For some women in China, “Barbie” is more than just a movie — it’s also a litmus test for their partner’s views on feminism and patriarchy.
The movie has prompted intense social media discussion online, media outlets Sixth Tone and the China Project reported this week, prompting women to discuss their own dating experiences.
One user on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu — a photo-sharing site similar to Instagram that’s mostly used by Gen Z women — even shared a guide on Monday for how women can test their boyfriends based on their reaction to the film.
According to the guide, if a man shows hatred for “Barbie” and slams female directors after they leave the theatre, then this man is “stingy” and a “toxic chauvinist,” according to Insider’s translation of the post. Conversely, if a man understands even half of the movie’s themes, “then he is likely a normal guy with normal values and stable emotions,” the user wrote.
That example isn’t really accurate, they say the Kens eventually will be given the same representativity as the women in the real world. That line is more of a jab against gender inequality than anything.
Yeah. I would not take it that literally. I’d say it means they’re gonna do to Kens what “the patriarchy” and many people who support it do to women. Concede rights when they absolutely have to and begrudgingly accept them for the sake of avoiding bigger problems, but still believe in their own supremacy and acting one way while publicly pretending to be accepting of feminism. Then they will say, see, you have all this rights and equality now, no need for “Keninism” anymore and slowly start to backslide and undermine those rights when they feel like they can.
They’re rather copying the spirit of real world patriarchy than just plainly introducing the same laws as it
Yes! This is a great way to put it and shows the mirror it’s putting up to Western society
Oh that sounds more of a nuanced theme than I was expecting. Cool.
Sure but it’s still them making a conscious choice to keep oppressing a group until an unrelated reality fixes their shit. Doesn’t sound like they’re good guys at all tbh.
I hope you see the irony in that phrase.
This isn’t Star Wars my dude, not everything needs to be good vs evil. Sometimes there’s even room for satire.
Yeah the movie doesn’t paint them as good guys though? The narrator comes in and states that they aren’t at that point, and stereotypical Barbie leaves because she can’t see herself as taking part in such a system anymore.
I don’t think they’re supposed to be “good guys”.
But even though the women have the control, they do not oppress men like men do to women in the real world. Men still do everything they want, even if the women have the power because the women make the world amazing for everyone. A little different from reality.
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It’s not that they’re homeless, it’s just that where they live isn’t important to the story. This is because when little girls play with Ken dolls, they don’t give Ken any backstory. Kens are only there for supporting Barbie’s journey.