If you haven’t seen the “Barbie” movie yet, what’s wrong with you? Greta Gerwig’s take on the iconic dolls, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling among other big names, is making serious bank at the box office — so much so that it’ll soon hit the $1 billion mark. But “Barbie” is more than just a blockbuster; it’s actually making women decide to break up with their boyfriends and enjoy the single life instead.
- Wait, so what is “Barbie” about? Part of what’s so great about Gerwig’s approach here is that she tells a really important, meaningful stories using one of the most recognizable characters in modern culture. “Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans,” reads the official synopsis of the movie, but even that doesn’t do it justice.
- The response hasn’t all been positive. Plenty of MRA groups, right-wingers, and incels have dubbed the movie as “spiteful, bitter, mean-spirited, borderline unhinged hatred of men and everything even vaguely associated with them.” (If you’re leaving this article to book your tickets right away, we don’t blame you!) Obviously, people who have that take were not paying attention to the movie.
- “Barbie” has a very feminist message. At the end of the day, this is a movie that celebrates women, and we need more of that in life! It’s hard to imagine why anyone would be against the idea of propping women up and making them feel great about themselves and what they’re capable of. However, guys who are threatened by this message are sadly not in short supply.
- Women are vowing to ditch their boyfriends if they don’t get “Barbie” or disagree with it. As one woman put it on TikTok, “Take your boyfriend to ‘Barbie’ [and] if he doesn’t understand the movie… dump him.” Another agreed, writing, “If you’re dating a man and he doesn’t like the barbie movie, you need to break up with him.” A third added: “Agreed. He’s not Kenough for you.”
- It could be a good movie to see on a date. One TikTok user suggested going to see “Barbie” with a potential partner because it lets you know if they have long-term potential. “I think taking your boyfriend to Barbie should be your relationship test to decide if he’s a good long-term partner,” she said.
- Women are feeling genuinely conflicted about it. One woman on Reddit admitted that after seeing “Barbie,” she had begun rethinking her relationship and wondering if she should break up with her boyfriend. “I feel like I’m the a**hole for letting the Barbie movie affect my relationship and the way I see my boyfriend,” she wrote. “Friends have been telling me that I shouldn’t let it alter the way I view my boyfriend because our relationship is really good and healthy. I’ve been also sending him nonstop TikToks and Tweets about the Barbie movie and saying that men wouldn’t understand and that if my bf doesn’t understand then I should rethink our whole relationship, which is what I’ve been doing lately.”
