The Barbie movie shows us why conservatives are freaking out about it. The movie is an intense social commentary with a very pointed message. It’s the same message that conservatives freak out about. The message is that people are worth more than their gender rules.
Our gender rules and the pressure that is placed on us as men and women have been destroying our relationships. Rules that are destroying our society. Making us feel like we’re never enough and that our society is best when we treat everyone with kindness. This is a very simple lesson that we learned in kindergarten. After kindergarten, they throw it away as soon as they can.
It’s about needing each other, but it’s about needing ourselves more and how we are so much more than what we show people on the surface. You aren’t your things. You aren’t your job. You aren’t even the role that you play in your family.
What It’s All About
The most profound moment in the entire movie is when they all have this realization together. And then someone said out loud, “Ken, you’ve only been acting that way because you didn’t know who you really were.”
And there are great scenes where men cry and admit that they need women and women’s love to feel whole. But then again, they get redirected. And the message again is, no, you don’t. You are a whole individual.
You never need to be someone’s husband or wife to be okay.
You don’t need to have a certain job to be okay.
You don’t need to drive a certain car to be okay.
You need to be comfortable and confident in your own heart anyways.
Conservatives don’t want anyone to hear these messages because they fear change. They don’t want to see what’s happening. Which is young groups of straight men wearing sequins if they want to and wearing pink, if they feel like it, hugging each other, crying. They don’t want to see women taking on more powerful roles. They don’t want to see things change.
But the thing about that is, it’s too late.
Recommended Resource: John Bradshaw did great work on this type of you’re good enough inner work.