• Engage

    Why Can’t Barbie and Ken Rule Together?

    “Let’s go see Barbie,” my daughter-in-law said in a moment of spontaneity on the movie’s opening weekend. We knew this Hollywood production would be silly and fun and full of nostalgia and bright colors. And it certainly delivered! But we weren’t prepared for a deep, profound, soul-searching look at patriarchy and women.  [spoiler alert] In Barbieland “Stereotypical” Barbie lives a happy and accomplished life naively believing she has conquered every roadblock women face. But when she personally enters the real world (our world), she discovers that men ogle her and women hate her. Devastated, she learns that “she has been making women feel bad about themselves since she was invented.” On…