EarthyStrangeCoffee's recent activity
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Comment on 'Barbie' review: Sometimes corporate propaganda can be fun as hell in ~movies
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Comment on 'Barbie' review: Sometimes corporate propaganda can be fun as hell in ~movies
EarthyStrangeCoffee Link ParentI saw the movie today and initially had the same reaction of wishing they had shown more of a "let's see how we can improve it" type view, especially considering how both Ken and Baribie are each...I saw the movie today and initially had the same reaction of wishing they had shown more of a "let's see how we can improve it" type view, especially considering how both Ken and Baribie are each dealing with a "I don't know who I actually am" crisis.
I'm a woman, and my main thought was "this will be something that men watching will have an issue with, they'll use this to not take feminist issues seriously." When I realized that, I also realized that maybe it was the point, not to get men to care as much as making the movie more for women.
One part stuck with me:
Spoilers
When the Kens ask for a supreme court representative and the Barbie president says she can't do that, but can give them a lower court position, the voiceover says something along the lines of "Maybe if the Kens work hard enough, they'll have the same representation as women in the real world."
I don't know if I've ever watched a movie before and had a thought of "Does this make me feel different about men?" because so many movies are centered around men, it's kind of the default? That's why the Bechdel Test is talked about because it's so easy to show examples of movies where there aren't 2 female characters who talk to each other about anything other than a man (even without the stipulation that they're named characters).
You and I both felt the "let's see how you like it" vibe, and I think speaks to this whole mindset, that we can see the roles are just being flipped, but instead of "oh this is how you feel normally" we're immediately saying "you should've taken the higher road and shown us being equal" while we're not even questioning the framing of other movies because they're based in "reality".
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
EarthyStrangeCoffee Link ParentI think this happens a lot with any app now. I used MyFitnessPal for calorie counting for almost 10 years and the main feature I used was their barcode scanner, it made logging food really easy...I think this happens a lot with any app now. I used MyFitnessPal for calorie counting for almost 10 years and the main feature I used was their barcode scanner, it made logging food really easy and they had a huge database since they had been around for so long. Last year they decided to move the barcode scanner to a premium feature so I stopped using the app. It was very apparent a lot of people were only there because MFP had the best barcode scanner and the company was hoping people would pay for it.
Companies seem more comfortable making unpopular changes for more money, and they don't care about complaints as long as there are people staying and paying. There are a lot of other people like me who are mad at MyFitnessPal and deleting the app, but it doesn't change anything because more people stayed than left. MFP has also been around a good while and are intergrated into a lot of other apps (like Garmin, various smart scales, etc..) which makes it even more inconvenient for people looking to switch.
It's the same with Reddit, nothing will change because more people stay than leave. Reddit's been around long enough that there's a lot of good information there and communities that you can't find anywhere else. I left Facebook but a lot of people I know haven't because so many companies and local groups use it to post information.
They know most people won't want to start over or try to find something new. I wish more people could be comfortable with moving on when things get bad, but change is scary and it's not always easy to find replacements.
I don't think I put it clearly enough, but I believe part of the point is that it's not trying to win anyone over. We don't watch other movies with the idea that it should be making a point in a way that magically fixes people or makes them agree to the message. It was over the top "woke" to anyone like Ben Shapiro who was going to criticize it anyway.
Instead of trying to make something palatable to people who already hate it without seeing it, they went with more of "I see you" for the women in the audience. Not that women want to just "get back at men" but in a "this is what you've seen happening to women your whole life so we'll show the opposite" - it's not a call to action, it's a funny movie that's commenting on how society is by flipping it.
I think it's subversive in that it puts women on top and doesn't take the "nevermind we should be equal" type ending that people expect to see.