Also notable the brunette Barbie's comment early in the film about ostracizing other women, it's not a true utopia, and then bookended by America Ferrera and daughter at the end. When they say to the dad/husband, who has been similarly sidelined as Ken the whole film, that him saying "Si se puede" a very basic sentence in Spanish which he has been earnestly learning on Duo Lingo to be closer to his Latina family, is either a political slogan (millennial bias) or cultural appropriation (zoomer bias). He is dismissed and slightly ostracized for totally neutral and earnest, even pro social, behavior.
Now the trick is the audience is supposed to read that scene subversively and not straight. That we should be more respectful to the good men in our lives and stop making everything about our biases. It's a good message.
Disclaimer: I don't identify as "heavily woke" or anything in the American sense, I'm not from the US and in my country progressive views in that direction are generally pretty balanced and reasonable, even in the most "woke" contexts, so the way some people in the US apparently/possibly do it confuses me
That being said, some thoughts I had while reading this:
You mentioned that Barbie didn’t experience sexism in the real world, but I think she did. It seems like some of the behaviors and attitudes portrayed as sexist might not stand out to you as significant problems. I wonder if that’s because they don’t cause you personal frustration, whereas someone with lived experience of those issues might perceive them differently. I’d recommend the book Invisible Women, which compiles data on how these dynamics can play out in ways that are harder to see but still impactful.
Regarding the patriarchy in the movie, it doesn’t seem like the movie is portraying an equal society. It’s intentionally exaggerated, but I don’t think the creators—or the movie itself—suggest it’s balanced. maybe your interpretation of it as equal comes from focusing on certain elements while overlooking others?
You are right about some of the problems Ken has, but that is no subversive secret message but part of the main point and nuance of the movie. Like, neither intentionally nor accidentally
I guess I’m confused about your point with it —are you saying that we don’t live in a patriarchy, or that it’s not harmful? If so, I’m unsure how that argument holds together without collapsing into contradictions. maybe i didn't read carefully enough
Your summary of the plot at the beginning feels oversimplified, almost like a strawman version of what the movie is trying to say. It reminds me of the scene in HPMOR where Draco tries to fake being a Death Eater and fails because he doesn’t understand the perspective well enough. This makes me wonder if you fully grasp the viewpoints you’re critiquing here. Could you convincingly argue pretending to be "woke" if your life depended on it?
I really appreciate your HPMOR recording, but this post feels more ideological than reasoned, which seems counterproductive if your goal is to critique ideological rigidity. If I misunderstood your point, I’d be happy to hear more about what you’re trying to convey.
I just think that this post, while possibly well-intended, might do more harm than good by perpetuating misunderstandings of a complex issue. Understanding these dynamics more deeply could lead to more productive discussions, which would have a much stronger impact.
but then you couldn't become a death eater anymore
The Dan Olson video spends like the first half talking about the history of the concept of ludonarrative dissonance and discussion about it, and then introduces the idea that Transformers is cinemanarratively dissonant. I think you've either misplaced some memories or some words in that paragraph, because as it is you have a sentence linking to a video that contradicts that sentence.
Also notable the brunette Barbie's comment early in the film about ostracizing other women, it's not a true utopia, and then bookended by America Ferrera and daughter at the end. When they say to the dad/husband, who has been similarly sidelined as Ken the whole film, that him saying "Si se puede" a very basic sentence in Spanish which he has been earnestly learning on Duo Lingo to be closer to his Latina family, is either a political slogan (millennial bias) or cultural appropriation (zoomer bias). He is dismissed and slightly ostracized for totally neutral and earnest, even pro social, behavior.
Now the trick is the audience is supposed to read that scene subversively and not straight. That we should be more respectful to the good men in our lives and stop making everything about our biases. It's a good message.
Disclaimer: I don't identify as "heavily woke" or anything in the American sense, I'm not from the US and in my country progressive views in that direction are generally pretty balanced and reasonable, even in the most "woke" contexts, so the way some people in the US apparently/possibly do it confuses me
That being said, some thoughts I had while reading this:
You mentioned that Barbie didn’t experience sexism in the real world, but I think she did. It seems like some of the behaviors and attitudes portrayed as sexist might not stand out to you as significant problems. I wonder if that’s because they don’t cause you personal frustration, whereas someone with lived experience of those issues might perceive them differently. I’d recommend the book Invisible Women, which compiles data on how these dynamics can play out in ways that are harder to see but still impactful.
Regarding the patriarchy in the movie, it doesn’t seem like the movie is portraying an equal society. It’s intentionally exaggerated, but I don’t think the creators—or the movie itself—suggest it’s balanced. maybe your interpretation of it as equal comes from focusing on certain elements while overlooking others?
You are right about some of the problems Ken has, but that is no subversive secret message but part of the main point and nuance of the movie. Like, neither intentionally nor accidentally
I guess I’m confused about your point with it —are you saying that we don’t live in a patriarchy, or that it’s not harmful? If so, I’m unsure how that argument holds together without collapsing into contradictions. maybe i didn't read carefully enough
Your summary of the plot at the beginning feels oversimplified, almost like a strawman version of what the movie is trying to say. It reminds me of the scene in HPMOR where Draco tries to fake being a Death Eater and fails because he doesn’t understand the perspective well enough. This makes me wonder if you fully grasp the viewpoints you’re critiquing here. Could you convincingly argue pretending to be "woke" if your life depended on it?
I really appreciate your HPMOR recording, but this post feels more ideological than reasoned, which seems counterproductive if your goal is to critique ideological rigidity. If I misunderstood your point, I’d be happy to hear more about what you’re trying to convey.
I just think that this post, while possibly well-intended, might do more harm than good by perpetuating misunderstandings of a complex issue. Understanding these dynamics more deeply could lead to more productive discussions, which would have a much stronger impact.
but then you couldn't become a death eater anymore
and i do agree that death is bad 🤔
"Ludonarrative dissonance is the conflict between a video game's narrative told through the story and the narrative told through the gameplay."
Reminds me of my blog post "Superman taught me to kill" (https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/354089/).
The Dan Olson video spends like the first half talking about the history of the concept of ludonarrative dissonance and discussion about it, and then introduces the idea that Transformers is cinemanarratively dissonant. I think you've either misplaced some memories or some words in that paragraph, because as it is you have a sentence linking to a video that contradicts that sentence.
Well I'll be gosh darned, I did mix it up. Been a long time since the video came out :) Fixing, thank you!