mon fils est vert

[plant124]

can we talk about how it’s only after barbie stands in her box and recognizes she doesn’t belong there that she starts to feel inadequate about herself? she tries to put herself back into the confines of men’s expectations (namely those of the owners of the barbie company), tries to force herself to be what she is “supposed” to be, but those expectations and restraints of behavior (the plastic zip ties) which before might’ve felt secure and stabilizing become constricting and entrapping. she panics and escapes, but once she’s run from what everyone expects her to be and has “achieved” the goal of freedom from the oppressive force that is male control, she feels aimless and like her purpose has been stripped from her. what is she without the uncomfortable, difficult, at times impossible standards that had defined her previously? sure, they were terrible, but first she could be defined by those clear-cut (if contradictory and impossible) standards of her character, and then could be defined by the struggle to escape them, and now she is left without any source of externally-imposed identity. the other barbies retain some of their enforced characters, becoming presidents and doctors and lawyers etc, but with nothing else to latch onto that feels familiar to her, she defines herself as a failure — an inadequate, underachieving person with no “reason” to exist. she isn’t pretty (she thinks), isn’t accomplished in a traditional sense, has no easily reference-able title, she just is.

this is why the ending scene is so powerful to me. barbie sees a montage of the lives of people who just are. who exist, in their own right, without necessitating a justification for their existence. women don’t have to explain to men or to themselves why they have a right to exist, or a right to their lives or their confidence. they don’t have to justify living. they can just be, however they choose, enjoying the mundane or the extraordinary in equal measure of happiness, and that is beautiful. barbie sees the mundane, sees the unexplained and the unjustified, and she learns to see it as it is — beautiful, because it is.

[plant124]

I absolutely love the arc for “stereotypical barbie”’s character in the Barbie movie. At the start of the movie, she’s content to exist as she does — she doesn’t have a high profile job like some of the other Barbies, and she doesn’t necessarily have a specific slot to be put in that’s remarkable in a traditional sense (ie, she’s not President, or winning nobel prizes, etc.) but that’s okay because she doesn’t feel any pressure to distinguish herself by such dramatic means from the crowd. After she’s exposed to the patriarchal land of the real world and of Kendom she starts to inherit this worldview where she is only valuable if she is remarkable beyond reasonable expectation. Unless she’s literally president, or winning nobel prizes, which is a ridiculously high bar, she feels worthless and invaluable, where no one (not even her) questions the value of the Ken’s that are only drinking beer and devaluing the women around them. She inherits the view of so many women that if she isn’t perfect, or somehow dramatically different from everyone else, she’s worthless. She has a strong need to have something define her by her accomplishments or her looks because if that’s not there she can’t just exist without a purpose or some sort of justification for her existence.

Her arc of becoming human is so powerful then because all she wanted was to exist, and for that to justify itself. She doesn’t have lofty goals of running a massive corporation, or becoming president of the real world, or anything else (not that she couldn’t, but that she doesn’t have those goals in an effort to define herself) she is content in being — just *being.* She can exist and doesn’t have to prove herself worthy of that. She can just be human, and find intrinsic value in that.

I think so many women fall victim to this trap of feeling like if they’re not somehow the main character, or like the best out of a bunch of people, or can’t define themselves to the point of burnout or doing themselves harm, then they aren’t worth anything or their lives are pointless or they’re less valuable. When in reality, women don’t need to explain why they are valuable or why they have a point to their existence or a purpose or something — they can just be. And that’s okay. It’s beautiful.

I love that arc, and maybe this is me reading into it or maybe this is me exercising basic media literacy. Who knows!

[plant124]

how do we think the hat man is doing emotionally

[plant124]

Okay, so this might be an unpopular opinion and I would love to hear other perspectives on this, but here are my thoughts on Marianne Williamson who seems to keep appearing on my tiktok feed and elsewhere as a potential candidate (or maybe declared, I’m not sure) for president in 2024 against Biden and whichever republicans candidates are running.

Look; her words are nice. She seems to believe that there is systemic injustice in the world and in our country and that it calls for addressing, which I agree with. But she is SO nonspecific. Most, if not all, of the opinions I’ve seen her support have essentially come down to “there are problems in this country.” Which is true, but which ones?? I haven’t seen her name a policy she intends to support, or give any specific plans for how she intends to adhere to her pledges. She claims she would immediately cancel the Willow Project. Great, but how? Wasn’t it the fact that legally Biden was backed into a corner that made him approve it in the first place? I might be wrong about that, so please do fact check me if I am. But beyond that, when a young woman asked her how she intended to support the LGBTQ+ community during this time of intense attacks against it, she said “well I support you all because you’re Americans.” And that’s great, and cool, but HOW will you support us? What *specific* policies do you intend to support to help us?

Anyway, let me know your thoughts.

[plant124]

the day that i obtain a disposable income is the day i obtain a lizard