Just 18 Great Responses To People Calling Barbie Man-Hating, Feminist Trash

You could say Barbie fans are going Oppenheimer on some far-right criticisms of the film.

Late last week, some fans of the patriarchy attempted to discourage people from going to see the new Barbie movie, with one critic on Twitter calling it a “two-hour woke-a-thon” full of “nuclear-level rage against men”.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro seemed to lead the charge on Friday — the day the movie premiered — by tweeting that his producers “dragged” him to see the movie, and called it “one of the most woke movies I have ever seen”.

He also promised to release a full review of the “flaming garbage heap of a film” the next day on YouTube, which he did, in a video called “Ben Shapiro DESTROYS The Barbie Movie For 43 Minutes”.

In the video, Shapiro makes his thoughts clear by burning a trash can full of Barbie dolls.

But Shapiro wasn’t alone in his hatred for the movie’s feminist themes.

Billionaire and Twitter X.com owner Elon Musk also ridiculed the film, tweeting: If “you take a shot every time Barbie says the word ‘patriarchy’, you will pass out before the movie ends.”

Far-right media figure Jack Posobiec struck a similar tone, calling Barbie a “man-hating Woke propaganda fest” and “possibly the most anti-male film ever made”. Ginger Gaetz, wife of Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, called for a boycott of the film despite attending a premiere event all decked out in pink and posing in a Barbie box. She criticised the movie for neglecting to “address any notion of faith or family”, trying to “normalise the idea that men and women can’t collaborate positively”, and for portraying Ken as not masculine.

The movie has been described as highlighting very basic feminist themes by many people on Twitter, with HuffPost’s culture writer, Candice Frederick, describing the tone as “feminist-lite”.

“Barbie is not particularly feminist. It’s a lot more complicated than that, just like most people are — and how any great character should be presented,” Frederick wrote.

Regardless of whether or not Barbie is too woke or not feminist enough, many Twitter users had some pretty funny responses to the whole conservative backlash — and female camaraderie they felt while watching the film in theaters. To read the most hilarious responses, strap on your favourite rollerblades and roll, er, scroll on down!

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We Can Finally Answer The Question Everyone’s Asking – Does The Barbie Movie Live Up To The Hype?

If you’ve watched TV, gone online or even just ventured outside your home lately, it can’t have escaped your attention that Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited Barbie film is finally almost here.

The hype has been building ever since we caught our first glimpse of Margot Robbie in character as the iconic doll, but things ramped up when the first meme-ready trailer dropped in the spring, followed by a marketing campaign that dominated social media.

After that came the star-studded soundtrack, a seemingly-never-ending line of tie-in merchandise and a glittering press tour that has made Margot and Ryan Gosling pretty much unavoidable for the last few weeks (until, of course, the whole thing was brought to an abrupt halt by that whole SAG-AFTRA strike debacle).

As a result, the film has undoubtedly become the most talked-about of 2023, and while we’re happy to hold up our hands and say we’ve been as swept up in the pink tornado as much as anyone… it’s also been hard to ignore that tiny voice in the back of our heads that just kept on questioning: “Can the Barbie film – or, indeed, any film – actually live up to all this hype?”.

Well, we’re pleased to report that it can. Not only is Barbie an effective dose of candy-coloured escapism, and one of the funniest new comedies to come out in recent history, it’s also genuinely thought-provoking and, at times, quite devastating. What a relief.

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as seen on the poster for Barbie
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as seen on the poster for Barbie

Warner Bros

In case you’re one of those who hasn’t spent the last three months watching the Barbie trailer at least once a day (we can’t be the only ones, right?), the film centres around the titular doll, played by Margot, who spends her days in Barbie Land hanging out with her Barbie pals, having Barbie dance parties and generally living her best Barbie life. Until she’s not.

From nowhere, things quickly start to unravel in her life. Her unnaturally-arched Barbie feet suddenly hit the floor, her perfect routine is thrown out of whack and, oh yeah, she starts to be consumed by thoughts of impending death. Fun!

Guided by the oracle “Weird Barbie” (and accompanied, begrudgingly, by her always-eager right-hand man Ken), Margot’s character ventures to the “Real World” to help set things right, where she discovers she and her Barbie pals haven’t quite impacted society for the better in the way they’d hoped.

It also turns out to be an eye-opening experience for Ken, who – after a lifetime in Barbie’s shadow – begins to flourish in his new surroundings, with genuinely unsettling results.

Ryan Gosling in character as Ken
Ryan Gosling in character as Ken

Warner Bros./Jaap Buitendijk

This is just one of the areas the Barbie movie managed to surprise us. Our biggest worry heading into the film was that a lot of the plot may have already been given away in the trailer. While admittedly much of the first act plays out like an extended version of the teaser, with a few clever gags added in , there were still plenty of satisfying twists ahead – particularly involving Ryan’s Ken and Rhea Perlman’s mysterious character – that we’re happy were kept under wraps until now.

It’s hard to play favourites among the cast, but we have to shout out Margot for her stand-out performance, helping us root for a character who could so easily have become one-dimensional or even irritating in the wrong hands.

Much has been made of Ryan’s performance as Ken, and he deserves it, taking the character to places we truly didn’t expect, and supporting players Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera and Will Ferrell all deserved to be singled out for praise, too.

But it has to be said, the true star of the show is Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote Barbie. The three-time Oscar nominee created a film that’s visually stunning and so jam-packed with fun details and Easter eggs that the only way to spot them all would be through repeated viewing.

She’s also gifted film fans with a script that manages to be both laugh-out-loud silly and heart-breaking – often within the same scene – and it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a quote-along sleepover go-to for Generation Alpha, akin to Clueless, Mean Girls and Easy A before it.

Ken and Barbie prepare to take a journey to the "Real World"
Ken and Barbie prepare to take a journey to the “Real World”

Warner Bros

The filmmaker mostly manages to toe the line between irreverence and outright disrespect, sending up Barbie and pointing out its critiques without turning the whole thing into a hatchet job. She also makes it clear that there’s room for all viewpoints on the brand – love, hate, apathy – in her Barbie Land.

Of course, a Mattel-endorsed Barbie movie is still a Mattel-endorsed Barbie movie, and even the teenager who at one point brands the character a “fascist” who’s responsible for “setting the feminist movement back 50 years”, glorifying capitalism and “destroying the planet” is won over by her in the end.

Still, to anyone nervous about Barbie living up to expectations, take a sigh of relief, gather up your Barbie pals and get ready for some big laughs. Life in plastic, we’re relieved to say, is every bit as fantastic as Aqua promised all those years ago.

Barbie is in cinemas from 21 July. Watch the trailer below:

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