Barbie
A Blasphemy Against Christ
To be clear, I haven’t been much of a movie buff, nor does it interest me to critique a film's cinematography or acting. However, since getting married, and maintaining weekly date nights with my wife, I have taken a bit more to watching movies with her. I suppose it’s our new mutual hobby. The recliner chairs are also very nice at our local theater, so it’s become an easy choice for an evening outing. A few weeks ago, my wife suggested going to see Barbie, to which my initial response was an eye-roll. The occasional mindless entertainment is certainly not above me, but it also isn’t prioritized in my schedule. However, after the movie's release I noticed that the movie seemed to have quite a polarizing effect within conservative and right-wing circles. The standard conservative take was that it is blatant feminist and/or communist propaganda. Others, such as Laura Loomer, said it was somehow “based” because it was so over-the-top that it just had to be making fun of liberal ideas. There were more nuanced takes, such as Nick Fuentes’s, who pointed out that you couldn’t possibly make a film about White blonde dolls, without essentially apologizing for it throughout the film. Of all the critiques that I’ve seen, that seemed to be the most thoughtful one. Anyhow, after seeing these varieties of takes, my curiosity was piqued, and I suggested to my wife that we go see it. I was reminded harshly of my eye-roll a few weeks back.
Barbieland was a matriarchy of course, with a black female President, and women running everything. Everything was portrayed as perfect that way, with the Kens fulfilling the role of second class citizens whose sole purpose was to entertain the Barbies. There was no strife or conflict of any significance until there was some sort of disruption caused by the thoughts of a hispanic woman in the real world who was playing with her daughter's Barbie doll. Barbie and Ken, under the guidance of Weird Barbie, venture out of Barbieland into the real world to try and resolve things with whoever was playing with her as a means to fix the disturbance in Barbieland. Ken realizes that in the real world, men run everything and do all of the cool jobs that only women do in Barbieland. Ken returns to Barbieland before Barbie does, because Mattel executives and the FBI begin a manhunt for Barbie. In the meantime, Ken brings Patriarchy to Barbie land, and reverses the roles. All of the Barbies become the entertainers and servants to the Kens. Eventually Barbie returns with her new hispanic human friends, one of which is an “anti-fascist.” To make a long story short, they begin a plot to manipulate the men’s emotions, to sow dissension in order that they might restore the former order of things. Of course, they eventually succeed.
The move was admittedly entertaining, and the liberal propaganda was so over-the- top that it came across as a joke to me. Thus, I can understand how people could conclude that the movie is intentionally making light of liberalism, and feminism in general. The problem with that idea is that leftists are so over-the-top themselves, that they can’t tell they are coming across as satirical. That’s why the use of satire and hyperbole in an effort to make liberalism look ridiculous is not effective as a means of persuasion with left-leaning audiences. They are too far gone. As such, the film is entertaining to both liberals and conservatives alike. For conservatives, it does seem like it is making fun of the social critiques that it was making, but for liberals and feminists it was preaching to the choir in a “fun” way. The setting was “trippy”, if that makes any sense, and I tend to enjoy the sensation when a movie, or even a story takes me out of the ordinary world into an alternative existence. It certainly succeeded in that, and offered many humorous and lighthearted moments.
The problem with the film is it wasn’t all innocent fun and games. The director, Greta Gerwig, grew up as a Unitarian Universalist, and is currently married to a half Jewish man, Noah Baumbach. Thus, the moral and theological precepts of the film, which are hidden a bit behind the low-hanging fruit of political commentary, isn’t at all surprising. Nick Fuentes, in his critique of this essentially becoming an anti-White-male film, is correct, but the messaging is ultimately more sinister than that. The film was loaded with Gnostic ideas and imagery. Barbieland represented a sort of “world of ideas”, which was explained by the appearance of Ruth Handler, portrayed as the “Creator.” Ironically, Ruth Handler was Jewish, and co-founded Barbie with her husband who was conveniently left unmentioned. The real World, which represents the material world in Gnostic ideology, was portrayed as evil and dark. Ruth Handler even commented: “an idea can never die”, displaying the superiority of ideas and spirit beings over evil matter. Even the idea of God as being uninvolved in creation, as a distant hands-off Creator that doesn’t influence the direction of its creation, was perpetuated by the conversation between Ruth and Barbie. Furthermore, the storyline itself was a mockery of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Church - a twisted inversion. Earlier, I mentioned Barbieland was disturbed by thoughts from the Human playing with her, the thoughts that caused imperfections such as flat feet and cellulite was the thought of death, which caused the rift and disruption between Barbieland and the real World. Barbie, who was referenced as a White Savior in a disparaging way of course, nevertheless played the role of an inverted Savior in the film. Her perfect stereotype as Blonde Barbie with no defects died. Having introduced imperfection to Barblieland, it became necessary after her death to go to the real World, which represents the underworld – Hades – to rescue the righteous, who happened to be two minorities: a single mom and her anti-fascist teenage daughter. Barbie would then return to Barbieland, deliver it from Patriarchy (Sin), before reincarnating as a real Human after departing Barbieland again with the depiction of the female creator god, Ruth Handler.
So in the Barbie film, yes, there is a ton of low-hanging fruit for the impressionable to latch onto. There are plenty of over-the-top political statements to either laugh at, or become angry about, or, if you’re a liberal, agree with. Surface-level feminism and liberalism aside, the film is ultimately mocking Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate as a man. In this film, the creator is female, and begot the savior - also female. Thus, I have to conclude that the purpose of this film is either to push a blend of Gnostic Unitarianism ideas which originate from the heretical upbringing of Greta Gerwig, or an opportunity to mock our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by Jewish Hollywood executives, or even her husband, Noah. Perhaps a cooperative effort by both. On account of its blatant heresy and mockery of God, I give this film a one-out-of-five stars.
