definitely helped make the day less boring.

[@BioMasker]

I only played with Legos. That was my freedom.

[@chrissytamulis1755]

@@BioMaskerI begged my mom for legos since I loved playing with my brothers. She got me the 'girl lego' dollhouse with nothing really to build. I'd play with regular legos and k'nex at friends houses any chance I got.

[@thecolorjune]

That must be why my favorite Barbie’s were my ballerina, soccer, and mermaid Barbie’s bc they all had clear roles

[@ccre88trixx]

Weird barbie was the best character in barbie

[@heatherrae901]

Agreed

[@jclyntoledo]

No 😂😂, sorry but best character was definitely Ken

[@sammjaisais7135]

I'm transmasc genderfluid and was raised as a girl with Barbie as much as any girl out there. I'm not blonde, I'm not blue eyed, and never actually looked like Barbie, except for maybe being white passing. I didn't really see myself in her physically, but many of her characters resonated with me (specifically, the ones made to be sort of outcasts like Odette, Elina, Mariposa, Ro). But the thing is, I never really thought I had to look like what was shown on a screen for the message to apply to me. I mean, I saw and related to animal cartoons and rainbow coloured unicorns, clearly looks didn't really matter to me. Thus meant that when controversy about race swapping a character typically portrayed as white, I didn't really care what people did. But I grew up and realised just how much seeing yourself represented can mean to someone. And I now see the impact it can have on a little kid's self-esteem.

[@IceCreamSplat]

Like, I get the critique but the bus stop scene for example, Barbie is struggling with all these changes about herself, her own visible aging and feels awful about it, but when she sees another human lady, and old lady, she finds her beautiful even though she has gone through all of these changes already. I think it's a reflection of how we're overly criticizing ourselves for how we look all the time but when we look at others we don't find them ugly at all. And the fact that the woman answered "Don't I know it" is funny bc I think many people by default assume that women aging come to a point where they stop consider themselves beautiful... so you'd think she would answer "thank you :)" and that's it, but she answered with so much confidence to show that it doesn't matter what others think, SHE knows herself that she's beautiful and that's a really great message to older women. I know my own grandma can be really insecure about her looks, so if she got to see a scene like that I wonder if she could learn to love herself more.

[@IceCreamSplat]

And the Barbies agreeing to the Kens changes was partly because of them being put under some sort of spell. I don't know how or when, but it's proved by Barbie and the mom having to speak some sense into them to get their memories back.

[@IceCreamSplat]

And like... I think the Barbie movie is more like a feminist movie rather than a Barbie-Barbie movie. I think it was good exploring the prejudices that Barbie has since as a bigger girl with dark hair I had my own Barbie rage as a kid. And seeing it from the doll's perspective made me feel bad for her hahah. I also think it was good to include as many Kens as they did, both to be able to show feminism from a man's perspective, but also to make the audience more included since a lot of critique about Barbie was that "I CAN'T RELATE TO THAT AS A MAN" lmfao. Many of the structural inequity that the Kens suffered from is similar to what women had to fight to overcome in the real world, like not being able to vote and having no political power etc. It conveyed the problem of real issues while making it palatable to a bigger audience and that's a good thing. The change from being a child to becoming an adult is also a very difficult thing to go through, and since I'm also autistic I've spent a lot of grief over this fact. The Barbie movie helped in processing it since it shows a similar thing. Making the decision to throw out old toys because you don't play with them anymore is sososo sad and heart wrenching that I understand why the mom got struck with so much nostalgia. A subplot was also the relationship between the mom and her daughter Sasha, since they had a very tense relationship. Idk there's many aspects of the movie that really processed issues really well and I definitely think the movie deserved all the hype it got, but maybe I had an easier time to be neutral since I didn't have strong feelings about Barbie before watching, other than me playing with the dolls as a kid.

[@thombly5772]

I've been stuck in body dismorphia and autistic anorexia/bulimia for decades. But it's physical, transient, and subjective. Can't we foster everyone having a sense of beauty, by being creative, nurturing, or whatever it is that just gets a person really vibing? I can't ever trust a positive comment about my appearance. It's the easiest way for a potential narcissist to derail me, and any person who does like my looks might be outnumbered by others that see me as I'm hideous. It is excruciating saying this, considering my social anthropologist mum was very clear about that my sex is the one with the 10,000+ yrs of abusively building glass houses on sand. I know that I can never actually know what it's like. Anyway... I hope your grandma is happy.

[@Jenny_andy]

Also fun fact that lady is supposed to be ruth handlers daughter Barbara! So in that scene it's Barbie telling Barbie that she's beautiful

[@sophiehannah1600]

I would recommend watching some of Gretas and Margot's interviews about the movie, for example they wanted it to be a four quadrant movie (to appeal to men/women/young/old) so yes, I think a lot of the ken stuff was to cater to men, but i think that was important because there's not as much use showing a film about barbie and patriarchy to an only female audience, because there's men that might actually learn something about the realities of womanhood that we already know. I personally was not expecting the movie to have the storyline it did, but given what they did decide to do with it i thought it was a great film. What i took from the whole "why was only that barbie affected by her human" thing, was that because americas character was working at mattel and actually drawing the barbie designs with the annotations, that that's why she was affected, i didn't over think it more than that, but i do see the confusion I dont have a solid answer just a loose assumption. I definitely think there's an extent with this film that you have to suspend your disbelief more than other films because of them blurring real world/barbie world, there's things you just have to accept (?). I also think Barbie seeing the old lady as beautiful was as simple as it was shown , she's lived in this bubble-gum, pink, perfect world where all the barbies are one type of beauty standard and she's expanding her understanding of beauty. I could ramble on for ages but all I know is Greta and Margot worked hard for this film and they've got a lot of good interviews explaining a lot of the choices they made :) doesn't mean you have to like it obviously, just my two cents!

[@jrojas2520]

As a straight autistic male with adhd who didn't grow up knowing about Barbie or what she was supposed to represent, I really loved the movie and thought it was hilarious. But having said that, you made some really valid points and critiques of the movie that made me stop and say Paige is right to feel the way she does. I think everyone will get something different from the movie, and that is ok.

[@Scatscar1985]

They did mention Barbie's sister Skipper she ALSO went into the real world.

[@lauracerqueiramachado8979]

Hey, I´m also autistic and I have a hyperfocus on audiovisual. I liked some ideas I read about how the "Barbie" movie could have been funnier, for starters they should have included as many characters from the Barbie lore as they could instead of having so many different versions of "Barbies", there was no Teresa, no Nikki, no Raquelle, no Chelsea/Kelly (Barbie´s little sister) or Stacy (Barbie´s other little sister), no Ryan (Raquelle´s brother), no Blaine (the doll that almost replaced Ken as Barbie´s boyfriend 15 years ago), Barbie´s reason for losing her "doll-likeness" could have been that Barbieland was losing it´s "magic" because kids weren´t playing with Barbies as much as they used to anymore, they should have focused it´s humor on the fact that Barbie and Ken didn´t understand how the real world worked because everything was easier in their world, they could have explored some creepier parts of Barbie´s creation such as the fact that she was a shameless copy of the German doll Lilly and that her success allowed Mattel to sue Lilly´s toy brand until they went bankrupt, or that Barbie and Ken were based on Ruth´s daughter and son so making them a couple was a weird decision, or they could have subverted expectations by having a moment when Barbie found out that her first doll with the swimsuit was sold with different hair colors but they chose to focus on her blonde version because that was the one most people bought so Barbie didn´t really tell people what they should want to be like, actually she was defined by what the majority wanted her to be like, which could have led to her deciding she didn´t want to just be what people wanted her to be anymore

[@egg_bun_]

Omg yes!! Like where the heck was everyone???

[@maddienoelle22]

This movie isn’t meant to be about Barbie lore or really have any major connection to previous Barbie movies. It is meant to be a commentary on the patriarchy and how the Barbie dolls play into our patriarchal system. Barbie (the doll) was meant to be empowering to girls and women, but due to our society’s high expectations for women and emphasis on looks and aesthetics (imposed by patriarchy), Barbie has been anything but that. Sure, they could have gone in dozens of different directions, but they chose this one. I personally think it was the right choice and I loved the movie! While the movie was not written by anyone at Mattel, in order to use the Barbie IP, they weren’t going to be able to “expose” or put too much emphasis on the bad things that Mattel did in the past. If that’s what you expected, your expectations were unrealistic. I also think that the movie was made to appeal to the general population rather than Barbie super fans.

[@lauracerqueiramachado8979]

@@maddienoelle22 months before the movie came out I saw interviews with the cast and the director and they talked about how “this movie had this great critic to Mattel and that Greta never expected them to approve it but they did because they didn’t really bother reading the script she sent them and when they found out they tried to stop it but they couldn’t” so naturally my expectations were really high, I thought they were going to talk about how Mattel doesn’t really care about children and they just want money (like every industry), that they twist their characters to fit any role they want and that they exploit their employees, but after watching the movie I got the impression that Mattel didn’t like the way they were portrayed in the movie because they didn’t want people to think they were as dumb as those characters

[@lauracerqueiramachado8979]

@@maddienoelle22 the “Barbie” movie should have been more about “the patriarchy” than Barbie herself? When you make the live-action version of something that has a huge IP there is a sort of checklist of things you got to do to justify it’s existence, one of them is gathering up as much info of this IP’s lore as you can. Barbie was not meant to “be empowering to girls and women” at least not from the start, her first commercials had her dressed in a wedding dress to encourage girls to want to get married

[@maddienoelle22]

@@lauracerqueiramachado8979 I'm sorry that you had those expectations for the movie, but that is not what I was expecting nor do I think that most people were expecting the movie to expose Mattel in that way.

[@iamcorinward]

Just finishes "But Everyone Feels This Way" so good and validating. Thank you for sharing your story

[@G3n3vaL3st3r]

I was opposite. I never liked Barbie growing up but loved the movie!

[@stacybrewer3812]

Autistic/ADHD writer/actor here. Totally fair take!! May I posit a not-mutually-exclusive theory? I’m pretty certain the plot follows the format and rules of The Hero’s Journey™️ (like from Joseph Campbell’s book Hero With A Thousand Faces). I actually very much enjoy the movie in this context. There are 12 steps, which include an inner journey of self-actualization. 1) The call to adventure. 2) The refusal of the call. 3) Meeting the mentor. 4) Crossing the threshold. 5) Tests, allies, and enemies. 6) The approach to the inmost cave. 7) The ordeal. 8) The reward. 9) The road back. 10) The resurrection. 11) The return. 12) The freedom to live. These steps are detailed in Campbell’s book (although it’s quite the tome) and many places on the internet. You see them followed everywhere from Homer to Star Wars, across geography and time, and now in Barbie!

[@signsofaprincess]

I mean I agree with both of you. Personally I feel like the movie had a lot of potential and they could’ve done more with it….but idk…..I did enjoy the plot even though looking back it was a little meh….but I agree, they did a really good job of showing The Hero’s Journey but they also showcased other things too.

[@sarahgardiner1735]

Hey Paige, autistic adult here who also used to play with Barbie (also a white skinny blue-eyed girl). While I understand your focus on many of the different things going on and plot holes in this movie, I personally loved it and thought I'd share my perspective (and also hopefully clear more things up for you). I also wanted to start by saying that, albeit unrealistic, given Mattel's motives in making this movie, I would have also loved to see them touch more on body image! While they did include a curvy Barbie, it would have been nice to see more on body image. It also confused me about where the heck the "Barbie Land" on planet Earth was and that bothered me lol. Also, why didn't they call it Barbie World?? That would have made A) SO much more sense logically and B) it's in the Barbie theme song!! I wasn't particularly bothered by the fact that there were so many Kens, even though they didn't make that many additions of Ken when we were kids because I think if there was just Ken and Allen they would have just been there and that wouldn't have added anything to the overarching story that they were trying to tell. The way I see it, Barbie Land represents the fun, fictitious life of Barbie that brings me back to my childhood of playing with her, with her car, dream house, and all of her additions like Mermaid Barbie and Nurse Barbie. Yes, each individual Barbie shown in the movie is a general addition of that make: there are not many of the same Barbie in Barbie Land. This means, that since the OG stereotypical Barbie is a general thing and it doesn't follow a timeline, neither does her owner, who was a run-of-the-mill working mom in the late 2010s. Lol, I too have had to piece together the frustrating, inaccurate generalizations of the neurotypical world all my life and it's annoying. Barbie going to the real world felt to me like growing up and learning that the real world is harsh, men are gross, and it's not as nice as Barbie Land. Unfortunately due to bullying and a crappy school system, I kind of learned that way too early and didn't fully buy into the fantasy of Barbie even at the age of 8. I thought Will Farrell was a fantastic portrayal as the CEO of Mattel. He was ridiculous enough and daft enough to women's struggles. The execs of Mattel were a fantastic portrayal of how in real life, men are making all of these products and things that women are supposed to buy into. I loved how the ending of the movie brought us back to what feminism is really all about. No matriarchy or patriarchy, just equality. AND battling toxic masculinity with the message that it's okay for men to cry (which was also hilariously done). It makes so much sense that seeing something that's your special interest portrayed in a different light than you're used to is suuuuper disappointing. But I hope this cleared some stuff up that was confusing or bothersome :)

[@inmyworldkindagirl]

Thank you! I didn't know what was so off about it, but I also knew that the movie was not as good as people were making it out to be, but you articulated it perfectly. People kept saying that they laughed and cried during it. I was blank-faced the whole time waiting for something significant to happen. I didn't cry during the movie, I cried after the movie because maybe their patriarchy in the movie got fixed, but the one in real life is not even close to being fixed and we're just stuck in it. It definitely wasn't the plot that I expected and took the magic out of Barbie imo. Also there was a lot of on-the-nose messaging that I did not appreciate

[@allurajane4979]

i had this exact same feeling! other women felt validated and this movie made them feel good which is great! but it made me feel sososososo much worse

[@Genin99]

You pretty much echoed my wife's first impression of the Barbie movie. She's also Autistic and found the whole premise baffling.

[@FrancieMoon9]

You wrote a book?! That is SO awesome! Proud of you!!

[@funfettirapunzel]

I LOVED Barbie growing up and I LOVED this movie 😭😭😭 it’s like one of my all time favorite movies

[@angelanice]

I loved the Barbie movie, especially the monolgue, because things we've been saying for years are finally being said in mainstream media. I actually don't like Will Ferrel and forgot he was even there for most of the movie lol, so I definitely agree they should have left that whole weird pointless plot out. My perspective of Barbie's growth: as humans we often grow through hardship and that's something Barbie hadn't experienced in her perfect world. She set out wanting to "fix" whatever was making her feel wrong, but along the way realized that aging and emotions and fighting for what you believe in is better than having everything perfect all the time. The ending felt weird and like a joke I didn't get (a common occurrence for my autism) and now that you mention it there was way too much adhd influence on the plot 😂

[@IceCreamSplat]

I feel like they ended with a joke because that's a thing that many people point out, that Barbies don't have genitals lol. Her deciding to keep living as a human woman meant that she have to check her health, including the body part she's never had before. It's a bit of an "aha! She's fully human now"

[@jrshaffer87]

Haha! This reminds me of my reaction to The Notebook. Everyone in the theater was crying HARD. I was like, nothing about that relationship was good. And the ending wasn’t sad or movingly happy.

[@kata2180]

To be completely honest I'm kinda jealous and I greatly admire your smarts and being able to form and communicate your opinions so well. I watched the movie, felt like it was weird, but couldn't put my finger on what was wrong with it, and since I laughed several times while watching it, I figured I must have liked it. I wish I was as smart as you and could make sense of why I thought it was weird, cuz honestly now that I've watched this video, I 100% agree with every point you made. I literally kept thinking "yes, yes, these words describe exactly what I felt when I thought it was weird!"

[@Retroman__ll]

It almost sounds like this should have been the sequel to an awesome Barbie movie that never was...and they should have called it Ken.

[@IceCreamSplat]

Calling the movie Ken shows that everyone missed the plot. It wasn't about Ken, he was an antagonist that foiled Barbie's character. Barbie had her own issues to deal with, but she also had to come to terms with that she'd been acting very rude to Ken. That's why he was there.

[@egg_bun_]

Right? And there's nothing wrong with that, but we should have had a BARBIE movie first!

[@maddienoelle22]

If you watch the movie yourself, I don’t think that you’ll actually feel this way. Ken was there for comedic value and for the purpose of connecting the dots between Barbie and the patriarchy of the world that we live in. The movie was not at all about Ken.

[@maddienoelle22]

@@IceCreamSplat I don’t think everyone missed the plot. I definitely think that Paige missed the plot, and I don’t think this commenter has even seen the movie themself.

[@jsim26787]

I would definitely agree with a lot of your criticisms. Especially with there just being a bit too much going on, some stuff could have been taken out for sure. Also, the plot holes around how she's turning human because her owner is sad, doesn't make any sense at all, I'd argue every Barbie would be turning human then. Again, like you said, just not a good story. I still really enjoyed the movie. I'm a sucker for any piece of art that makes me feel something, and I bawled many times throughout the movie. I'd say as a barbie movie, it's bad, it's not connected to any of the previous barbie movies, which is sad considering they had a bit of a marvel universe thing going on. However, there's things that were said that makes me very emotional to think about how young girls get to see stuff like that on such a large screen. I love Ken's character and actually really enjoyed how they had Barbieland's society flipped, I thought it was a good way to get misogynists to empathize with women, and it gave me tons of conflicting feelings which I was not expecting this movie to make me feel and think like that. I almost wanted to root for the Ken's because they were the women of that society in a way, so it's almost as if you're getting to see women completely take everything back and then some, but then you also hate to see it, aside from the obvious of how it's not fixing anything and is resulting in yet again the same patriarchal society just with the genders flipped, but also it felt so good to see a society of women doing everything, it was so beautiful to see so many powerful women on screen together, and none of them are in competition or jealous of each other, it's just something I've not ever gotten to see in my lifetime, and it was crushing to see it fall. I was so conflicted for most of the movie, and I respected that, it made me think a lot, and feel a lot, and personally that's what I like about art so I really enjoyed to movie. I still have a lot of issues with the movie, primarily that if you're going to make a movie about feminism, make it about feminism, not just women, it completely left out a lot of nuances around intersectionality and discrimination against people of colour, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Especially in today's political climate, I think this was a massively unfortunate decision to not include that in this movie at all. My hope is that will be addressed if there is a sequel, when Barbie is in the real world. At the end of the day would I say it's a good movie? Probably not, if it needs to rely on each individual to have the same emotional reaction to enjoy it, because that's the reason why I liked it, aside from the emotional reaction it gave me, I don't have a lot of praise despite enjoying the movie. (Just for transparency, I'm just Ken was my #1 played song last year, I had that on repeat).

[@dravendarkmatter]

I don't understand why she went to decided to go to the real world in the end, either. Because she was friends with America Fererra and her daughter? Like, it seems that she has so many friends and a life in Barbie Land. Can she go back there to visit? Are the other Barbies going to come visit her in the real world? What happens to the doll that's connected to the Margot Robbie body when she moves into the real world? If America Ferrera were to modify the body of her Barbie doll, would Margot Barbie also change? The moment where she tells an old lady she's beautiful is honestly just so nails-on-a-chalkboard-try-hard-to-be-deep. It makes no sense that after finding an old woman beautiful she wouldn't just be like "Hey Other Barbies! We Can Age and That's OK too! Our human counterparts have bad days and good days and imperfect bodies and stuff!" and then Barbie land could get more human and less Perfection, maybe? I don't know. There's so much I didn't understand. I really loved the movie on some levels, like I love the glitzy Hollywood Musical colorful song and dance numbers especially, I think they were all so fun. But here's the thing: Dua Lipa played MERMAID BARBIE: Barbieland is amazing and has mermaids in it! Does Ken, because his job is Beach, swim with the mermaids and be their friends? Where ARE the faeries is RIGHT! And like...does Barbie when she goes into The Real World think there's gonna be mermaids and find out they don't exist in our world? These are my questions lol. I am also Autistic. I appreciate u :)

[@elyssiacook6913]

Paige I just wanted to say thank you for your videos, you have helped me so much with my understanding of autism. I first sought diagnosis 25 years ago but was basically told that I couldn't have any issues because I used big words. Finally got my diagnosis last Tuesday & couldn't be happier about it, as it's been part of my identity for so long, and now I'm being offered the support that I've needed for years. Keep on keeping on!

[@Pjbanana8]

"Why wasn't there a whole gang of mermaid barbies" - YES! My exact thought. How did this whole movie not contain one hair-color changing doll.

[@kariikosmos3005]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in this thinking. Cause you seriously encapsulate all of my thoughts in this video

[@SamFokker]

OMG is not watching/listening to stuff that's new/popular a PDA thing? My brain literally shuts off when people mention some stuff and I always thought I was projecting fomo or something but 💀 if it's trending imma hold off to gather an opinion privately

[@inmyworldkindagirl]

PDAer here, I do the same thing and I never knew why. But it does feel like a demand when everyone's so hyped up about something and they're like, "You HAVE to watch this!" and in my brain I'm like, "No, I really don't" 😂 And then 2 years after the hype is done and everyone's forgot about it, I start watching it and I'm like, "OMG this is so good have you seen this??"

[@kj_H65f]

This will give away my age but I refused to see Shrek for like 15 years because so many people kept telling me to see it that I felt like it wasnt my choice. When I finally saw it I liked it but its not like it was the be-all-end-all of comedy either. I don't know what I was expecting but most times I consume some popular media its waaaay after it was big in mainstream.

[@SamFokker]

@@inmyworldkindagirl this is me currently with Six Feet Under. It came out 20 years ago but I've been binging it all week 💀

[@thetonytaye]

It’s funny. The more I’ve learned about PDA, the more I’ve begun to realize what might’ve been the reason for my hatred towards most popular things in my grade school years. From Hunger Games, to Frozen, to Fortnite, to Harry Potter (although I might’ve been kinda based for that last one looking back lol) I just had this intense disdain towards so many currently popular things.

[@cozyjuni]

I do this too. If it's something is popular at the time I steer away from it for a while and wait until days or months later.

[@sarahburgess7306]

You're right, there are like 12 plots all over the place and they feel very underdeveloped. I see it as like a super fast drive in the Barbie car through a bunch of critiques of Barbie, such as the critiques about her being an unrealistic role model to women (hence the storyline with America Ferrera, becoming human, and older lady on the bench) or the critiques about it being too female-centered and matriarchal (hence the Ken storyline). As someone who wasn't a fan of Barbie growing up, I liked it and enjoyed the (often surface-level) social commentary, but it was not a wholesome celebration of Barbie for Barbie fans and I do think that's a loss. I am also ADHD and not autistic and I think you might be right that this movie was made by ADHD people more than autistic people. The hundreds of plot ideas, beautiful sets, and funny jokes were stimulating if sometimes unsatisfying. I have to say, the most touching part of the movie for me is still the Billie Eilish song. Can we make a movie about that song that really dives into this idea?

[@Jane-oz7pp]

tbf they're planning an entire shared universe of movies, so not filling out every possible story hook is probably a good thinc

[@LittleKikuyu]

Oh please, not ANOTHER money grabbing cinematic „universe“! 😩 I‘ve had it up to like way high 🤢

[@meganmisaki4429]

I haven’t seen the Barbie movie instead I watched a Barbie cartoon 🍿👀 but I enjoyed your video on the Barbie movie 👀!

[@LynIsALilADHD]

I will give the movie this much... i ended up weirdly inspired by weird barbie.... ended up renovating a monster high castle, pulled out my old barbies, got weird with them and then started a kids youtube channel.....so thats fun!

[@gabrielladelgadocastro]

The barbie movie made me cry at the end of movie because i can relate to my past life

[@naomiparsons462]

Who else can see Paige in a Barbie movie? Not just looks, but her personality (as it comes across on KZbin obviously) would be so cool as Barbie.

[@Zebo262]

It sounds pretty messy and chaotic lol. But it's really nice to see this and see and hear someone else doing this with the things they watch 💙💙💙. I realised a particular character had had their plot changed at the last point in a very popular zombie programme, because the way they had him exit the programme didn't fit with the plot, or the details they'd slowly built up within it. So it had obviously been more of a list minute change, that didn't really fit or finish off his story properly. But I get that they did what they could with what they had, it just didn't feel right. I'm sure it seemed to make sense to most other people, but it felt really disjointed and rough and left some things unfinished. Nightmare for noticing this stuff. Congratulations on your book too! 💙💙💙

[@carmenmeijin]

the first barbie prototype was actually stolen from a german company. they made a novelty item called "bild lily," a doll that was meant to be attractive to men, and marketed towards them. Mattel ripped off the design, and they won a lawsuit against the german company. Ironically enough, Mattel later tried to sue Bratz when they stepped on the scene, just because they wanted to squash the competition. Bratz rightfully won that lawsuit. All this to say, fuck Mattel and all other big corporations. They think we will all fall for their corporate feminism. I will never buy it.

[@LittleKikuyu]

Heck, yeah! Where was special edition sugar plum fairy Barbie?! 🥹

[@shadeeldridge9711]

See I wasn't a Barbie kid so that's probably why. But really I'm almost a little embarrassed I didn't have a similar opinion to you when I first watched the movie. But as you're spelling it out you are wAYYY too correct. I watched it when I was in an INCREDIBLY fragile emotional place after my first real break up. Essentially I was in a major mental health crisis for a variety of reasons and any amount of emotional intensity and mention of mental health topics just hit wayyyyy too hard. I was truly barely functioning

[@o0osoftballnuto0o]

The way I screamed "STACY" 😂😂 she is Barbie's little sister 😂❤

[@AurorasWindow]

Isn’t Skipper? I kept yelling Skipper haha

[@allurajane4979]

@@AurorasWindow @o0osoftballnuto0o you guys are both right lol barbie has 3 sisters: Skipper, Stacy, and Chelsea

[@nussknacker9827]

Could you please make a video about your memories of being a baby And encourage your followers to write about their memories when they were babies . It's incredibly interesting, fascinating and eye opening. Thank you 💕

[@exhaustedpunk1477]

It really was a movie for the Kens in a way, as in they wanted the movie to speak to the boys that never played with Barbies and who criticized girly things. I think it can be said as much when looking at the advertising and the trends of "take your boyfriend/husband/dad/boy-friend/male relative to watch the movie, it will be fun because they'll hate it haha but actually secret plan is they will come out of it with a new perspective!"; In doing so as you mentioned it feels not Barbie enough for a Barbie movie (In spite of Gosling's funny story about his daughter's Ken doll). Which I wouldn't have had a problem with if they had fully committed to the campy aspects or if it wasn't so freaking contradicting and inconclusive?? There's a lot of wasted potential. I feel like it was also kind of a move to go against the anticipated misogynistic and feminist (both sides shit on the doll) hate the movie was going to get, just like the Matel making fun of itself bit; that for sure held them back from doing a lot of stuff or made them not even consider them for fear of it not being mainstream enough: end goal is pleasing and being inoffensive to as much people as possible. Disappointed but not surprised. Fucking hated the ending as well... it's so dumb but they tried so hard to make it seem like a clever thing by starting the movie with the whole destroying baby dolls scene so it seemed like a full circle story when it actually isn't at all. I just keep thinking of and reading people's ideas for the many directions they could've taken the movie into that seem so much fuller and interesting and... sigh... Also I'll let everyone know I have been thoroughly tired of the cliches of the hero journey for girlsTM since I was a kid soo that's my opinion on that :)

[@cherrycordial4180]

Agree on all points. So many things didn't make sense in this movie. Your comment about the bench scene cracked me up. I actually paused the movie at this scene to discuss with my partner wtf was happening and whyyyyyy.

[@IceCreamSplat]

Do you ever notice traits about yourself that you hate, but when you see others with the same traits they look beautiful and you wouldn't have it any other way? Yeah it's about that.

[@inmyworldkindagirl]

​@@IceCreamSplatI think they understand what the message was but they're saying that the message was so on-the-nose that it felt like it was telling rather than showing. So it didn't really evoke any emotion in them, Paige or myself

[@SpectrumPOV]

I think Mattel had too much influence on this movie. They had a toy company board in the movie, but they didn't let them have character arches or any comeuppances. The director Greta Gerwig has talked about how Mattel tried to get rid of some of the scenes and she had to fight to keep them in.

[@mandyb2245]

I had a few Barbie dolls as a kid. I'm old enough to remember the "Barbie and the Rockers" cartoon. I had it on VHS tape and I had a pink audio cassette tape with three songs on it by Barbie. I also had a Barbie Ferrari and a Barbie pool. I never had the dream house, though. Never really wanted one. I liked the movie, but it didn't change my life, and I didn't cry. I did like the monologue by America Ferrera. She spoke the truth. Barbie had three sisters: Skipper, Staci, and Kelly. I had a couple Skippers and I think 1 Staci. I never had Kelly.

[@therevahchist2790]

This is how I felt when I saw the Last Jedi.

[@anjeliina]

i just rewatched barbie with my stepmom yesterday, paige you read my mind😂

[@cholm2070]

And it ended with “wanting baby”…? Feels reductive as hell. “Grow up out of your dreamland, and do what women are SUPPOSED to do.” Bruh.

[@sheebeebuddy6793]

I did think the barbie movie plot was nonsense but it was so fun to watch that I forgive it for that lol also yeah still don’t understand the montage at the end and it’s not just bc im autistic, my other autistic friends were so emotional over it?? Idk maybe its bc I never really identified with girlhood?

[@ivanpadilla4479]

13:09 i thought something similar, like what I imagine girls going through puberty into adulthood. It was interesting and kinda expected for this type of movie I guess.

[@aleah3119]

Hey girl I feel ya with the capitalism struggles, (yes, I read the descriptions haha), totally relate. Wish I had something helpful to offer but just wanted to let you know I see you and same

[@meredithcarter2775]

Ugh. Yes. I hated the movie intuitively but you articulated so many more points than I was conscious of.

[@judemiles]

Ordered your book yesterday, super excited to read it!

[@harleaarmstrong7659]

I think she didnt want to get in the box because she the twists reminded her of the handcuffs as well as the past.

[@elinor1473]

Loved this breakdown! I was really excited for the movie and watched it with my mum, we both really hated it, but I'd like to watch it again (if/when its out for free somewhere) to watch it with a more open mind now I know what the plot is, personally I thought it was just a mess, too subtle in some points and punch you in the face in other points. My mum said she seen it as like a very beginner intro to gender topics and issues and body image etc, so it felt more shallow to us as we've had those sorts of discussions for years and years. But again, would like to watch it again to challenge some of my current opinions on it. Side note, I'm a huge Doctor Who fan so was ace seeing Ncuti Gatwa in there, totally unrelated though 😂

[@BrianBorges-ez3ls]

HeyPaige! Have the movie on DVD, but haven't watched it yet. Will be back here after I've watched because I'm interested in your opinion.💕

[@JazzTehHippy]

I like Barbie and I like you so it makes me sad that you don't like each other

[@neonfatum]

I liked it a lot, but I dunno if I'd watch it again. It's kinda insufferably preachy sometimes, it's also a bit hypercapitalist girlboss pop-feministy at times, and it's not saying anything new. But the fact that it's saying these things at all in such a mainstream production and to such a huge audience is still pretty cool I think. I didn't really care about the plot that much. The film is clearly more invested in the feminist aspects, rather than telling a coherent story. I think it kinda had to be a feminist film anyway, on account of what Barbie represents. I can definitely see why it might not exactly be a Barbie fan's film. It really isn't. It's made to be accessible for a wide audience, since culturally it's obviously considered mostly a girls' thing, with all the baggage that usually comes with that. I was never into Barbie myself, but I'm honestly kind of a fan of the 00s CG films. They were always really comforting to watch.

[@joshliam1967]

So interesting how I can love this movie SO MUCH as a person with AuDHD...to each their own for sure!

[@thetonytaye]

My take: I quite enjoyed the Barbie movie, but that was mainly because I found the plot and concept engaging. As a filmmaker, I guess I’m just kind of a sucker for the fake world-real world thing that Barbie does. I found a lot of the jokes really funny too. That said, even I can agree that this film was pretty surface level in its understanding of social issues. Calling Barbie an advancement in feminism is like calling Billie Joe Armstrong singing “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda” during the New Years Rockin’ Eve the most punk thing one could ever do (Listen, I’m one of the biggest Green Day fans you’ll ever meet but even I gotta be honest). Not only does it exude “fork found in kitchen” energy, but Greta and Billie could’ve gone so much deeper than simply “Patriarchy sucks” and “Trump bad!!” It was still fun seeing all the right-wing reactionaries get all up in arms about both of these events. It’s gonna happen again and again every time anything doesn’t center cis straight white men, and I will always get a good laugh out of it.

[@Jane-oz7pp]

I haven't seen anyone call it an advancement in feminism. I've seen it called Feminism 101, and that's literally calling it the basics. Who is out there saying it's advancing anything?

[@Jane-oz7pp]

You're a filmmaker, you say, but your critique is empty and disconnected from the movie you're talking about. So either you're not very good, or you're lying.

[@thetonytaye]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@Jane-oz7pp I wasn’t saying I’ve seen people call it an advancement in feminism (I don’t doubt those people exist), I was saying that doing so would be a surface level way to look at Barbie and its role in feminist discourse. Also, I’m about to get my bachelor’s degree in film production at the end of this month. I’ve been working my ass off on my thesis film. I am in fact a filmmaker. You can think whatever you want of my work you’ve never seen, random KZbin commenter with no profile picture, but I know what I’m talking about at least a little bit.

[@jolabrese]

"The problem is capitalism, as it usual is." Paige for the win!

[@maddienoelle22]

Paige, I think you missed the plot. Barbie was a great movie. I honestly think that you had patterns in your head that you expected the movie to follow, and then when it didn't fit those patterns, you became confused. Then, you started overanalyzing everything. This whole video is just giving "I don't understand the movie and I don't like that". You also definitely got overly caught up in the whole Mattel aspect of it. The movie wasn't written by Mattel, it was written by Greta Gerwig.

[@AnnieLeigh111]

I don’t want to seem like I’m hating on Paige, but I fully agree with everything you’re saying. I felt that way too while watching

[@Jennaw95]

Agree totally

[@inmyworldkindagirl]

I had a similar experience to Paige. I felt like the movie was just ticking off a bunch of boxes rather than immersing me in the magic of Barbie via an empowering story

[@maddienoelle22]

@@AnnieLeigh111 I’m definitely not hating on Paige. I love her videos! I just feel like a lot of what she said in this video didn’t quite align with the actual plot of the movie.

[@maddienoelle22]

@@inmyworldkindagirl your experience is completely valid, though I do urge you to go back and rewatch it and try to get rid of all of the expectations that you had.

[@mattbaron14]

Very interesting review. Personally, as a guy who had no prior knowledge of the Barbie lore, I thought it was a funny movie with some good social commentary. You're totally right about the target audience, I think it was meant for not only people who played with Barbies growing up but for everyone else as well (profit incentives for a larger market maybe?). You actually make a pretty good point about Barbie's story arc, the movie didn't make it very clear how her thoughts of death and depression were resolved, but I think it makes more sense through the lense of existentialism. To me, I could clearly see the influence from existential philosophy (Simone De Beauvoir, Sartre, Camus, etc) and the focus on having the freedom to define your own meaning in life. The main message seemed to be something like "you can be whatever you want to be" and also that your identity doesn't need to be tied to being validated by the gaze of your partner (as shown by Ken having his own independent identity apart from Barbie). I'm not sure if it was easy to notice for people without the philosophical background, but I saw it and recognized that it was basically just pop culture trying to repackage 1940s French philosophy. I liked it but tried not to take it to seriously, I thought it was a couple hours of good entertainment that wasn't all that deep.

[@karolinasuchankova7270]

Omg finally someone with the same opinion on this movie as me. Do you know what I would be even more interested to know? Why did the people who liked it like it?? Seriously😂

[@TheRawChuck]

I wanna know where G.I. Joe was? He was always Barbie's other boyfriend when Ken was being boring.

[@natalieedelstein]

I relate so much to your relationship with Barbie I looked like Barbie growing up too and dressed as the Swan Lake version of her for multiple Halloweens as a kid and carried an unclothed Barbies by the hair in each hand EVERYWHERE I went. I completely agree that this was meant to be a feminist movie but they seriously missed the mark. I do disagree with your assessment of the lady on the bench scene. I think it was the most necessary scene. You do make some other good points though. I also agree on the heavy on the ADHD and not enough autism! I felt that so hard!

[@Sealoctopus]

I think Skipper, is the name you are trying to remember.

[@natashasullivan4559]

I honestly never noticed that she was supposed to be "perfect". I never looked at a barbie doll and was like "wow, I should strive to look like that" maybe it's the Autism? But to me it was just a doll there to play with. Not.. something I looked up to? If that makes sense? Like, since barbie wasnt actually a human person. It never cinnected in my brain that "this is something I should look up to, or try to be" And I was pretty condused when I was tols pwople had issues because of it 😅 And, every year I still watch Barbie and the nutcracker

[@2nouli]

For me the issue was that there was too much unrelated plot. Just new things happening from nowhere and with no explanation, and to never be relevant to the story again. For me it felt like "This is the main issue of the story. Oh wait, now it's this one. Oh, no, changed again. By the way, the other things just became totally irrelevant and now the main thing is this one." The monologue, for example, is a very good monologue and has a very powerful message, but it was very random and that's the thing that magically fixes everything??? I think they had too many ideas and decided to just mix everything in, instead of choosing the best ones and connecting and developing them well.

[@BilliesCraftRoom]

Thanks Paige, I 'll give that film a miss. Love your videos, off to look for your bok. Congrats on creating a book.

[@wolf4811]

I had TWO Ken dolls. Except idk if they were actually Ken. One was the prince from Cinderella and the other was the prince from Barbie Rapunzel.

[@notjamin]

I think the gyno moment at the end is meant to imply like "she's a human woman now which means vagina" and I didn't like it at all because I feel like it really reduces women to their bodies and their biology, y'know? Like I get that it's not that deep and it was just supposed to be a silly little joke about Barbie having a human body now but it (probably unintentionally) does end up saying that woman=vagina

[@idontwannapickanametho]

I agree. I thought it was empty and unfocused, and more about Ken's growth than anything else. It was high production quality and funny, but...the story was bad. The feminism felt too heavy handed, and then jokes like "ahaha of course we didn't make Kens *equal* in government". I was disappointed.

[@GREATEXPLOSIONMURDERGODYNAMITE]

I love Barbie with all my heart

[@mariaclaraa7778]

I agree with a lot of what you said! I think the movie was a very superficial story about growing up, from the perspective of a lot of privilege people that think that feminism is about jobs. But this is most of mainstream culture haha

[@earlchapman37]

Its good to see you again. I'm glad you shared some thoughts here today.

[@Authentistic-ism]

I feel like there's a separate unique Barbieland for each barbie owner, tbh, this solves a lot of the ownership loyalty questions about what happens in the barbie verse.

[@harrisonallen651]

I saw Barbie with a friend of mine last year and I laughed historically. It’s very surprising how that Mattel is planning to bring other brands into this Barbie universe like Thomas The Tank Engine for example. Now Thomas has played a huge role of autistic people and their upbringings over the years including myself, so when the upcoming Thomas movie that Mattel has got in the works gets released ( presumably late 2025 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the franchise ) that it’s going to be absolutely massive for both the autistic community and general public.

[@Axolautism]

Fun fact, I'm 5 days younger than Billie Eilish, and because she's so famous I continue to forget that we are the same age

[@carole5648]

i was expecting a more funny existential movie, and i was underwhelmed on both counts, it was ok but i don't really get the hype.

[@jennycherryjaybird]

I feel the exact same way! I thought i was the only one. It wasnt great, and i kept wondering if i was the only one. Guess not 😂

[@elizabethsullivan7176]

I liked the movie, but then, I didn't play with Barbies very much growing up. I've never been a "girly girl". I ended up just chopping off all of the dolls hair and made them "punk". I don't have the emotional investment in the character like you do (I don't mean that sarcastically or critically, just honestly) ✌❤

[@ellouisebadger849]

See I was always a Bratz girl. Barbie wasn't my childhood. Maybe that's partly why I really enjoyed the film 😅 Also yay, we can finally read the book ❤

[@sojabursche]

I was kind of fine with the movie right up until the end. The end completely ruined it for me. I really didn’t need them to imply „woman=vagina“ with the gyno appointment.

[@CrystalmarieGrz]

Skipper. in the 80’s I had 1 skipper and so many Barbies and like 1 Ken and 1 other male that was maybe Ken when my mom was a kid. I had some of her Barbie’s from the late 60’s

[@Dinosaur_gurl]

Hi (Edit: I love your hair)

[@johnfist6220]

Mr rich uncle who I've never met who lives in British San Francisco was once the acting CEO of Mattel and hence indirectly provided Paige with joy and this tenuous connection to her warms my heart. :3

[@Catlily5]

Where's British San Francisco?

[@johnfist6220]

@@Catlily5Brighton of course!

[@mouselander]

Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea are Barbie’s little sisters P.S. I didn’t like this movie much either but you are right it wasn’t made by Autistics 😅 btw Barbie was a doll for soldiers 😂 connect the dots

[@thelifeofelle1389]

Oh my 😳 welp the more ya know

[@i_m_ryn]

Yes!! Finally someone on YT thinking what I’m thinking about that movie… My AuDHD🧠 did not compute this movie like most people. I also learn that it was co-written by Gerwig’s husband, and she made it a condition of her working in the movie😱😳 why Greta? But that explain why we have Ken being the center of the Barbie movie!! Like, why??? 🙄 I had 2 ken dolls, and 1 of them was inherited by my older siblings, and the other ken came with a set I wanted, a camping set with a caravan and a pool (and it came with also a barbie and a dog), I did not want him! They were always the bad guys in the games😂. Anyway, I also thought it was not good, and super disappointed. Great videos, thanks 😅❤

[@AutumnRain155]

I wish I could just be your friend irl

[@daviniusb6798]

Thanks P for this video. My wife and her sister are talking about this movie and how much they love it all the time, so we watched it together and I was like "but you see that the movie just makes fun about how stupid we peasants are?" Like just tell women to be a cheerleader from now on and they wiill love it! And then give the boys some horses and they don't even notice when you take away all their rights.

[@rkivelover]

It just felt too much like they were going for this mainstream, harmless cheesy fun-time film that somehow also had a profound feminist message and it just didn't mesh at all. So many plotholes, the messaging felt shallow and on-the-nose and it wasn't even that funny. I saw people crying in the theatre at that montage part and I felt like I was supposed to be feeling something but I just... didn't, because the storytelling was flawed and incoherent and so I didn't feel like Barbie had actually accomplished very much. I guess it worked as like a mainstream intro to feminism for some people, but for film nerds like me I just came out of the cinema feeling kind of empty, like I had missed something. I doubt the Barbie live action was ever going to satisfy everyone, but this was just... at least the set design was fun.

[@sheradenart7907]

NO there are many kinds of barbie now. There really was a pregnant barbie and there are several different nationalities. Skipper was the teen. kelly was the little girl barbie, but there was a Todd. Ken was always an afterthought, I agree that there weren't that many Ken types and there should have been but they should have been marketed for themselves. I didn't like that it was so much about Ken. And I really didn't like the opening scene where they destroyed their baby dolls. What kind of message is that...?

[@Scatscar1985]

I liked the movie, but why wasn't Barbie affected by EVERYONE (not just America Fererra) who owned her projected their thoughts and frustrations onto her...

[@Jane-oz7pp]

Because that specific Barbie was literally her Barbie. That's explained very in-depth in the introduction of the plot omfg

[@DavidLindes]

17:03 - I mean, Toy Story was _kinda_ like that. Have you seen that one (or those several, since they made sequels)? Worth a watch, IMHO, though it's definitely more "boy"-oriented, mostly, so YMMV.

[@cerencarnation]

oh thank god someone said it

[@claytoncrawford3167]

Barbie... Barbie... Let's toast and roast to Barbie... Barbie to roast.. Barbie to toast... Let's just Barbe-Q the Barbie doll.... Barbie... Barbie... Let's toast and roast to Barbie... Barbie to Be... Let's take Barbie to the Bar and get her drunk!... Barbie is the choice of a young girls... Do you wanna be a Barbie Doll?..... "Come on Barbie, Let's Go Party... Come on Barbie Let's Go Party"...... the end... Always in Good Taste... CHEERS!.... Be Supportive and Be Amazed...

[@sonja-silva]

Here in Holland, Barbie’s sister’s name was SKIPPER! 💁🏽‍♀️

[@karasteinman9502]

Crazy about your connection to Billie Eilish, I thought I possibly saw some of her in your autistic masking, do you think so? 😍

[@mama_o4]

I like the way you did your hair, Paige

[@LoniTodd]

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really enjoyed it (I think it was geared towards millennial women, just like the director). I walked into the movie not expecting much, but the humor really hit, and the costumes and set design were mesmerizing. I definitely know more people that didn't like it, than did.

[@thecolorjune]

This is the first critique of the Barbie movie that felt right