WB's BARBIE THE MOVIE starring Margot Robbie (2023) 7 7

[jcjames]

On 7/22/2023 at 5:29 AM, TupennyConan said:

...This literature's chockablock with an entire Webster's Dictionary of technical, academic, nonsense jargon deployed by angry thinkers to cloak their angry thinking in pseudo-intellectual sophistication. Radical social theorists thrive on the confusions they can exploit in both traditional ways of thinking and in competing avant-garde social theories. In this sense, every radical social theorist's efforts at hegemony is doomed to failure by the very nature of their project. This also accounts for the persistence of tradition...

This describes almost all faculty today in almost every academic department in almost every college and university in the country. 

 

I'll wait for streaming to see "The Barbenhiemer".

[bentbryan]

[Bosco685]

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Bosco685

[Bosco685]

 

[Dr. Balls]

The wife said the woke stuff was worked in pretty expertly, as it was more of a social commentary type of statement, rather than a "SEE! SEE! YOU'RE BAD, ME GOOD!" typical virtue signaling that happens in most entertainment.

I'll actually give it a watch when it comes to streaming, my wife really liked it.

[Bosco685]

 

[CAHokie]

On 7/23/2023 at 11:50 AM, Dr. Balls said:

The wife said the woke stuff was worked in pretty expertly, as it was more of a social commentary type of statement, rather than a "SEE! SEE! YOU'RE BAD, ME GOOD!" typical virtue signaling that happens in most entertainment.

I'll actually give it a watch when it comes to streaming, my wife really liked it.

So the woke stuff is still being inserted but they are just being smarter about it? I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/23/2023 at 10:29 AM, CAHokie said:

So the woke stuff is still being inserted but they are just being smarter about it? I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. 

I think - when done right - even extreme viewpoints can lend a good message to help change someone’s perspective. It’s when you wedge it in awkwardly or try to hit it home with a sledgehammer that it really comes off as douchey. (Like Ant-Man or Falcon and Winter Soldier).

I’ll give creative props to people who can fit it into a story without sacrificing the overall entertainment value as a whole. It may not be what I believe, but if it’s presented organically, I can roll with it.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[CAHokie]

On 7/23/2023 at 12:39 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I think - when done right - even extreme viewpoints can lend a good message to help change someone’s perspective. It’s when you wedge it in awkwardly or try to hit it home with a sledgehammer that it really comes off as douchey. (Like Ant-Man or Falcon and Winter Soldier).

I’ll give creative props to people who can fit it into a story without sacrificing the overall entertainment value as a whole. It may not be what I believe, but if it’s presented organically, I can roll with it.

Yeah, those are good points actually.

Of course, one could also argue that it’s ok to make a movie without feeling the need to insert their viewpoints unless its directly related to the movie plot itself.
 

At this point we are all fully aware of Hollywood’s stances on most high profile subjects. Whether I agree or disagree with them is irrelevant because with few exceptions they are not the type I would take life advice from. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/23/2023 at 10:56 AM, CAHokie said:

Yeah, those are good points actually.

Of course, one could also argue that it’s ok to make a movie without feeling the need to insert their viewpoints unless it’s directly related to the movie plot itself.

I think you’re right with that - and maybe that’s why Barbie is doing so well. They managed to work in those viewpoints in a movie that is based on exploring it.

Having Cassie tell us that it’s our fault people are homeless in a superhero movie about a “quantum realm” is so needlessly contentious - it almost caused me to turn the movie off.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[rjrjr]

On 7/23/2023 at 9:56 AM, CAHokie said:

Yeah, those are good points actually.

Of course, one could also argue that it’s ok to make a movie without feeling the need to insert their viewpoints unless its directly related to the movie plot itself.
 

At this point we are all fully aware of Hollywood’s stances on most high profile subjects. Whether I agree or disagree with them is irrelevant because with few exceptions they are not the type I would take life advice from. 
 

And if you think about it, none of this is new to today's movies.  Hollywood has been doing this  for a long, long time.  It can be argued it is more blatant today (although there are examples, like the original Planet of the Apes movies, where I feel it was just as blatant).  If you go into movies looking for it, you can find it in many, many movies.

To make this relevant to comics, Marvel is notorious for doing this in their comics starting in the 1960s which is one of the reasons they are as big as they are today.  Marvel was woke before woke was coined as a term.

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/23/2023 at 11:03 AM, rjrjr said:

 

To make this relevant to comics, Marvel is notorious for doing this in their comics starting in the 1960s which is one of the reasons they are as big as they are today.  Marvel was woke before woke was coined as a term.

Agreed. Stan Lee’s Silver Surfer stories come to mind.

[Gatsby77]

Some of the "Barbie is too woke" criticism I've read seemingly misunderstands the character.

For good or ill, Barbie has *always* been about inspiring girls - teaching them they could grow up to become anything they wanted.

Example: The Smithsonian's Air & Space museum this week has added to its Barbie exhibit the first "Astronaut Barbie" - released in 1965, before we even landed on the moon, let alone had female astronauts.

Ditto - arguing there should be more women in board rooms isn't exactly woke or earth-shattering.

[rjrjr]

On 7/23/2023 at 10:04 AM, Dr. Balls said:

Agreed. Stan Lee’s Silver Surfer stories come to mind.

Other examples, the introduction of Black Panther (Fantastic Four #52), the Liberators (Avengers #83), Sue Storm being the strongest members of the FF (which came later in the 1980s), etc.

[namisgr]

On 7/23/2023 at 1:08 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Some of the "Barbie is too woke" criticism I've read seemingly misunderstands the character.

For good or ill, Barbie has *always* been about inspiring girls - teaching them they could grow up to become anything they wanted.

Example: The Smithsonian's Air & Space museum this week has added to its Barbie exhibit the first "Astronaut Barbie" - released in 1965, before we even landed on the moon, let alone had female astronauts.

Ditto - arguing there should be more women in board rooms isn't exactly woke or earth-shattering.

Didn't you read earlier?  It's radical social theory.  

[rjrjr]

On 7/23/2023 at 10:08 AM, Gatsby77 said:

Some of the "Barbie is too woke" criticism I've read seemingly misunderstands the character.

For good or ill, Barbie has *always* been about inspiring girls - teaching them they could grow up to become anything they wanted.

Example: The Smithsonian's Air & Space museum this week has added to its Barbie exhibit the first "Astronaut Barbie" - released in 1965, before we even landed on the moon, let alone had female astronauts.

Ditto - arguing there should be more women in board rooms isn't exactly woke or earth-shattering.

Exactly.  Barbie was always woke.  This isn't anything new with this movie.

[namisgr]

On 7/23/2023 at 1:09 PM, rjrjr said:

Other examples, the introduction of Black Panther (Fantastic Four #52), the Liberators (Avengers #83), Sue Storm being the strongest members of the FF (which came later in the 1980s), etc.

Being concerned with discrimination and inequality has been a social platform for over a half century.

[rjrjr]

On 7/23/2023 at 10:10 AM, namisgr said:

Being concerned with discrimination and inequality has been a social platform for over a half century.

Exactly and it is encapsulated with the term woke:

woke : aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice) 

This is from the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

[Gaard]

On 7/23/2023 at 1:08 PM, Gatsby77 said:

For good or ill, Barbie has *always* been about inspiring girls - teaching them they could grow up to become anything they wanted.

Silly me. All this time, I thought they were just dolls.

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/23/2023 at 11:10 AM, rjrjr said:

Exactly.  Barbie was always woke.  This isn't anything new with this movie.

In reference to the dictionary term of “woke”, I actually disagree with their example.

Woke is an extreme stance on progressiveness. A Barbie movie that tells girls they are unique individuals who can achieve all sorts of things? That’s not “woke” to me, that’s just a positive message.

Wokism - to me - would be taking that message and adding things like hatred, exclusion, revenge, intolerance, villification to it. I don’t think the movie gets anywhere near that, and I wouldn’t classify it as ‘woke’. At least in how I view the word.