[image description: a letterboxd review of the barbie movie. the review is by user "maddy." maddy has rated the movie three stars. the review reads as follows:
some questions i would ask greta gerwig and the executives at mattel and warner bros discovery if journalists were still allowed to ask actual questions and if i was allowed to do interviews:
• what point is there in diverse casting if those actors are used only as set decoration?
• why does your utopia only contain heterosexual couples?
• what is utopian about a world without sex?
• without sex, what is the material difference between barbie and ken being boyfriend girlfriend or just being friends? what is the nature of the desires ken has that barbie can't match?
• why do the dolls have no genitalia in the real world, given that they are otherwise turned into flesh? why did you make a point of specifying this?
• why does your utopia need a supreme court? is there crime in barbieland? what drives crime if no one experiences need or desire?
• if no one experiences need or desire, why do the barbies have jobs? what does work look like in a world without need?
• do you believe that men and women are in fact markedly different and that women are simply better than men? is this true? is it useful?
• why do your kens not have the same visual diversity as your barbies? do you believe that men cannot be objectified? do you believe that men do not experience pressure to conform, in their bodies and in their desires?
• is it bad when the barbies are briefly powerless because being powerless is intrinsically bad or is it bad because powerlessness is intrinsically feminine?
• if submission can be liberatory for ken, who lived his entire life without power, should submission also be liberatory for women in the real world, where the positions are reversed?
• if barbie is not a fascist, why is she so intent on returning barbieland to a fondly remembered past in which half the population had no power?
• why does the pitch for 'ordinary barbie' include a 'flattering top'? should women aim to present their body to the world in the most flattering light possible? what does 'flattering' mean in a society without sex?
• if barbie is competent, poised, gentle, and asexual, and ken is stupid, slovenly, aggressive, and crass, which character is more fun to write, to play, to watch, and to be? are barbie's traits considered desirable because they make her a happier person and a better friend or because they make her a more efficient worker?
• why is motherhood the only female trait you are able to clearly point to? is motherhood in fact an exclusively and definitionally female trait? is it possible or desirable to define a universal femininity at all?
• have you seen the simpsons episode 'lisa vs malibu stacy'? are you embarrassed that a twenty minute cartoon from thirty years ago is more radical and effective than your movie?
• do you think margaret thatcher effectively utilised girl power by funnelling money to illegal paramilitary death squads in northern ireland?
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