Greta Gerwig’s Barbie had a profound effect on the film industry. It managed to cross the billion-dollar threshold at the box office industry and got a bunch of Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Apparently, though, not everyone was a fan of Barbie. That includes Shakira’s sons, and here’s why she somewhat agrees with them.
Critics who saw Barbie gave the comedy film positive reviews regarding its casting, Greta Gerwig’s vision of life in plastic, and its feminist undertones. However, not all fans were happy about the film’s male representation. According to Shakira’s Allure cover, the Colombian singer revealed two people who “absolutely hated” Barbie were her 11 and 9-year-old sons.
My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent. I'm raising two boys. I want 'em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women. I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.
I understand what Shakira is saying in that the movie doesn’t present the most positive representation of men. In Barbieland, the women run their world with a number of careers while the men surf and attend parties. Plus, they end up being antagonists later when they decide to turn Barbieland into the patriarchal society he saw in the real world. In fact, sources like Fox News, Ben Shapiro, and more called the film “anti-men.”
To me, it’s just interesting that Shakira’s two little boys were able to find the summer blockbuster “emasculating” as Whoopi Goldberg once clapped back at Barbie’s criticism that kids will see it as a colorful doll movie and nothing else. Apparently, Shakira’s young sons Milan and Sasha did find more about the movie beneath the surface of a pinkly-colored world and dolls. The “Waka Waka” singer continued to question the expected roles men and women should have in society.
Just because a woman can do it all doesn’t mean she should? Why not share the load with people who deserve to carry it, who have a duty to carry it as well?
While Barbie may have dumbed down the role of men in society, there were moments of triumph for the Kens. With this comedy film being a satire, I saw Greta Gerwig’s message as depicting men on screen as women have in the past being reduced to the love interest or the sidekick. Ryan Gosling’s Ken is on a path to finding his place in the world told through song in one of the film’s best moments, “I’m Just Ken.” Just like how Barbie will have to fight for her position as a woman in the real world, Ken finds strength in Barbie doing the same thing in Barbieland.
Ryan Gosling has pointed out the hypocrisy people made about claiming they liked Ken the whole time. It's no coincidence his Oscar-nominated film is also satirizing that same idea. When the Barbie dolls came out, people didn't think of Ken as a whole without linking him to his female counterpart. That’s all the more reason why the box office winner of last year was an important movie for men to see. Like the film’s lead, Margot Robbie, said while championing the character of Ken, women want some form of a Ken in their life to support them but also be more than an accessory. Through self-discovery, men will know they are “Ken-ough.”
Shakira’s sons weren’t fans of Barbie due to its portrayal of the Kens. I can understand why the singer-songwriter was in somewhat agreement with her boys as a matriarchal or a patriarchal society doesn’t work in shaping people’s skills. We need both men and women to be at the forefront of contributing to society. You can give the Warner Bros. Pictures movie a chance on your Max subscription.
