I’m always late to the party, but thanks to the splendid Turkish Airlines, after the spellbinding safety video I accompanied the delicious in-flight meal by watching

• Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023).

With a cast led by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, it’s both hilarious and sobering. Foremost among the excellent articulations of the current human predicament is America Ferrara’s monologue:

The patriarchy, and mansplaining, are gleefully exposed. But how subversive is it? How feminist? Besides a thorough article on wiki (including sections on “Critical response”, “Feminism”, Masculinity”), and this further survey of reviews, Vogue observes:

While some are praising the film for its tongue-in-cheek approach to girlhood, womanhood and, erm, dollhood, many others have described it as white feminism wrapped up in a pink, Mattel-labelled bow. I’m here to argue that those two things can be true at the same time.

Guarded approval also here; some social-historical background, and reservations in global context. Among a wealth of discussions, feminists such as Natasha Walter are less than convinced (see also here, here, here), and the taint of “shameless product placement” lingers. I’d love to hear the insights of Janet Radcliffe Richards on the film.

Here’s the final song What was I made for? by Billie Eilish:

While the recent portrayal of women in movies is still not such a success story, it must be good that Barbie‘s huge success has spurred such a wealth of discussion. Cf. Green book, “an excessively smooth ride through bumpy subject matter” in the field of racism.

See also this roundup of posts on gender—rural and urban China, modern European history, language, music, humour, film, sport….