ALThey guys fish is out for today so I'm gonna be subbing. she left some classwork for you to finish. here you go
ALT
i'm so fascinated by the "just ken." in the context of the tagline (she's everything, he's just ken) it makes it sound like ken is just an accessory to barbie and is nothing without her, but in the actual movie in the speech barbie gives, she turns the phrase on its head. ken isn't an accessory to barbie, he isn't the attention barbie gives him, he's just ken. and that's not even mentioning the "she's everything" part of the tagline and how it goes with gloria's speech of women having to fulfill the impossible task of fitting into every box and juggle conflicting expectations and roles just to be liked by society. the tagline represents opposite ends of a spectrum but by the end of the movie barbie and ken meet in the middle, where they're each allowed to be their own person independent of the expectations and insecurities they've been operating on. this movie, man
new metric for media literacy for film bros is if they understand the barbie movie.
the kens are first presented as accessories to their barbies and it's pointed out loud that they don't even have places to stay in barbieland. one of the barbies straight up asks "wait, where do the kens stay?". they're just arm candy made to look pretty and cool while the barbies run their world.
but that's fucked up!!! the film presents it as fucked up! that's why ken screams "YOU FAILED ME!" and why he is insecure in the first place because he wanted to be respected and seen as a person, not someone who only exists in relation to someone else. should he have done what he did? no!!! that's why it's part of the conflict! the root of both of their breakdowns was in their society in that the barbies are supposed to be perfect and the kens exist in relation to them! it's barbie and ken. he was a footnote. that's why barbie apologizes to him in the end and tells him he can be himself. she doesn't have to exist by some set of rules and neither does he! it's barbie and it's ken! sure, the resolution to the whole barbieland issue wasn't perfect, BUT KEN'S WHOLE ARC IS ABOUT HOW THEIR WORLD FAILED MEN. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS MOVIE WAS 'WOMEN GOOD MAN BAD'. WHAT ABOUT THE NUANCE
i just remembered how there was this pizza place i went to regularly when i lived near houston, and i never really went to the restroom of the place so after going there for like two years regularly i went to the restroom for the first time and saw this
a taxidermied massive rat glued to what was previously a shelf for a private toll phone with an engraved metal plate bolted to the wall behind him that said REST IN PEACE "WOODY" NOVEMBER 29TH 2000. and thats not some random date i picked that is the day of my birth. i just kinda stood there thinking about how this rat died the same day i was born. i was like nine years old i couldnt quite concieve it yet and it didnt help that a south park pinball machine was blaring at max volume directly behind me as i just looked at this massive rat