The hype around 'Barbie' is huge, but so is the debate. Here are 6 reasons the movie is sparking discussion on social media. (2024)

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In a movie that is supposed to be centered around women, a man is one of the most popular characters.

Allan, a doll who was introduced to the Barbie franchise in 1964 as Ken's friend, is played by Michael Cera in the movie.

He has been referred to as the "unsung hero" of the film in an article by KQED, and as the movie's "sly secret weapon" by Mashable.

"One of the most relatable parts of 'Barbie' was watching Allan quietly struggling with heteronormativity the whole movie," TikToker @nathanmychael wrote in a video. Many viewers agreed with his statement.

But not everyone is happy with the amount of attention Allan is getting.

"It's a movie about feminism where pretty much all of the main characters are women and somehow everyone's favorite character is still a man," TikTok user @kindsoberfullydressedwrote in a video, which has received over 1.6 million views.

Despite this criticism, they added that Allan is their favorite character from the movie too. "I'm literally part of the problem."

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Barbie apologizes to Ken, but no one apologizes to Barbie.

At the end of the movie, Barbie, who is played by Margot Robbie, apologizes to Ken, who is played by Ryan Gosling, for not being romantically interested in him.

Many people have criticized the apology for reinforcing the idea that it's "mean" for women to draw boundaries with a man, and that they are "expected to play therapist."

"Barbie was the one responsible for picking Ken back up again even though he hurt Barbie just as much if not more," TikTok user @cheesebloque wrote in a video.

Ken isn't the only person who hurt Barbie throughout the movie. At one point, a teenage character called Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) hurls a stream of insults at Barbie, culminating in calling her a "fascist" and making Barbie cry.

"I don't understand why they moved on from that it fr just shattered my heart," one TikToker wrote. Others agreed that they noticed that nobody had apologized to Barbie throughout the entire movie.

One viewer commented that while Sasha was mean, she was a good representation of a young teenage girl. Others suggested that Sasha's apology to Barbie wasn't in her words, but rather through her actions when she turned the car around and went back to save Barbieland.

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Some men say the movie is "anti-men."

Some men, including broadcaster Piers Morgan, have argued that the movie carries a "misandrist message."

"If I made a movie that treated women the way Barbie treats men, feminists would want me executed," Morgan wrote in an article published in the New York Post on July 24.

In r/MensRights, a subreddit with over 350,000 members, one user complained that the movie "seriously kept putting men down, making them look like second-class citizens."

They said that when they tried to find a movie that had a similar message about women, they couldn't find one.

But Twitter user @ardcntIy argued that the entire plot of the movie focuses on the problems that occur because men are not taught how to deal with their emotions, which leads them to "cling to the patriarchy."

—bee (@ardcntIy) July 21, 2023

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The movie's feminist message has been disputed by some viewers, who think it's surface level.

Some have said that "Barvie" fails to recognize that experiences differ significantly for different groups of women and that the movie does not address the multiple forms of inequality that exist outside of gender, such as race, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation.

In one video, user @kxmberly_tsitsi accused Hollywood of being "out of touch" with feminism and women's experiences.

She wrote, "It doesn't properly criticize patriarchy and the message it pushes would've been groundbreaking in the 60s but in 2023 it falls flat and completely ignores any intersectionality.

But another TikToker argued that while she believes the movie is not doing anything "radical or revolutionary," it is a good introduction to feminism for many.

"Based on the last year or two years that we have lived through, it is very clear that some people either missed Feminism 101, or are very much in need of a refresher," she wrote in a video.

While the ideas presented in the movie may not seem "radical" for some audience members, they could be revolutionary for younger members of the audience.

In a tweet, user @aishamadeit wrote that America Ferrera's character Gloria's monologue, which some have argued is a very basic representation of feminism, would have hyped her up to "run through a brick wall at 16."

—Aisha (@aishamadeit) July 24, 2023

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Some believe the movie's central themes and characters are underdeveloped.

The movie explores multiple themes, including the implications of death, feminism and patriarchy, perfectionism, and identity and individuality. But some people criticized the film for having too many undeveloped storylines.

At the end of the movie, the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, who is played by Rhea Pearlman, tells Barbie, "We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back to see how far they've come."

In an article in The Daily Beast, entertainment critic Coleman Spilde referred to this as the movie's "most profound line."

But Twitter user @ModernGurlzz, who is known for her film analysis content that she posts on her YouTube channel, where she has over 650,000 subscribers, tweeted that while this line is very meaningful "in theory," it doesn't work given that the movie "utterly neglects to discuss motherhood in a meaningful manner at any other point."

She said that the rift in Gloria and her daughter Sasha's relationship is supposed to serve as a catalyst for Barbie's identity crisis, but both characters are "underdeveloped" and don't interact in a believable mother-daughter way.

—ModernGurlz (@ModernGurlzz) July 25, 2023

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The movie focuses a lot on Ken.

In an interview published in the Los Angeles Times, "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig said that she thought many men felt "released by Ken's journey."

But some people are saying that the movie is too focused on Ken questioning his identity.

One user tweeted that Barbie "felt like a side character" throughout the movie and that Ken felt like the main character, writing, "I hated how everything was made about making him feel better."

Others argued that it is important to address the issues that cause men to lean into patriarchal views, often as a result of feeling lonely and alienated in society.

The movie's viral tagline, "She's everything. He's just Ken," may have set some viewers up for failure, assuming it would barely focus on Ken, however others thought it was subverting our expectations intentionally.

"She doesn't have to be everything, and he doesn't have to be nothing," wrote one Twitter user, calling the execution of the idea a "pretty nifty move."