The men are angry. Again. And look, there are women and gender-nonconforming people who don’t like Barbie and have no interest in getting on the Barbie train and that’s fine! But there are a whole lot of men who were never going to like Barbie in the first place logging onto Twitter to condemn the movie for being too “woke”—specifically for how it handles the real world versus Barbie’s dream of Barbieland where women are in charge of everything.
These men are complaining that the movie has “feminist lectures” and, as one “critic” put it, a “nuclear-level rage against men.” Now, if you’ve seen Barbie, you know that isn’t the case. Without getting into spoilers, this movie makes it abundantly clear Barbie needs and wants to make Barbieland better for everyone, including the Kens. Still, that message went right over the head of the angry dudebros who were never going to love Barbie in the first place.
Much like the backlash we saw with shows like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the minute that something uses a lighter tone to address issues of feminism, from the patriarchy to the toxic idea of the “alpha male,” a certain subset of men will log online to cry like this is an affront to them personally.
And made worse, they are so angry that a movie would dare not address manhood. Yes, they’re angry that a movie about Barbie isn’t about how hard it is to be a man.
The worst part about this is that their “complaints” are all addressed in the movie. (Yes, including “manhood” and men’s struggles.) They were just too mad that a woman was talking to learn anything.
When men like this get mad, it’s usually a good sign
The reality of this situation is that the men who were going to learn anything from the message of Barbie were never going to be receptive to it. So, I can safely say that Barbie isn’t for you, angry men on the internet. And neither is the Kendom. You are not Kenough and should probably not see Oppenheimer either if you’re this mad cause it hates you too.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
