I recently took my daughters to the movies for the first time in a very long time. We went to see Barbie. Now, I wouldn’t normally be interested in seeing a movie based on a nostalgic toy — look at the disaster that is the Transformers franchise. I’ve got better ways to spend my time. Neither of my teenage girls would’ve been interested in going either, but the whirlwind of controversy that seemed inescapable on the internet and the claims of it being anti-men propaganda perpetrated by the “woke mob” (whatever that means) piqued our interest enough to go see about all the fuss. 

Okay. So was it a great movie? Not really. But was it some sort of ingenious plan to indoctrinate the women of the world to crush the patriarchy? No, not really. But let’s be honest: so what if it is? 

So what if a script written and directed by a woman — about women — took a few shots at men being idiots and at masculinity in our culture? I mean, I found myself nodding and laughing at most of the Ken-centric antics. Most, if not all of them, were spot on. And dare I say it, but I might’ve learned a little something! So good for Hollywood for letting the women take the wheel. I wish it had been a little less on the nose and a bit more earnest in its delivery, but it’s a Barbie movie.

Let me say that again. It’s a Barbie movie, and all the whiners out there propping it up as a slap in their macho faces need to lighten up — or at least shut up. If you don’t like the movie’s message? Cool, don’t go see it. I think the controversy is ridiculous and boneheaded. I’ve been a big movie buff my whole life, and there is a ton of misogyny throughout movies that are called classics in the cinema world. I cringe every time I think of how Steve McQueen slaps his wife on the side of the road in The Getaway. Or how Charlton Heston treated women in almost every movie he ever made. Women were even referred to as “furniture” in one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time, and it cheapens the experience. 

I know, those are examples from the past and we’ve come a long way, right? But have we? How about I give you a modern example by telling you what I did the next day? I went back to the movies. 

To see Oppenheimer, a biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who created the atomic bomb and the toll it took on him to be the person responsible for unleashing that kind of unbridled power on the world. 

That movie was fantastic and mostly true to history. And, I believe, it will be remembered as one of the best films ever made. But Mr. Oppenheimer still cheated on his wife. He abandoned his lover. And he was known as a huge womanizer. The movie doesn’t shy away from any of that. So where’s the outrage that portrays this man in that light? It’s nonexistent because no one gets outraged over the treatment of women in film. 

So, the Barbie movie took a few jabs — rightful jabs — at the patriarchal society we live in. And pretending that is untrue is nothing but obtuse. The film centered around two hours of clowning and showing the world on the big screen how a bright pink world of wonder is most definitely not what most real woman experience. 

But Oppenheimer? That movie was terrifying. It showed us over three hours just what our patriarchal society is capable of, and clearly how it has no plans of slowing down even today.

I find it interesting that both of these movies were released at the same time. It’s almost as if you have a problem with Barbie’s message, she can just point to Oppenheimer in the theater next door, and say, “See?” 

So, my takeaway is simple. It might hurt some feelings to have Barbie point out how much of a tool some men tend to be, but I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t start any wars or develop weapons of mass destruction that could annihilate the planet. So I say bring on the Matriarch. And honestly, if a movie has enough clout to usher that in? Well, it’s about time. 

Seen in the October 2023 issue of Augusta magazine.