Female-led movies are often subject to review bombing, where angry manbabies flood film review sites with negative reviews in an effort to tank a film’s success. This phenomenon especially targets comic book movies and science fiction/fantasy, genres that are (incorrectly) assumed to be male-driven. It happened to Birds of Prey, it happened to Captain Marvel (which went on to gross $1 billion dollars LOL), it happened to She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel. Now another Margot Robbie-led flick is getting that treatment: Barbie.
If I have to read one more think piece on how Barbie is “anti-men,” I’m going to throw my laptop out the window. For whatever reason (Republicans/the patriarchy/media illiteracy), people (men) have seen Barbie and decided to pay attention to half the movie, ignoring the message of the film’s third act. When Barbie (Robbie) fixes Barbieland with the help of President Barbie (Issa Rae), we see all the Barbies realize that a Barb-triarchy isn’t fair to the Kens. A new day dawns that will acknowledge both Barbies and Kens.
In “unverified” reviews on websites like Rotten Tomatoes, you can see myriad “anti-men” comments and one-star reviews from people (mostly men). They are furiously angry that Barbie dared to call out the patriarchy and its effect on not only women but everyone. All of this for a movie that they don’t even like? It’s not going to stop Barbie from getting that billion dollars, guys. All it is doing is making you seem like whiny man-babies because a movie dared to say that the patriarchy is bad for everyone, actually.
Time to break them from the patriarchy
This concerted effort to “review bomb” anything seen as “anti-men” is itself a symptom of the patriarchy. Point blank. Men online (most recently a NASCAR driver) have decided that, for whatever reason, this movie is attacking them personally. These men are now making their hatred of the film their entire personality. But if the pink movie hurt you, then maybe you’re missing the point. Maybe we need the male equivalent of Gloria’s (America Ferrera) speech to knock these guys out of the hypnotic hold that the patriarchy has on them.
At this point, the need to bash anything they deem “bad” because it’s too feminine is just pathetic. They’re not angry at anything Barbie actually says. They’re angry at the fact that it doesn’t cater to them because everything else does. That’s a symptom of the patriarchy!
What’s hilarious is that both Barbie and Oppenheimer address the destructive nature of the patriarchy in their own ways. Barbie is more on the nose (obviously), but Oppenheimer also explores how the folly of men will destroy the world. I’ve seen multiple men complain about the “anti-men” narrative of Barbie while praising Oppenheimer, so here’s my consensus. Men who spend their time review-bombing Barbie simply have no brain cells and should not watch movies. Hope that helps.
(via The A.V. Club, featured image: Warner Bros.)
