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.
Correct. Honestly, if a dude gets offended by a movie that says “hey dude, learn how to love and value yourself without basing all of your sense of self on your romantic relationship to a woman and you’ll be much happier”, they are NOT a catch at all and they need to shed some shit about their lives.
yawn
Have fun getting no pussy anywhere lmao
YAWN
I am genuinely amazed this movie wasn’t banned in China
Well they included the nine-dash line in the movies silly map (I believe Vietnam banned the movie because of this) and there’s no zombies or Winnie the Pooh references so all good as far as the CCP goes.
9 dash line?
It’s a line China drew in the south china sea and claim its theirs for historical reason if I remember correctly.
Pissed off a load of other countries as it claimed some of their ocean defined by international law
Wikipedia link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line
https://twitter.com/rzhongnotes/status/1675936014135619584?s=20
How the fuck can anyone take this seriously is my question. This is not a geopolitical map.
This is an insult to the free world. Fuck the Barbie movie.
Tbh that map looks nothing like the nine dash map and there are only eight dashes. It’s quite a stretch imo
It’s absolutely intentionally supposed to be the 9 dash line. You don’t think movie studios are INTIMATELY aware of how to get their movie seen in China?
Of note…American conservatives/confederates absolutely detest the Barbie movie.
China Stay Winning
I agree that Chinese women being more progressive is a threat to the conservative Chinese government.
I mean, actual Marxist thought is explicitly feminist, at least under the definition that women are the intellectual and legal equals of men. The Soviets, for all their flaws, flipped one of the most rigid patriarchies in the world into one with… Well, some semblance of women’s liberation.
And whatever other societal problems they have, or whether you can even call them Marxists, China isn’t attacking womens’ right to not die to a miscarriage.
I’m not overly familiar with that aspect of Marxism, but I can certainly believe it. I can’t imagine that a philosophy with hundreds if not thousands of aspects to it, would be completely without merit, even if the whole is flawed.
I guess time will tell…
I have to admit, Barbie becoming a Chinese feminist icon was not on my 2023 bingo card. Anyone taking bets on when we’re gonna get a kpop version of this classic?
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Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=3UiZLj_jC-E
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
We really should have clients redirect to Piped by default
I think if anyone gets mad at a Barbie movie or some random article on the internet that has nothing to do with them, that’s a good sign they’re emotionally unstable
I’d call it emotionally immature.
A surprising number of the people I grew up or work with act like they’re still in high school when it comes to social/interpersonal skills – these people are all well over 30 years old.
Tomato, tomato. If you’re a grown ass man, emotional immaturity IS instability.
I just treat most people like 16 year Olds and it tends to work out pretty well.
People are free to be mad at anything as they please as long as they dont harm to other people.
Or maybe people should not be mad at news article of Russia invading Ukraine for no reason?
You are comparing war to an article on Barbie lmao I can’t take you seriously
It is an article. Both.
Dont worry, I also dont take people on Internet seriously. Most of them are not even my equal.
damn dude. I hate people too, but jeez.
My boyfriend and i can’t wait to watch this movie 😊 💕 (but cinema got expensiv dudeee 🥲)
I am sure it won’t take long and then it will be available elsewhere.
That’s interesting. I read that the film was about radical feminism, but gender switched with Ken as the feminist to overthrow the Barbie-dominating system. Really look forward to seeing the movie.
I think that analogy doesn’t work a 100 %. But I guess you could say that the film explores something like that.
But go ahead and watch the film. I enjoyed it very much.
I thought the movie was exceedingly clever and is a shining example of how sometimes a message is more about what it doesn’t say that what it does.
That being said, the movie is definitely a rorschach test and you will see what you are primed to believe reflected in it.
My understanding is that the film undercuts most of its social commentary and ends up a wash, so watch it for the absurd interpretation of barbie life.
It’s also incredibly ham fisted and decides to tell and not show. The jokes were pretty funny though.
It’s basically about Andrew Tate
Barbie starting the revolution in China? Hopefully other countries as well. Good timeline.
China is already communist
No it’s not lol
Their political leaders are billionaires, the workers don’t own any means of production, there’s terrible workers rights, etc.
That’s how communism always ends up. When you hand over majority of the power to the state, it won’t be keen on giving it back.
That’s like saying the US is not capitalist because we don’t have a true free market and better products/services don’t always rise to the top.
These simply aren’t things that can practically happen, just like the workers owning the means of production.
That doesn’t make any sense though. Communism isn’t when you “give power to the state.” It’s a word used to describe a specific economic system that China does not have. The word that best describes what I think you’re getting at is “authoritarian.” Words mean things, and if a thing doesn’t fit the definition of a word, then it isn’t that word.
Which communist state didn’t end up authoritarian?
Homie, which states have ever actually implemented communism? Calling yourself “Communist” means about as much as North Korea calling themselves a" Democratic People’s Republic" if you don’t actually implement it’s ideas.
Additionally, all attempts at democracy, and all instances of capitalism, have resulted in tyranny, because it’s just really hard to build a society that doesn’t do that no matter what governmental system and economic system you set out to establish.
Even places like New Zealand or the Nordic countries which are much closer to a social democracy are tyrannical insofar as they participate, propagate, and benefit from a global network of capitalism that is only possible through the exploitation of hundreds millions, if not billions of people. Outsourcing your tyranny and exploitation to other places on the planet is still tyranny.and exploitation: it just has better PR.
which states have ever actually implemented communism?
Ah, no true communism. Communism certainly can’t end up authoritarian if there is no true communism. ;p
Yeah and North Korea is a democratic republic.
Lol sure buddy
That kinda makes sense…
It is in my very unbiased opinion that is totally not a promotion (as that would be against strike rules) that everybody should see this movie.
Multiple times.
They’re allowed to watch Barbie in China? How censored is it?
The world map clearly isn’t censored
I don’t get why you’d think it would be censored? If anything the movie skewers US capitalism, so the CCP would probably be happy for folks to see it.
Since a while hollywood has been making movies keeping china and its censorship in mind !
Someone tell me gf that I’m a normal guy with normal values and stable emotions please. She doesn’t believe me.
I believe you!
Was looking for you here lol
Ping me next time. 💟
Just commenting to beg the universe to get the “I’m just Ken” song out of my head.
Anywhere else I’d be a ten
It’s that a bad translation, why would that mean men are “stingy”.
I’d be stingy if I made my date pay for me to come with her, but not for disliking the movie.
Watching one movie then going on about female directors sounds toxic though.
Looks like the Chinese word for stingy literally translates to “narrow” but can also mean closed-minded or petty depending on context. A very plausible mistranslation.
That would make a lot of sense.
I’m cheap as heck but I don’t want to be lumped in with misogynists.
Yeah maybe it’s a mistranslation about something like isn’t open to change or new ideas
I think the idea is you can be stingy with things other than money.
Some Asians (in my experience singaporeans and some Chinese) don’t understand the definition of stingy, in my experience. They use it to describe a lot of things that don’t involve money.
All this stuff around the movie is making me not want to see it.
I want to watch a movie, not be evaluated on my reaction to it.
I went and watched it with my missus. We laughed throughout and didn’t take it seriously, and there were no intense conversations after. I think I’d re-evaluate my relationship if I were being judged on my reaction to a pretty light-hearted comedy about a doll world.
Now imagine if your partner got angry about the movie and threatened to never allow you to choose another movie again, and that you should spend more time working at the office to earn a higher paycheck.
So go watch the movie?
This has big “I’m way too cool and interesting to consume popular thing” energy.
You can go see the movie and form your own opinion and not need to tell everyone online. You can even go see it by yourself!
Are you actually insinuating that the person you responded to should think about things?
The horror!
/S
See what I mean? If not try rereading again what you wrote.
Nah, I really don’t.
Nah, just go watch the movie. It’s very funny.
Alright. When it comes on Netflix or something
Arrrr matey
I’mevaluatibg you on tour reactionaire right now!Talke that!
I’mevaluatibg you on tour reactionaire right now!Talke that!
Does that mean we can evaluate you on your ability to write sentences without typos?
Wrekt lol. 🤣
