English Speech Flashcards
Introduction
Barbie, the biggest blockbuster film this year, is breaking barriers when it comes to views of feminism and the patriarchy.
Greeting
Good morning/afternoon everyone, today id like to talk about modern media, and whether it effects society’s views on gender.
Barbies Perspectives
Media often reflect society’s ever evolving views of gender, and Barbie doesn’t go against this, however Barbie criticises society’s view on the patriarchy from a feminist standpoint, whereas most other popular media is from a patriarchal viewpoint on society.
Satorising behaviors of the patriarchy
Greta Gerwig, the movies director does a fabulous job at satirising the behaviours and mentalities of the men in the patriarchy.
Ken and his Discovery
Ken is one of the movies main characters, we follow his discovery of the patriarchy in the human world. Outraged and confused on why Barbieland doesn’t follow the same ideals, or rather, why they are reversed. In the movie he is seen conforming to these misogynistic stereotypes, that aren’t really stereotypes. When these traits are exaggerated to the point they are, its easy to think that this wouldn’t happen in the real world but is that really the truth?
Barbie Roles
Firstly, the way that the Barbies are displayed in Barbieland are all mirrored versions of the way men are displayed today in the real world, although exaggerated. When the roles are flipped its clearer to see the inequality faced in society. When Ken travels from his world to ours, he’s quick to see how the patriarchy affects so many everyday things.
Barbie ahead then behind
A quick thing to note is that when Barbie and ken are going to the real world, barbie is always ahead of ken in the scenes, but as soon as they get to the real world, he is ahead of her. How have we, as a society become so blind to this?
Ken wants to be a doctor
Ken thinks that the real world is great, because here men are treated the way that women are in Barbieland. The way that Ken is treated by the other men in this world is vastly different, they respect him. Barbieland seems to treat the kens as inferior, like children. Ken starts to follow these ideals, thinking he is capable for any job simply because he is a man.
should he? no, Will he? probably
When these ideals are presented in this satirised way it’s plain to see how toxic they are. Should a man be able to be a doctor simply because he is a man? Of course not. Will he get more advantages to pursue that career than a woman? Probably.
Kens all agree
The next point I’d like to make is that when these patriotic ideals are shown to the Kens in Barbieland, they are more than happy to agree and together they begin to shift Barbieland into a place ore like our society today. A place ruled by men who oppress women to stay in their positions of power.
Roles are emphasised
It is important to note that the roles the barbies play are exaggerated and emphasised more than in society, but this isn’t without reason. When it’s over exaggerated to the extent it is, it’s easy to see misogyny everywhere in life, easier to see the small ways it does exist in everyday life.
Feminin duties
The Barbies start to do more ‘feminine’ duties, they bring out dishes, they clean and even give feet rubs. The Kens, however, get to spend their time relaxing, taking over all major roles such as president and being doctors. The barbies lack awareness to negative impacts of the patriarchy. They are brainwashed, doing the dirty work the kens ask them to with smiles. Lack of awareness not only effects them, but a lot of people who watched Barbie lacked awareness to many misogynistic things that are blatant in the world.
Finally, Barbie returns to Barbieland, she has seen the negatives of the real world, and how oppressing women isn’t okay.
Sexually harassed
In one scene, she is skating down a busy path when she is sexually harassed by a group of men, another scene when she is arrested, where the police officers make snide remarks about her appearance inappropriately right in front of her face.
Similar behaviors in barbieland
She goes to Barbieland and starts seeing things that seem similar in nature, there is a specific scene where a Barbie plays dumb for a ken, over a popular movie, and he just accepts that it must be because she’s a woman. She shows the other Barbies the reality of this kind of society and together they return Barbieland to how it used to be, however this didn’t make all the viewers happy.
No Equality
The movie doesn’t end with equality, it ends with the Barbies being back in power, and perhaps its because today, men are still in power.
