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April 4, 2023 2:43 PM Subscribe
Howled at "I'm actually not sure."
posted by brook horse at 2:52 PM on April 4, 2023 [17 favorites]
posted by brook horse at 2:52 PM on April 4, 2023 [17 favorites]
The posters won me over even before the trailer did. Absolutely love the juxtaposition of "This Barbie is a lawyer!" and "This Barbie has a Pulitzer!" with "He's just Ken" and "He's another Ken" and "Ken again!"
Also perfect and hilarious: the fucked up Kate McKinnon Barbie. If you were a kid who played with Barbies, you almost certainly had at least one Barbie who'd been through the wars like that. Including a fucked up Barbie who's been drawn on and had unspeakable things done to her hair convinces me the filmmakers understand the assignment.
posted by yasaman at 2:53 PM on April 4, 2023 [31 favorites]
Also perfect and hilarious: the fucked up Kate McKinnon Barbie. If you were a kid who played with Barbies, you almost certainly had at least one Barbie who'd been through the wars like that. Including a fucked up Barbie who's been drawn on and had unspeakable things done to her hair convinces me the filmmakers understand the assignment.
posted by yasaman at 2:53 PM on April 4, 2023 [31 favorites]
Howled at "I'm actually not sure."
With absolutely no change to his come-hither look!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:53 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
With absolutely no change to his come-hither look!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:53 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
Helen Mirren in Barbie? In the word of Zippy the Pinhead: Yow!
posted by y2karl at 2:59 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 2:59 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I’m very much down for the Simu Liu Ryan Gosling dance battle.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:00 PM on April 4, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:00 PM on April 4, 2023 [14 favorites]
This is my intrigued face. My intrigued and horny face.
posted by Kitteh at 3:01 PM on April 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 3:01 PM on April 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
This looks utterly stupid and I love it
posted by The otter lady at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2023 [13 favorites]
Might need to find a babysitter for my little girls so I can go see the Barbie movie.
posted by straight at 3:14 PM on April 4, 2023 [23 favorites]
posted by straight at 3:14 PM on April 4, 2023 [23 favorites]
I have seen all of the snark, the "they don't have sex, hands just come down and smoosh them together", and "it's not a Barbie movie without scissoring", and...
This trailer makes me think that the film-makers are a step ahead of us on all of these fronts, and I'm pretty sure I'm there for it.
posted by straw at 3:17 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
This trailer makes me think that the film-makers are a step ahead of us on all of these fronts, and I'm pretty sure I'm there for it.
posted by straw at 3:17 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I was 100% on board until the weak "beach off" jokes at the end. I particularly liked how weird it all is, like the pink sand and pink airplane and all the girls named Barbie. It's like someone watched The Wachowski's version of Speed Racer and fully understood why I love that movie so much.
posted by Nelson at 3:18 PM on April 4, 2023 [19 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 3:18 PM on April 4, 2023 [19 favorites]
Hey, it's just like Todrick Hall's Sorry, Barbie video, but straight.
If you're looking for in-depth Barbie video analysis, please see Alexander Avila's Overanalyzing the Barbie Movies with Queer Marxist Theory. Seriouly. He's hilariously brilliant.
posted by MrVisible at 3:22 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
If you're looking for in-depth Barbie video analysis, please see Alexander Avila's Overanalyzing the Barbie Movies with Queer Marxist Theory. Seriouly. He's hilariously brilliant.
posted by MrVisible at 3:22 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
I like Ryan Gosling, but his dead-eyed stare and flattish affectations always have me expecting his movies to go all Only God Forgives at some point.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:31 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:31 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
Poor Ken. Must be torture to be created to be horny but also be created to have no way to do anything about it.
(I note, Barbie is not pursuing Ken in this film's trailers.)
posted by hippybear at 3:42 PM on April 4, 2023
(I note, Barbie is not pursuing Ken in this film's trailers.)
posted by hippybear at 3:42 PM on April 4, 2023
Clearly, Wes Anderson consulted in this film.
posted by SPrintF at 3:42 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 3:42 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, and Michael Cera. A film full of Ken-adians.*
*yes i know MC is not a Ken in this
posted by Kitteh at 3:46 PM on April 4, 2023 [11 favorites]
*yes i know MC is not a Ken in this
posted by Kitteh at 3:46 PM on April 4, 2023 [11 favorites]
I am so excited, y'all!
When I was in first grade, the neighbor girl next door decided she was too grown up for barbies so she gave me an enormous box of them and so many outfits that I could dress up all the bodies IN ADVANCE and just pop a couple of favorite heads on and off for every possible storyline/occasion. It saved a lot of time but it meant I had a lot of heads and bodies floating around at any given moment, so the whole result wasn't unlike, um, this scene from Return to Oz. (Oh, you know the one.)
Point being, if the movie was anything like the way I played barbies, it would probably need a different soundtrack. Maybe more screaming?
But this, this looks great. I can't wait! I hope they let a poor Barbie arrive dressed in a human-sized sock with holes cut out for the arms and give her a makeover.
posted by mochapickle at 3:49 PM on April 4, 2023 [19 favorites]
When I was in first grade, the neighbor girl next door decided she was too grown up for barbies so she gave me an enormous box of them and so many outfits that I could dress up all the bodies IN ADVANCE and just pop a couple of favorite heads on and off for every possible storyline/occasion. It saved a lot of time but it meant I had a lot of heads and bodies floating around at any given moment, so the whole result wasn't unlike, um, this scene from Return to Oz. (Oh, you know the one.)
Point being, if the movie was anything like the way I played barbies, it would probably need a different soundtrack. Maybe more screaming?
But this, this looks great. I can't wait! I hope they let a poor Barbie arrive dressed in a human-sized sock with holes cut out for the arms and give her a makeover.
posted by mochapickle at 3:49 PM on April 4, 2023 [19 favorites]
MetaFilter: I had a lot of heads and bodies floating around at any given moment
posted by hippybear at 3:51 PM on April 4, 2023 [19 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 3:51 PM on April 4, 2023 [19 favorites]
This looks like a ton of campy fun!
I am now imagining millions of very frustrated parents patiently trying to explain to their enraged six-year-olds why they can’t go see the Barbie movie, but mommy and daddy can.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:52 PM on April 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
I am now imagining millions of very frustrated parents patiently trying to explain to their enraged six-year-olds why they can’t go see the Barbie movie, but mommy and daddy can.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:52 PM on April 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
I am now imagining millions of very frustrated parents patiently trying to explain to their enraged six-year-olds why they can’t go see the Barbie movie, but mommy and daddy can.
I'm just going to casually mention South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
posted by hippybear at 3:57 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm just going to casually mention South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
posted by hippybear at 3:57 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I was picking up a John Malkovich inside his own head vibe at everyone addressing everyone else as either Barbie or Ken. Malkovich!
posted by adamrice at 4:26 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 4:26 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
When I was in first grade, the neighbor girl next door decided she was too grown up for barbies so she gave me an enormous box of them and so many outfits that I could dress up all the bodies IN ADVANCE and just pop a couple of favorite heads on and off for every possible storyline/occasion. It saved a lot of time but it meant I had a lot of heads and bodies floating around at any given moment,
Between us, in the 80s, my sister and I had probably 12-15 Barbies in various states of haircut/undress and exactly one Ken, who over time lost his arms, legs and head, until he just became a torso. Eventually a friend of mine just wrote MAN across his chest in Sharpie and we carried on with him in every role that required a dude (my younger sister was a fan of playing "Barbie Goes to College and Gets Married"; I was a fan of "Barbie in the French Revolution," so, you know, Ken had a lot of parts for just a torso. Typical)
Years later, when we were both both out barhopping in our 20s my sister used to tell this story to illustrate some point about why I was still single.
PS: One of my best friends and I have already taken the release day of this movie off. The plan is pedicures and then go to Alamo. Which feels exactly correct.
posted by thivaia at 4:30 PM on April 4, 2023 [44 favorites]
Between us, in the 80s, my sister and I had probably 12-15 Barbies in various states of haircut/undress and exactly one Ken, who over time lost his arms, legs and head, until he just became a torso. Eventually a friend of mine just wrote MAN across his chest in Sharpie and we carried on with him in every role that required a dude (my younger sister was a fan of playing "Barbie Goes to College and Gets Married"; I was a fan of "Barbie in the French Revolution," so, you know, Ken had a lot of parts for just a torso. Typical)
Years later, when we were both both out barhopping in our 20s my sister used to tell this story to illustrate some point about why I was still single.
PS: One of my best friends and I have already taken the release day of this movie off. The plan is pedicures and then go to Alamo. Which feels exactly correct.
posted by thivaia at 4:30 PM on April 4, 2023 [44 favorites]
But the Alamo is a scenario where the losers were trapped in the basement!
Oh wait, you mean the theater.
Carry on.
posted by hippybear at 4:33 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh wait, you mean the theater.
Carry on.
posted by hippybear at 4:33 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
But the Alamo is a scenario where the losers were trapped in the basement!
I may have been misinformed
posted by thivaia at 4:38 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
I may have been misinformed
posted by thivaia at 4:38 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
So Ken and Barbie end up in the Real World. They could take a left turn here and make a gritty kitchen-sink drama about Barbie working for tips in a diner after Ken had his head chewed off by a puppy.
posted by adept256 at 4:43 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 4:43 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Totally agree that this looks like a lot of fun, with the exception of the "Beach you off " jokes, which were kind of lame and went on way too long, even for a bit in a trailer stinger. I hope for less of that and more of the pink sand weirdness.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:44 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:44 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
So Ken and Barbie end up in the Real World. They could take a left turn here and make a gritty kitchen-sink drama about Barbie working for tips in a diner
Now I want a remake of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore only done in the style of Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.
posted by hippybear at 4:46 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Now I want a remake of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore only done in the style of Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.
posted by hippybear at 4:46 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Oh no, it looks like it has a plot. I was sincerely hoping for a 90 minute fever dream but I’m much less excited about this now.
posted by rhymedirective at 4:48 PM on April 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by rhymedirective at 4:48 PM on April 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
I'm so glad I got born female within a couple years of Greta Gerwig.
posted by potrzebie at 5:07 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 5:07 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was given a Barbie by a well-meaning relative and after I shot her with the bb gun and made her 'sleep with the fishes' in the aquarium, I warmed to her, dressed her in leather scraps from Tandy, and she was basically Tarzan all over the backyard, although she was still frequently eaten by the plastic animals that were my -true- fixation.
posted by The otter lady at 5:14 PM on April 4, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 5:14 PM on April 4, 2023 [11 favorites]
BarbieSelfie.ai
Wow, this is so dumb.
Like, for The Simpsons Movie, they had the Simpsonize Me website which would take a selfie and generate a Simpsons-universe-style character. You could also use their tools to make a custom character of your choice.
But this... This is... not that. This is a photo that gets superimposed on a Mattel-starburst background with Barbie text around it.
I wanted to see myself as a Ken like I saw myself all yellow and four-fingered from The Simpsons Movie. This did not give me that.
posted by hippybear at 5:21 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Wow, this is so dumb.
Like, for The Simpsons Movie, they had the Simpsonize Me website which would take a selfie and generate a Simpsons-universe-style character. You could also use their tools to make a custom character of your choice.
But this... This is... not that. This is a photo that gets superimposed on a Mattel-starburst background with Barbie text around it.
I wanted to see myself as a Ken like I saw myself all yellow and four-fingered from The Simpsons Movie. This did not give me that.
posted by hippybear at 5:21 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
the plastic animals that were my -true- fixation
Have you been to a furry convention yet?
posted by hippybear at 5:22 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Have you been to a furry convention yet?
posted by hippybear at 5:22 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
The cotton candy LA architecture is hilarious.
posted by effluvia at 5:26 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by effluvia at 5:26 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'd just like to thank Going to Maine for posting that this trailer has arrived instead of saying that it has "dropped".
posted by rlk at 5:34 PM on April 4, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by rlk at 5:34 PM on April 4, 2023 [13 favorites]
This looks awesome.
Am I the only one who didn’t see much use for the Ken doll but whose Barbies had lots of adventures with GI Joe with Kung Fu Grip? He could even hold their hands!
posted by Mchelly at 5:52 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Am I the only one who didn’t see much use for the Ken doll but whose Barbies had lots of adventures with GI Joe with Kung Fu Grip? He could even hold their hands!
posted by Mchelly at 5:52 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I said that this looks like chaotic evil in the best way. I am into it. I was sold once she stepped out of her shoes and was still on her toes. This is perfect.
Everyone seems to know what movie they're in and they've having fun. At least from the trailer and the posters, it feels like it's leaning into the weirdness and ridiculousness. I really like Greta Gerwig and her ability to go with being unlikeable. I like Noah Baumbach less so but I also think they're good for each other.
Margot Robbie knows what she's doing here.
How soon can I buy my ticket for this?
(I also know some long time Barbie fans who are all in on this so I tend to trust them here.)
posted by edencosmic at 6:19 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Everyone seems to know what movie they're in and they've having fun. At least from the trailer and the posters, it feels like it's leaning into the weirdness and ridiculousness. I really like Greta Gerwig and her ability to go with being unlikeable. I like Noah Baumbach less so but I also think they're good for each other.
Margot Robbie knows what she's doing here.
How soon can I buy my ticket for this?
(I also know some long time Barbie fans who are all in on this so I tend to trust them here.)
posted by edencosmic at 6:19 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
(I do hope Earring Magic Ken is referenced in some way. Gosling's look is kind of close but not 100%.)
posted by edencosmic at 6:24 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by edencosmic at 6:24 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
.I'm so glad I got born female within a couple years of Greta Gerwig. I think I posted this on the last Barbie thread, but my wife and her sister are about Greta Gerwig’s age and my kids now play with all of their late 80s early 90s Barbies. We are all super hyped about this movie.
posted by CostcoCultist at 7:04 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by CostcoCultist at 7:04 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
(For those -like me- wondering: Allan)
posted by Going To Maine at 7:33 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 7:33 PM on April 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
Hate to ruin the fun, but like the bits in Toy Story this trailer feels like a vehicle for lazy homophobic jokes about Ken, which are jokes that heterosexuals have been doing about Barbie toys to death. Beat each other off? Someone tell straight people it's 2023, for crying out loud.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 7:34 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 7:34 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
(For those -like me- wondering: Allan)
Doll & Box
posted by Going To Maine at 7:36 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Doll & Box
posted by Going To Maine at 7:36 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you're going to use a classic car song to sell a trailer and overlay the music on top of a scene where the main character is driving a classic car, then you should make an effort to match the car in the song to the car shown on the screen.
There are parts of this I love. The bent foot (and the design of the shoe) mentioned by edencosmic is high on that list, but this Barbie world isn't my Barbie world. I guess I'm just a wee bit too old for Barbie pink. My first Barbie was a brunette, even if subsequent ones were blonde, including the Walk Lively one with her twist and turn stand. The Kens had dark hair. My Country Camper was orange and yellow. The Pool Party set (which did a really poor job of holding water) was blue and red (even though the lounge looks more orange in this photo). In a lot of ways, Barbie fashion of that era was about a decade behind the times, more reflective of the previous generation's styles than the modern ones.
The trope about taking a fictional character and dumping them into the real world is a common one, but it's a tried and true one because, when it's done well, it can work.
I'll wait for the reviews before I make any decision about watching this or not. I'm expecting FanFare to play a large part in my decision-making process.
(I must say, a few dolls broke from overuse--mainly their limbs gave up after too much bending--but I never deliberately mutilated my dolls or cut their hair.)
posted by sardonyx at 7:44 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
There are parts of this I love. The bent foot (and the design of the shoe) mentioned by edencosmic is high on that list, but this Barbie world isn't my Barbie world. I guess I'm just a wee bit too old for Barbie pink. My first Barbie was a brunette, even if subsequent ones were blonde, including the Walk Lively one with her twist and turn stand. The Kens had dark hair. My Country Camper was orange and yellow. The Pool Party set (which did a really poor job of holding water) was blue and red (even though the lounge looks more orange in this photo). In a lot of ways, Barbie fashion of that era was about a decade behind the times, more reflective of the previous generation's styles than the modern ones.
The trope about taking a fictional character and dumping them into the real world is a common one, but it's a tried and true one because, when it's done well, it can work.
I'll wait for the reviews before I make any decision about watching this or not. I'm expecting FanFare to play a large part in my decision-making process.
(I must say, a few dolls broke from overuse--mainly their limbs gave up after too much bending--but I never deliberately mutilated my dolls or cut their hair.)
posted by sardonyx at 7:44 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Here's a thing.
Margot Robbie
Margaret Roberts is Barbie's mom.
posted by whatnotever at 7:54 PM on April 4, 2023 [11 favorites]
Margot Robbie
Margaret Roberts is Barbie's mom.
posted by whatnotever at 7:54 PM on April 4, 2023 [11 favorites]
I wanted to see myself as a Ken like I saw myself all yellow and four-fingered from The Simpsons Movie. This did not give me that.
And if you could Ken and Barbiesize yourself as doll body anatomically correct Ken? Would that give you that?
posted by y2karl at 8:35 PM on April 4, 2023
And if you could Ken and Barbiesize yourself as doll body anatomically correct Ken? Would that give you that?
posted by y2karl at 8:35 PM on April 4, 2023
Barbie Girl isn't in the movie, so what's the point
posted by creatrixtiara at 8:58 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by creatrixtiara at 8:58 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was firmly in camp 'This Isn't For Me', but the Kate McKinnon Barbie print ad got an actual lol.
Looking forward to seeing it on streaming services!
posted by Space Kitty at 9:02 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Looking forward to seeing it on streaming services!
posted by Space Kitty at 9:02 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
If everyone’s head stays attached, then it’s not the Barbie I am familiar with.
The Kate McKinnon poster gives me hope they understand that, though.
posted by nat at 11:08 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Kate McKinnon poster gives me hope they understand that, though.
posted by nat at 11:08 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Am I the only one who didn’t see much use for the Ken doll but whose Barbies had lots of adventures with GI Joe with Kung Fu Grip? He could even hold their hands!
I have been quietly praying that the filmmakers understand this particular coupling was actually a thing with kids and there’s a cameo somewhere in the film where Barbie bumps into “Joe”.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:05 AM on April 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
I have been quietly praying that the filmmakers understand this particular coupling was actually a thing with kids and there’s a cameo somewhere in the film where Barbie bumps into “Joe”.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:05 AM on April 5, 2023 [7 favorites]
Also...Is Skipper not in this? I mean, she’s Barbie’s sister.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:10 AM on April 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 5:10 AM on April 5, 2023 [6 favorites]
I have been quietly praying that the filmmakers understand this particular coupling was actually a thing with kids and there’s a cameo somewhere in the film where Barbie bumps into “Joe”.
You mean like this ?
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:46 AM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
You mean like this ?
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:46 AM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also…Is Skipper not in this? I mean, she’s Barbie’s sister.
According to the posters, Emerald Fennell is Midge. Maybe they’re holding off on Skipper for some big reveal.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:04 AM on April 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
According to the posters, Emerald Fennell is Midge. Maybe they’re holding off on Skipper for some big reveal.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:04 AM on April 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Clearly, Wes Anderson consulted in this film.
Given that Gerwig cowrote the movie with Noah Baumbach, who also cowrote The Life Aquatic and The Fantastic Mr. Fox with Anderson, I'd be very surprised if the three of them never at least talked about it. Wes Anderson is a lot of different things to a lot of different people depending on their POV, but the one thing that is unambiguously clear is how much the man loves his miniature dream houses.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:18 AM on April 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Given that Gerwig cowrote the movie with Noah Baumbach, who also cowrote The Life Aquatic and The Fantastic Mr. Fox with Anderson, I'd be very surprised if the three of them never at least talked about it. Wes Anderson is a lot of different things to a lot of different people depending on their POV, but the one thing that is unambiguously clear is how much the man loves his miniature dream houses.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:18 AM on April 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
Ah, so this is why Sex Education has taken so long to bring out another season.
They're all doing bloody Barbie.
I was a Barbie Kid against my mom's wishes - she was going to have a Barbie-free house and then on my second birthday literally all her friends ganged up and bought me Barbie stuff. I had a 40-L tub of nekkid Barbies and another one of their clothes. I had Barbie shoes, t-shirts that were way too big for me and lasted (...decades? one of them was so big it still kinda fits) a handbag, hairties, the works. As a teenager I ended up using most of them as dressmakers dummies for clothes I actually wanted to make for myself.
But I had wanted a Singapore Air Barbie since I was four and another of my mother's friends a) bought me a Singapore Girl uniform in my size and b) told me that Singapore Air Barbie existed, and last week at a flea market I finally found one!
/end inane rambling about Barbie
Yeah I'm looking forward to this.
posted by ngaiotonga at 2:39 PM on April 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
They're all doing bloody Barbie.
I was a Barbie Kid against my mom's wishes - she was going to have a Barbie-free house and then on my second birthday literally all her friends ganged up and bought me Barbie stuff. I had a 40-L tub of nekkid Barbies and another one of their clothes. I had Barbie shoes, t-shirts that were way too big for me and lasted (...decades? one of them was so big it still kinda fits) a handbag, hairties, the works. As a teenager I ended up using most of them as dressmakers dummies for clothes I actually wanted to make for myself.
But I had wanted a Singapore Air Barbie since I was four and another of my mother's friends a) bought me a Singapore Girl uniform in my size and b) told me that Singapore Air Barbie existed, and last week at a flea market I finally found one!
/end inane rambling about Barbie
Yeah I'm looking forward to this.
posted by ngaiotonga at 2:39 PM on April 5, 2023 [3 favorites]
As a teenager I ended up using most of them as dressmakers dummies for clothes I actually wanted to make for myself.
You're a very tiny person indeed if you can use Barbies as dressmaker dummies.
posted by hippybear at 2:48 PM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
You're a very tiny person indeed if you can use Barbies as dressmaker dummies.
posted by hippybear at 2:48 PM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
lol. yeah turns out scratching the 'I wanna make a dress out of midnight blue taffeta' itch is way cheaper if making a Barbie-sized dress is enough for you, which for me for a long time it was. (Fabric scraps off the floor of the dressmakers' rather than buying whole bolts of the stuff.)
posted by ngaiotonga at 3:52 PM on April 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by ngaiotonga at 3:52 PM on April 5, 2023 [4 favorites]
Tongue-in-cheek/desconstructed Barbie? Ha, sure, why not!? Looks fun, with a great/deep cast
Re: the meh "beach" wordplay and avoiding Steven Universe spoilers in an unrelated topic, for me nothing could come close to Lapis Lazuli's "Knock her off this beach!" in a climactic fight. SU all about the punctuation gags (OK, maybe only twice)
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 12:07 PM on April 6, 2023
Re: the meh "beach" wordplay and avoiding Steven Universe spoilers in an unrelated topic, for me nothing could come close to Lapis Lazuli's "Knock her off this beach!" in a climactic fight. SU all about the punctuation gags (OK, maybe only twice)
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 12:07 PM on April 6, 2023
...this....this thread prompted me to examine myself in a way that's yielded a surprising epiphany.
So. I didn't really get into Barbie until I was about eight; a girl moved into the house next door and she had an IMMENSE Barbie collection. She was a year or two older than me, and me and the girl across the street glommed onto playing with her and begged our mothers to get us more Barbie stuff like Amy did. Mom dug some her own older Barbies out of the attic, and so did the mom of the girl across the street, but we would still lug them over to Amy's to play because she had the whole schmear. But...before then Barbie was just sort of...take-it-or-leave-it.
Now: I followed a link above discussing Midge. and in the Wiki about it, they mentioned that at one point Midge was sold as a mom-dad-babies set called "The Happy Family". And that sounded weirdly familiar....although I didn't remember it as a Barbie thing.
...And then I remembered.
So - something I had before the Barbies was a doll family called The Sunshine Family. They were posable dolls like Barbies, but they were a little more modest; both in size (I remember trying to share clothes between them and the Barbies but getting frustrated because they were notably different sizes) and in accoutrement. Their playhouse was a smaller thing, they only had simple furniture, and instead of a whole bunch of different outfits each family member (the mom, the dad, and a baby) had only a couple of changes of clothes; the mom had a couple of calico granny gown hippie-ish dresses and an apron, the dad had a wool sweater, a turtleneck and jeans, and the baby had a yellow sleeper and a playsuit. Instead of a crapton of pets there was a dog and a cat and that's it. The only "family" were the mom, the dad, and the baby, and in later years they added a grandma and a grandpa and then an aunt and a cousin (no uncle, hmm), also similarly homespun in dress. As for "The Happy Family", they were The Sunshine Family's African-American neighbors - same family members, with a similarly crunchy-granola dress sense.
I definitely remember playing with these things a fair amount before Amy came along with the Barbies. And then Barbie overshadowed them, and I think Mom finally eventually brought them in to the preschool where she was teaching and that was that.
Now - I've said that I've long had some kind of affinity for the kind of early-70s crunchy-granola hippie-holdout kind of vibe; baking your own bread, living kind of simply. If this were the 60s I'd totally be one of those people who made a go of joining a commune. I'd always assumed that being born in 1970, I'd just sort of picked it up by osmosis....until I read up on The Sunshine Family just now and discovered that they were expressly marketed to BE a sort of crunchy-granola answer TO Barbie. I vaguely remember having this now - the Sunshine Family had a craft store, complete with spinning wheel, potters' wheel, cash register, and shelves, and a little booklet so you could make the little crafts for your dolls to sell. They also sold supplementary craft kits for even more crafting, the fanciest chair the Sunshine Family had was a rocking chair, and instead of a car they had a surrey bicycle.
I feel like I have somehow stumbled upon part of my own origin story.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:16 PM on April 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
So. I didn't really get into Barbie until I was about eight; a girl moved into the house next door and she had an IMMENSE Barbie collection. She was a year or two older than me, and me and the girl across the street glommed onto playing with her and begged our mothers to get us more Barbie stuff like Amy did. Mom dug some her own older Barbies out of the attic, and so did the mom of the girl across the street, but we would still lug them over to Amy's to play because she had the whole schmear. But...before then Barbie was just sort of...take-it-or-leave-it.
Now: I followed a link above discussing Midge. and in the Wiki about it, they mentioned that at one point Midge was sold as a mom-dad-babies set called "The Happy Family". And that sounded weirdly familiar....although I didn't remember it as a Barbie thing.
...And then I remembered.
So - something I had before the Barbies was a doll family called The Sunshine Family. They were posable dolls like Barbies, but they were a little more modest; both in size (I remember trying to share clothes between them and the Barbies but getting frustrated because they were notably different sizes) and in accoutrement. Their playhouse was a smaller thing, they only had simple furniture, and instead of a whole bunch of different outfits each family member (the mom, the dad, and a baby) had only a couple of changes of clothes; the mom had a couple of calico granny gown hippie-ish dresses and an apron, the dad had a wool sweater, a turtleneck and jeans, and the baby had a yellow sleeper and a playsuit. Instead of a crapton of pets there was a dog and a cat and that's it. The only "family" were the mom, the dad, and the baby, and in later years they added a grandma and a grandpa and then an aunt and a cousin (no uncle, hmm), also similarly homespun in dress. As for "The Happy Family", they were The Sunshine Family's African-American neighbors - same family members, with a similarly crunchy-granola dress sense.
I definitely remember playing with these things a fair amount before Amy came along with the Barbies. And then Barbie overshadowed them, and I think Mom finally eventually brought them in to the preschool where she was teaching and that was that.
Now - I've said that I've long had some kind of affinity for the kind of early-70s crunchy-granola hippie-holdout kind of vibe; baking your own bread, living kind of simply. If this were the 60s I'd totally be one of those people who made a go of joining a commune. I'd always assumed that being born in 1970, I'd just sort of picked it up by osmosis....until I read up on The Sunshine Family just now and discovered that they were expressly marketed to BE a sort of crunchy-granola answer TO Barbie. I vaguely remember having this now - the Sunshine Family had a craft store, complete with spinning wheel, potters' wheel, cash register, and shelves, and a little booklet so you could make the little crafts for your dolls to sell. They also sold supplementary craft kits for even more crafting, the fanciest chair the Sunshine Family had was a rocking chair, and instead of a car they had a surrey bicycle.
I feel like I have somehow stumbled upon part of my own origin story.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:16 PM on April 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
Alexander Avila (@AreTheyGay) has a YouTube essay for this audience... doesn't include this upcoming film, but here's Overanalyzing the Barbie Movies with Queer Marxist Theory [50m]
posted by hippybear at 1:26 PM on April 8, 2023
posted by hippybear at 1:26 PM on April 8, 2023
Fairly certain this movie is going to make my year and save my sanity. Come on Barbie, let's go party!
posted by The Adventure Begins at 8:29 PM on April 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by The Adventure Begins at 8:29 PM on April 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm dying to see how they handle the "math is hard; let's go shopping!" reference, because you know it's gonna be in there. /cakewords
posted by rhizome at 12:36 AM on April 13, 2023
posted by rhizome at 12:36 AM on April 13, 2023
"math is hard; let's go shopping!" was just ahead of its time
Also I saw this post about other Asian thirst trap actors that could have been Ken besides Simu Liu and honestly between this and a Twitter search I'm surprised no one's brought up Eugene Lee Yang yet
posted by creatrixtiara at 1:37 AM on April 13, 2023
Also I saw this post about other Asian thirst trap actors that could have been Ken besides Simu Liu and honestly between this and a Twitter search I'm surprised no one's brought up Eugene Lee Yang yet
posted by creatrixtiara at 1:37 AM on April 13, 2023
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posted by Going To Maine at 2:43 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]