It’s baffling that Matt Gaetz and his wife Ginger Gaetz went to the premiere of Barbie, a movie about the toy doll meant primarily for young girls, given Gaetz’s track-record, but hey, I wasn’t in charge! Unsurprisingly, Ginger Gaetz made some absolutely off-the-rails comments about Barbie because what is she if not a mouthpiece for Republican ideals and sh*tting on women? The Greta Gerwig movie is all about empowering those who looked up to Barbie as kids. But Barbie isn’t enough of a Republican pushover for Ginger Gaetz’s liking.
Gaetz took to social media to post a photo of herself wearing an ugly dress that she said was “Barbie”-inspired (Barbie would never wear that monstrosity) and slam the film for not being “her” Barbie—and yet she brought her husband, who was nearly charged with child sex-trafficking. Ginger Gaetz told followers they should stick to “getting outfit inspiration and skipping the theater,” and then listed a lot of reasons why. Chief among them is that Barbie lacked faith. “The 2023 Barbie movie, unfortunately, neglects to address any notion of faith or family, and tries to normalize the idea that men and women can’t collaborate positively (yuck),” Gaetz wrote. And I don’t know about you, but I never saw a Priest Barbie or a Religious Cult Leader Barbie at my local Walmart when I was growing up.
She went on to list other “problems” with the movie, which are honestly and truly laughable because what does this have to do with Barbie?! I wouldn’t really care except that this is exactly how I assumed Republicans and their mouthpieces would react to a movie like this, which is all about embracing yourself and loving who you are no matter what.
What does “low t Ken” even mean?
Ginger Gaetz’s problems with the movie are as follows: “Unfortunate portrayal of big dreams causing anxiety instead of inspiration. Disappointingly low T from Ken. Unfair treatment of pregnant Barbie Midge.” The Midge commentary is actually funny given the fact that Midge was discontinued because of conservative shoppers. The “low T from Ken” comment is hilarious given the context of the movie, which is all about Barbie and Ken realizing how toxic men are in the real world.
This shows a lot about the way conservatives think. A movie that really highlights the struggles of being a woman and accepting those pains because being a woman is great shouldn’t be getting such pushback, but, as Gaetz pointed out in her post, it doesn’t highlight what Republicans think women should be: Mothers and caretakers and … that’s it. She said that “her” version of Barbie “was a representation of limitless possibilities, embracing diverse careers and feminine empowerment.” That’s what the movie is about.
Instead, Gaetz saw women embracing who they are and what they want to be and decided that is bad. This is what happens when you invite people like Matt Gaetz and Ginger Gaetz to a movie that is about empowering women. They have asinine takes that just detract from the work that Gerwig’s Barbie does. I’m happy that Ginger Gaetz hated this movie, she doesn’t deserve it.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
