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Patriarchy According to The Barbie Movie

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    It's hard to overstate the massive
    cultural impact of the Barbie movie
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    "Hi Barbie"
    "Hi Ken"
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    The film Enchanted audiences, wowed critics,
    sparked heated debates
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    and made a truly obscene amount of money
    at the box office
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    "Barbie continues breaking records
    with over 1 billion dollars at the global box office"
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    It's an impressive cultural achievement
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    especially considering that the film doubles as
    a featured-length for a line of plastic dolls
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    There was, however, one group
    who were decidedly unenthusiastic
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    "Despite all the bubbly pink fun,
    the movie's become a target"
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    "of some right-wing personalities"
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    "They are preaching empowerment
    by making men look weak and dumb"
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    "Feminist diatribe about the evils of
    the modern patriarchy"
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    "It's a trojan horse to to teach girls
    daddy is really a dummy"
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    "or domineering idiots"
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    "It's feminist garbage and
    it's really about hating men"
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    And Ken is like stupid and unlikable"
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    "This is an assault on not just Ken,
    but all men"
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    If you've seen the movie,
    you might be confused
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    because the Barbie script goes
    out of it's way
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    to show Ken in a sympathetic light
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    If anything, the movie might
    be a little too sympathetic to Ken
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    "I think I owe you an apology"
    "Huh?"
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    Now it's tempting to dismiss this
    clearly performative outrage
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    as just another attempt to fan the flame
    of the culture war
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    But there is something really poisonous
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    under-pinning this backlash
    that I do think is worth taking seriously
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    One word in particular
    seem to touch a nerve
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    "Well, I haven't seen Barbie yet, uh"
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    "but I've seen people talking about
    the number of times they use"
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    "the word patriarchy in it"
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    "Feminism and the patriarchy
    and fighting it and all that"
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    "And actually call it the patriarchy in
    the film that phrase is used many times"
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    "If you take a shot every time
    Barbie says the word 'patriarchy'
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    you will pass out before the movie ends"
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    "As we learned that the use of word
    'patriarchy' no less than ten times in this film"
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    "The patriarchy is a big part of
    this Barbie film"
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    "The word is used endlessly in the movie,
    even though most people"
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    "including me actually, have no real idea of
    what patriarchy really means"
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    That is a truly staggering
    level of defensiveness
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    especially coming from people who
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    don't really seem to understand
    what the word even means
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    While there are many legitimate criticisms
    of the Barbie movie's feminism or lack thereof
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    this video essay is not going to
    address those questions
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    Instead, we're going to use the movie
    as a sort of primary
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    to help explain
    what patriarchy actually is
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    what it isn't and how it ends up
    harming everyone including men
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    "Watch your flank"
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    To have any kind of
    productive conversation
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    we have to get over that defensiveness
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    that so many mem feel whenever
    they come across the word patriarchy
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    "This is a real hornets nest in here"
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    Contrary to popular belief,
    patriarchy is not a synonym for men
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    nor is it a code word for masculinity
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    and it certainly has nothing to do
    with hating men
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    "Yeah, I'm, I... confused about that"
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    General confusion about what
    patriarchy means
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    is perhaps not surprising
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    given that the word
    very rarely appears in popular media
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    When the term has been used
    it's traditionally been as a joke
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    to mock feminists or feminism
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    "Let's take off our bras and burn them
    in defiance of the misogynistic patriarchy"
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    "You know what? I think
    I have to meet Harvey. But, um"
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    "maybe we can burn
    our underwear together later"
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    "When the last time we had a conversation
    over 3 minutes it was about"
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    "the patriarchal bias of
    the Mr. Roger's show"
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    "Well, with King Friday lording it
    over all the Lesser puppets"
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    "What did I miss?"
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    "The oppressive patriarchal values
    that dictate our education"
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    "good"
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    It's only after the rise of
    the me too movement
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    that we begin to see
    a shift in this pattern
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    "Stay out of it Courtney"
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    "You stay out of it.
    I'm dismantling the patriarchy this year"
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    "and I'm not afraid to start with you"
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    These days the word is most often
    written for snarky teenage characters
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    "So you were Guided by Lon chivalry"
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    "a tool of the patriarchy to extract
    my undying gratitude?"
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    "Mhm, you know
    most people just say thank you"
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    It's meant to identify them as brash,
    rebellious or naively idealistic
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    though not necessarily wrong
    in their observations
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    "I think marriage is just a patriarchal system
    designed to make women less autonomous"
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    "You become your husband's property,
    you have to bear his children"
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    "You even have to take his name"
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    "Hey, didn't you say that prom was a postcolonial..."
    "A postcolonial patriarchal construct"
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    "It is"
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    "But we would go as a group
    as a form of protest"
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    "Hey hey, ho ho,
    patriarchy has got to go"
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    "Hey hey, ho ho,
    patriarchy has got to go"
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    Even in this new limited context, the
    word is still delivered as a punch line
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    "I'm jus... I mean is that it?"
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    and its meaning is left
    intentionally vague
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    "It's called Little Women
    and it's about four sisters"
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    "who overcome poverty
    and the patriarchy..."
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    "Nope, dolls"
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    The lack of specificity guarantees that
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    only those who are already in the know
    will get the joke
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    "Down with the patriarchy!"
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    "Idiot, ah"
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    Everyone else is left
    either bewildered or extremely threatened
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    "Why didn't Barbie tell me
    about patriarchy?"
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    "which to my understanding is where men
    and horses run everything?"
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    "I'll silver away!"
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    Sorry, Ken, but there are no
    horses involved
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    Although, it does kind of make sense
    why he might think that
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    "That's not fair is it? You know
    is it the fault of the patriarchy?"
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    "Also, what is a patriarchy?"
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    In its modern usage,
    patriarchy refers to a type of society
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    that's constructed to promote
    male power and authority
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    In sociological terms, it's what's called
    a social system
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    rooted in four distinct principles
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    "a society is patriarchal to the degree
    that it's male-dominated"
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    "male centered, male identified and
    organized around an obsession with control"
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    We're going to go over
    what all of that means in detail
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    but the important thing to remember
    about social systems
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    is that we are not those systems
    and those systems are not us
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    "Because Barbie land is now Kenland"
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    So, in the Barbie movie The Kens have a coup
    and Implement patriarchy
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    But the Kens as a group are
    not patriarchy itself
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    "Here I'm just a dude"
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    The Kens make patriarchy happen
    by doing it
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    When they stop participating the
    social system effectively ceases to exist
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    In the same way that we can describe
    a board game and its rules
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    without saying anything about
    the personality of the individual players
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    so, too, can we talk about
    the system of patriarchy and how it works
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    without condemning every individual man
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    Now keep in mind that the Barbie movie
    focuses mostly on straight white characters
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    but patriarchy impacts people in
    different ways based on their sexuality
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    and race, class or geographical location
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    "Is there a problem officers?"
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    Moving forward in this video
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    I'm going to be heavily borrowing from a
    book called The Gender Knot
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    by sociologist Alan G Johnson
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    Since the devil is in the details,
    let's use Kenland
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    "Kendom"
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    "Kendom"
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    "Kendom Land"
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    "Land of the..."
    "Land of the free of the men"
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    "Right. Well, this place"
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    Let's use Kendom land to help illustrate
    how patriarchy works
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    "I shall seek my fortune there"
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    "Alright"
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    The first characteristic of a patriarchal
    society is that it's male dominated
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    This is relatively straightforward
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    All it means is that "positions of authority
    are generally reserved for men"
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    Basically, when you look up in
    the various hierarchies of society
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    you'll tend to see more and more men
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    The Barbie movie gives us a vivid illustration
    of what male dominance looks like
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    We are presented with a montage of images
    featuring powerful and important men
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    It's notable that up until recently
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    women have largely been
    excluded from these fields
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    "I'll take a high level,
    high paying job with influence, please"
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    "Okay you'll need at least an NBA"
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    Ken also learns an important lesson
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    when he demands to be given
    a powerful position
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    he has unceremoniously rejected
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    "No, I won't let you do
    just one appendectomy"
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    "But I'm a man"
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    "But not a doctor"
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    "Please"
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    "No"
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    This is because male dominance does not
    mean that every individual man is powerful
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    "I'm a man with no power
    does that make me a woman?"
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    In fact most men living in patriarchy
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    will never acquire
    a formal position of power
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    "This is bad. This is really bad"
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    "What?"
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    Instead, they'll spend their entire lives
    laboring under the boot of
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    other more powerful men
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    "Are any women in charge?"
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    Despite what this
    Mattel boardroom scene implies
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    It's not impossible for a woman to
    ascend to the top in patriarchy
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    It just means it'll be much much harder
    for women to gain and maintain power
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    and she will be tokenized and regarded as
    a special exception to the rule
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    "I love you guys"
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    Unlike in the fantasy world of Barbie land
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    there has never been
    a female president of the United States
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    "How come you're so amazing?"
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    "No comment. Ah ha ha ha"
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    But even when a woman eventually
    does win that position
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    it will not mean that patriarchy is over
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    Because patriarchy is a dynamic
    and resilient system
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    It has evolved and changed
    over the decades
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    and indeed centuries
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    thanks to countless women who have fought
    hard for a few seats at the table
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    but the table is still male-dominated
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    "You guys are clearly
    not doing patriarchy very well"
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    "No. Ha ha. No, we're uh,
    we're doing it well, yeah"
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    "We're just uh, hide it better now"
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    The second aspect of a patriarchal society
    is that it's male centered
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    This simply means
    that "the focus of attention
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    is primarily on men and boys
    and what they do"
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    One of the reasons Barbie land
    is so visually startling
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    is because it's a rare vision of
    a female centered world
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    It's something we almost never
    see in Hollywood
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    outside of cheesy Sci-Fi movies
    from the 1950s
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    "Landing on an unknown planet"
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    "they are captured by long limb beauties"
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    "When they say take me to your leader
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    "and they take them to
    a creature like this"
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    "you know they're on planet Venus"
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    "Hi Barbie"
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    "Yeah, space!"
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    In Barbie Land the focus of
    attention is naturally
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    placed on the Barbies and what they do
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    but after the coup, the Kens immediately
    push the Barbies aside
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    and put themselves and masculinity
    at the center of absolutely everything
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    "Everything, basically everything"
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    "exists to expand and elevate
    the presence of men"
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    This is an exaggerated reflection of
    our own male centered world
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    All you have to do is turn on the news
    or go to the movies
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    and you'll be inundated
    with endless stories centering men
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    "A symbol to the nation"
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    "A hero to the world"
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    "A beacon of hope, shining up"
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    Obviously, this doesn't mean that
    women are never centered under patriarchy
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    But when they are
    it's often framed as a woman's story
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    rather than a human story
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    The Barbie movie for example
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    is very specifically a story about the
    gendered experience
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    of being a woman in society
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    "Anxiety, panic attacks
    and OCD sold separately"
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    We can contrast that
    with a movie like Oppenheimer
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    which is a story about becoming death
    the destroyer of worlds
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    Yes this destroyer of worlds
    happens to be a man
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    but notice the story isn't focused on the
    gendered experience
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    of being a man in society
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    In fact, all of Christopher Nolan's film
    center very important men
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    but none are about their gender
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    They are built as stories representative
    of the human experience writ large
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    Greta Gerwig's movies on the other hand
    all center women
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    and are very explicitly about being a
    woman trying to navigate a man's world
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    "Very well"
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    [Inaudible]
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    That's not a criticism of
    either director by the way
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    It's just a stark illustration of what
    male centered means
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    In patriarchy men are viewed as
    the default for human
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    and therefore, male experiences are framed
    as an exploration of the human condition
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    While women's experiences are
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    first and foremost, framed as
    being about womanhood
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    "Okay"
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    Incidentally this deep-seated
    cultural expectation of male centrality
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    helps explain the waves of
    backlash against any entertainment
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    that's made for a general audience
    but doesn't center men or masculinity
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    Male identification
    is a little more complicated
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    but it is a critical piece
    of the patriarchal puzzle
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    It means that "core cultural ideas
    about what is considered good,"
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    "desirable, preferable or normal
    are culturally associated"
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    "with how we think about men,
    manhood and masculinity"
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    This is why professions that elevate
    qualities like toughness, competitiveness
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    strength, control, rationality
    and invulnerability are so highly valued
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    and highly paid in our society
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    "Monsters"
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    While occupations that revolve
    around qualities
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    thought of as feminine like
    compassion, sharing or caregiving
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    tend to be systematically
    devalued and underfunded
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    "You know Greg's in medicine too, Larry"
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    "Oh, really what field?"
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    "Uh, nursing"
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    [Laughter]
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    In the Barbie movie, The Kens establish
    an aggressively male identified society
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    They do this by stripping
    Barbie land of its feminine identity
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    and superimposing a version of hyper
    masculinity that seems to have been
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    lifted from 1980s action movies
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    They replace all the pink furniture with
    black leather recliners
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    drape everything in obnoxious
    cowboy motifs
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    and litter the landscape with gym
    equipment and sporting gear
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    "Don't question it
    just roll with it, tiny baby"
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    "He call me baby?"
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    But male identification goes
    much deeper than aesthetics
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    When Ken decides to embrace patriarchy,
    his behavior shifts accordingly
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    as he tries to project
    male identified values
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    "You can stay if you want,
    as my bride wife"
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    "or my long-term low commitment
    distant girlfriend"
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    He buries self-doubt and hides
    his hurt feelings
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    behind a layer of false bravado
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    "Bruski beer me?"
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    "I will not Bruski beer you"
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    "Ha ha ha, that's fine"
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    Under patriarchy the concept of leadership
    and indeed power itself
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    is closely identified with masculinity
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    It follows then that all men are
    socially elevated by default
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    while women and feminine things
    are devalued and seen as inferior
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    "Oh you got fries with that?"
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    "If I said you had a hot body
    would you hold it against me?"
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    This means that even men
    who don't hold any institutional power
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    can still see themselves
    as superior to women
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    That point is underscored
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    when we see that the Kens
    are generally inept at running society
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    "Go face day drunk right now"
    [laughter]
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    [inaudible]
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    They spend their time day drinking,
    playing games, and goofing off
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    "Every night is boy's night"
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    And yet they still see themselves
    as superior
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    simply by virtue of being men
    living in a patriarchy
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    "You're like I can't believe how great
    this place is!"
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    In Kendom land, all the Barbies
    are reduced to servants
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    "Where are my hungry boys who want snacks"
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    But in the real world a small number of
    women can gain power
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    even inside of male identified systems
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    However, in order to do so they
    must prove themselves worthy
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    by appearing to be just as aggressive,
    competitive and even less emotional
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    than any man in that same position
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    In other words, even though they are women
    they must adopt and perform
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    male-identified patriarchal values
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    The fourth and final feature of patriarchy
    is "an obsession with control"
  • 17:07 - 17:12
    "as a core value around which social and
    personal life are organized"
  • 17:12 - 17:17
    "Men maintain their privilege by
    controlling both women and other men"
  • 17:17 - 17:19
    "who might threaten it"
  • 17:20 - 17:24
    The Barbie movie downplays it
    but men's violence against women
  • 17:24 - 17:26
    and the everpresent threat thereof
  • 17:26 - 17:28
    "Give us a smile, blondie"
  • 17:28 - 17:31
    is a critical element in maintaining
    patriarchal control
  • 17:31 - 17:35
    "I'm not getting any of that. I feel
    that can only be described as admired"
  • 17:35 - 17:39
    "but not ogled and there's no
    undertone of violence"
  • 17:39 - 17:42
    "Mine very much has an
    undertone of violence"
  • 17:42 - 17:44
    Control can also be achieved in other ways
  • 17:44 - 17:47
    and since the Kens don't really
    understand violence
  • 17:47 - 17:51
    they use coercion and manipulation
    to control daily life in Barbie land
  • 17:51 - 17:53
    "What is wrong with them?"
  • 17:53 - 17:56
    "We just explain to them the immaculate
    impeccable seamless gaunlet of logic"
  • 17:56 - 17:58
    "that is patriarchy and they crumbled"
  • 17:58 - 18:00
    Not the Kens take over
    every institution
  • 18:00 - 18:02
    they also take control of the Dream Houses
  • 18:02 - 18:08
    "This shall henceforth be known as
    Ken's Mojo Dojo Kasa house"
  • 18:08 - 18:12
    and they manipulate the Barbies into
    embracing their new status
  • 18:12 - 18:13
    as objectified servants
  • 18:13 - 18:15
    "Anyone need a Bruski beer?"
  • 18:15 - 18:18
    "What are you doing? You're a doctor"
  • 18:18 - 18:20
    "I like being a helpful decoration"
  • 18:20 - 18:23
    The illusion of intellectual
    and rational superiority
  • 18:23 - 18:28
    is critical to enforcing the myth
    that men are in control of every situation
  • 18:28 - 18:30
    "Let me show you"
    "Here, let me show you"
  • 18:30 - 18:32
    "Here, let us show you"
  • 18:32 - 18:35
    and therefore deserve their
    privilege status
  • 18:36 - 18:37
    "Now you listen to me"
  • 18:37 - 18:39
    This is emblematic of how men
    in the real world
  • 18:39 - 18:43
    will often compensate for feelings of
    personal inadequacy
  • 18:43 - 18:46
    by exercising extreme control
    over those closest to them
  • 18:46 - 18:49
    "You are going to be home at 6 o'clock
    every night"
  • 18:49 - 18:52
    "and you are going to have dinner
    ready on this table"
  • 18:52 - 18:55
    Especially women and children
  • 18:55 - 18:56
    "No"
  • 18:57 - 19:00
    [Kens play "Push"]
    "I wanna push you around. Well, I will"
  • 19:00 - 19:04
    Returning to The Gender Knot:
    "Men are assumed and expected"
  • 19:04 - 19:09
    "to be in control at all times
    to be unemotional except for anger and rage"
  • 19:09 - 19:14
    "to present themselves as invulnerable,
    autonomous, independent"
  • 19:14 - 19:19
    "strong, rational, logical, dispassionate,
    knowledgeable, always right"
  • 19:19 - 19:24
    "and in command of every situation
    especially those involving women"
  • 19:24 - 19:26
    [Barbie chuckles]
  • 19:26 - 19:27
    "Who are you texting?"
  • 19:27 - 19:29
    "Huh?"
    "Who are you texting?"
  • 19:30 - 19:31
    "No one"
  • 19:31 - 19:32
    "Hmm, let me just"
  • 19:32 - 19:33
    [Ken giggles]
  • 19:33 - 19:34
    "Ken!"
  • 19:34 - 19:38
    This obsession with control is
    so strong in our culture
  • 19:38 - 19:42
    that any man who is perceived
    as not exerting enough control over women
  • 19:43 - 19:46
    is likely to be ridiculed as
    pussy whipped, packed
  • 19:46 - 19:49
    or tethered to the old balling chain
  • 19:50 - 19:53
    Notice that there are no equivalent
    derogatory terms for men
  • 19:53 - 19:58
    who do control women
    only for men who don't
  • 20:00 - 20:05
    The obsession with control manifests
    in countless ways, big and small
  • 20:05 - 20:10
    "We would love it, if you could just
    get into that giant box"
  • 20:10 - 20:14
    But, control over women, their bodies
    and their sexuality
  • 20:14 - 20:17
    is a core tenant under patriarchy
  • 20:18 - 20:20
    "Get in the box! You Jezebel"
  • 20:21 - 20:23
    Recall that the Kens take control
    of the government
  • 20:23 - 20:28
    and use its power to actively exclude
    the Barbies from civic life
  • 20:28 - 20:30
    "That's right. In just 48 hours
    all the Kens will head to the polls"
  • 20:30 - 20:34
    "and vote to change the constitution to
    a government for the Kens of the Kens,"
  • 20:34 - 20:36
    "and by the Kens!"
  • 20:37 - 20:41
    Since these are children's toys,
    the Barbies can't reproduce
  • 20:41 - 20:43
    Well, aside from Midge that one time
  • 20:43 - 20:45
    But, the rest of the Barbies
    can't have babies
  • 20:46 - 20:48
    but if they could the Kens
    would have no doubt
  • 20:48 - 20:53
    curtailed their reproductive rights
    just like in the real world
  • 20:55 - 21:00
    The social system I've just described
    is very obviously oppressive to women
  • 21:00 - 21:03
    But while patriarchy definitely
    benefits men
  • 21:03 - 21:08
    it's paradoxically a poison chalice
    because it robs men of their full humanity
  • 21:08 - 21:11
    "Okay, here's the deal.
    It's not just about how they see us"
  • 21:11 - 21:13
    "it's about how they see themselves"
  • 21:13 - 21:17
    We only have time to scratch the surface
    on this topic
  • 21:17 - 21:19
    but embedded in Ken's story,
    we can find a few hints
  • 21:19 - 21:22
    as to how patriarchy ends up harming men
  • 21:24 - 21:28
    Even though Hollywood loves to play on
    themes of a war between the genders
  • 21:28 - 21:31
    that framing misses a critical point
  • 21:31 - 21:35
    because patriarchy is not
    a competition between men and women
  • 21:35 - 21:38
    Rather, it's an endless competition
    for dominance
  • 21:38 - 21:43
    wherein men are pitted against each other
    for a place in what R. W. Connell calls:
  • 21:43 - 21:46
    "the hierarchy of masculinities"
  • 21:47 - 21:50
    The white heterosexual hyper
    masculine ideal
  • 21:50 - 21:52
    is at the top of the hierarchy
  • 21:53 - 21:57
    All other forms of manhood especially
    those in any way associated with
  • 21:57 - 22:01
    homosexuality or femininity
    are pushed further down on the hierarchy
  • 22:01 - 22:04
    "When you're slapped, you'll
    take it and like it"
  • 22:06 - 22:10
    Recall that when the Kens go to war
    it isn't against the Barbies
  • 22:11 - 22:13
    it's against the other Kens
  • 22:13 - 22:14
    "We go to war"
  • 22:15 - 22:16
    "Against the Barbies?"
  • 22:16 - 22:17
    "No, against the Kens"
  • 22:17 - 22:18
    "But we are the Kens"
  • 22:18 - 22:19
    "The other Kens"
  • 22:19 - 22:23
    Up until this point, I've been mining
    the Barbies movie to help illustrate
  • 22:23 - 22:25
    how patriarchy works
  • 22:25 - 22:28
    But the usefulness of the film's
    narrative is limited
  • 22:28 - 22:30
    especially when it comes to
    male competition
  • 22:31 - 22:33
    "Looks this beach is a little
    too much beach for you, Ken"
  • 22:33 - 22:36
    "If I wasn't severely injured,
    I would beach you off right now, Ken"
  • 22:36 - 22:38
    " I'll beach you up with you any day, Ken"
  • 22:38 - 22:39
    You may remember for example
  • 22:39 - 22:44
    that long before they ever discover
    what patriarchy even is
  • 22:44 - 22:47
    Ken and Ken are engaged
    in a bitter competition
  • 22:47 - 22:50
    over control of Barbie's
    time and attention
  • 22:51 - 22:53
    "Bet you can't do a flip like that, Ken"
  • 22:53 - 22:55
    This is where the Barbies script
    is perhaps
  • 22:55 - 22:58
    a little too clever for its own good
  • 22:58 - 23:01
    Because it's many overlapping
    metaphors and allegories
  • 23:01 - 23:05
    leave us with some mixed messages
    about the Kens
  • 23:06 - 23:10
    The rivalry between the Kens
    may work as a sort of gender flipped
  • 23:10 - 23:14
    commentary on how women are taught
    to seek validation through male attention
  • 23:14 - 23:19
    "I only exist within
    the warmth of your gaze"
  • 23:19 - 23:24
    It is less successful however, as part of
    the film's larger critique of patriarchy
  • 23:25 - 23:29
    because the Ken's competitive rivalry
    carries with it some uncomfortable
  • 23:29 - 23:30
    echoes of male entitle
  • 23:30 - 23:33
    "I bet you're scared and
    I bet she doesn't even wanted to go"
  • 23:33 - 23:38
    And that behavior is not attributed to
    patriarchy in the first half of the movie
  • 23:38 - 23:40
    which is confusing because it
    definitely should be
  • 23:40 - 23:41
    "Hi, Barbie"
  • 23:41 - 23:41
    [Ken groans]
  • 23:41 - 23:42
    "Hi, Ken"
  • 23:42 - 23:43
    "Hi, Ken"
  • 23:43 - 23:46
    The thing about being obsessed
    with control
  • 23:46 - 23:48
    is that it traps men in a cycle of fear
  • 23:48 - 23:49
    "Hi, Barbie"
  • 23:50 - 23:51
    "Hi, Ken"
  • 23:51 - 23:55
    The more men value control,
    the more they're afraid of losing it
  • 23:57 - 24:01
    This leaves men riddled with anxiety
    about not measuring up to other men
  • 24:02 - 24:07
    which means they can never truly feel
    secure in their own masculinity
  • 24:07 - 24:11
    "I made a double bet with Ken and you can't
    make me look uncool in front of Ken"
  • 24:11 - 24:13
    "Ken's not cool!"
  • 24:13 - 24:14
    "He is to me"
  • 24:14 - 24:16
    In the movie the patriarchal battle
    for dominance
  • 24:16 - 24:19
    culminates in an absurdest dream ballet
  • 24:20 - 24:23
    but in reality the consequences
    can be deadly serious
  • 24:25 - 24:30
    Most violence in the real world
    is perpetrated by men against other men
  • 24:32 - 24:37
    This Grim reality is part of why the
    Barbie's plan to overthrow patriarchy
  • 24:37 - 24:42
    by tricking the Kens into fighting
    each other is so wildly misguided
  • 24:42 - 24:45
    "You play on their egos and their
    petty jealousies"
  • 24:45 - 24:47
    "and you turn them against each other"
  • 24:47 - 24:52
    While the scene is undoubtedly funny
    and the song choice, absolutely perfect
  • 24:52 - 24:58
    aggressive competitive male behavior is
    a core feature of patriarchy
  • 24:58 - 25:00
    not a bug that can be exploited
  • 25:01 - 25:03
    "And now they destroy themselves"
  • 25:03 - 25:06
    And for the record, men's violence
    is definitely not something
  • 25:06 - 25:09
    that women manipulate men into doing
  • 25:10 - 25:13
    Something else the movie doesn't show
  • 25:13 - 25:17
    is how the enormous pressures patriarchy
    places on men can lead to self harm
  • 25:17 - 25:21
    either directly or indirectly through
    addiction and other risky behaviors
  • 25:24 - 25:28
    The prohibition on expressing vulnerability
    compounds the problem
  • 25:28 - 25:32
    by making it difficult, if not impossible,
    for men to ask for help
  • 25:32 - 25:34
    or build emotional support networks
  • 25:35 - 25:36
    "Ken?"
  • 25:36 - 25:37
    "Oh hey, Barbie"
  • 25:37 - 25:37
    "Hi"
  • 25:37 - 25:39
    "How much of that did you see?"
  • 25:39 - 25:43
    Of course all people need love,
    intimacy and nurture
  • 25:45 - 25:50
    But since patriarchy devalues caregiving
    and labels it as feminine
  • 25:50 - 25:54
    many men feel compelled to sacrifice
    their emotional sides
  • 25:54 - 25:57
    in order to preserve
    their identity as real men
  • 25:58 - 26:01
    As a result, many guys, especially
    straight guys
  • 26:01 - 26:04
    falsely believe that women are
    somehow responsible
  • 26:04 - 26:07
    "Oh, but I don't want you here"
  • 26:07 - 26:08
    "Is it Ken?"
  • 26:08 - 26:10
    "Ken's just a really good friend"
  • 26:10 - 26:10
    "Goodnight"
  • 26:10 - 26:16
    That being rejected is tantamount to
    women holding emotional intimacy hostage
  • 26:16 - 26:20
    when in reality it's not women
    but patriarchy
  • 26:20 - 26:24
    that's blocking men's access to
    emotional and physical intimacy
  • 26:25 - 26:29
    So when Barbie refuses Ken's advances
    he becomes resentful
  • 26:29 - 26:31
    He lashes out
  • 26:31 - 26:33
    "No you failed me!"
  • 26:33 - 26:36
    And he ends up harming everyone,
    including himself
  • 26:36 - 26:38
    [Ken bursts out of cry]
  • 26:38 - 26:40
    "Don't look at me"
  • 26:42 - 26:44
    In her excellent book: The Will to
    Change
  • 26:44 - 26:48
    Bell Hooks doesn't mince words when
    describing what happens to men
  • 26:48 - 26:49
    inside of patriarchy
  • 26:50 - 26:55
    "Teaching boys to despise their
    vulnerability is one way to socialize them"
  • 26:55 - 26:58
    "to engage in self-inflicted soul murder"
  • 27:00 - 27:04
    It's no wonder then that Ken isn't really
    happy living in patriarchy
  • 27:04 - 27:09
    In fact, in Kendom land he was even further
    alienated from Barbie
  • 27:09 - 27:12
    From his own feelings and
    from the other Kens
  • 27:14 - 27:17
    Part of this interview with Julia Fox
  • 27:17 - 27:19
    where she's hooked up to
    a polygraph machine
  • 27:19 - 27:21
    became a viral meme on Tik Tok
  • 27:21 - 27:24
    "I hate the patriarchy. There's
    a lot of really good men"
  • 27:24 - 27:25
    "Answer the question"
  • 27:25 - 27:27
    "Do I hate men? No"
  • 27:27 - 27:29
    "That's a lie"
  • 27:29 - 27:32
    The viral audio snippet stopped there
  • 27:32 - 27:37
    But when we play the rest of it her answer
    is Illuminating and nuanced
  • 27:37 - 27:42
    "There's a lot of men that benefit from
    the systemic oppression of women"
  • 27:42 - 27:47
    "in our culture and society
    and religions. And I do wish that"
  • 27:47 - 27:50
    "more men could stand up for us"
  • 27:50 - 27:54
    She explains that she obviously does
    not hate all individual men
  • 27:54 - 27:58
    What she hates is the fact that most men
    do absolutely nothing
  • 27:58 - 28:01
    to help end the oppression of women
  • 28:01 - 28:06
    So what can men do to make a difference
    in ending this system?
  • 28:06 - 28:07
    "The Kens.
    They found us"
  • 28:08 - 28:12
    Let's use Allan as our proxy for this
    part of the discussion
  • 28:12 - 28:15
    since he's the only guy who joins
    the Barbies' revolution
  • 28:15 - 28:18
    Well, aside from these two brief cameos
  • 28:18 - 28:18
    "Sugar daddy?"
  • 28:18 - 28:23
    "No no no no, I'm not a sugar daddy.
    This is sugar and I'm her daddy"
  • 28:23 - 28:25
    "And I have an earring, a magic earring"
  • 28:25 - 28:28
    Notice that all three of these
    characters are queer coded
  • 28:28 - 28:31
    and despite being men,
    they're marginalized
  • 28:31 - 28:32
    in the hierarchy of masculinities
  • 28:33 - 28:37
    Allan in particular, embodies a bunch of
    common mistakes
  • 28:37 - 28:41
    that men make when trying to disentangle
    themselves from the system of patriarchy
  • 28:42 - 28:46
    The first thing Allan does is nothing
  • 28:46 - 28:49
    He is a bystander who is nonetheless
    still afforded
  • 28:49 - 28:52
    a measure of privilege in Kendom Land
  • 28:52 - 28:53
    that the Barbies are not
  • 28:53 - 28:56
    "And Alan likes to help me give
    all the Kens foot massages"
  • 28:56 - 28:57
    "No, I don't, I don't like that"
  • 28:57 - 28:59
    "We love it"
  • 28:59 - 29:03
    Like some men in the real world,
    Allan might not be actively or consciously
  • 29:03 - 29:05
    participating in the oppression of women
  • 29:05 - 29:08
    but he doesn't speak out against it either
  • 29:10 - 29:13
    The next thing Allan does is
    try to escape
  • 29:14 - 29:17
    As soon as he spies a way out for himself,
    he tries to take it
  • 29:17 - 29:18
    "How are you?"
  • 29:18 - 29:21
    "I'm Allan.
    Don't tell the Ken I'm trying to escape"
  • 29:21 - 29:24
    "I cannot sit on one more leather couch
    it's going to break my spirit"
  • 29:24 - 29:28
    The problem is man can't just
    opt out of patriarchy
  • 29:28 - 29:32
    because it's been woven into the very
    fabric of our whole society
  • 29:33 - 29:34
    "What, what do we do?"
  • 29:34 - 29:36
    "Just get in the car and keep it singing"
  • 29:36 - 29:40
    The next thing Allan tries is to engage
    in displays of chivalrous violence
  • 29:42 - 29:45
    After learning the extent of the
    injustice women face
  • 29:45 - 29:48
    some men try to distance themselves
    from the problem
  • 29:48 - 29:53
    and from any personal culpability
    by going after particularly bad men
  • 29:55 - 29:57
    But patriarchy isn't a person
  • 29:57 - 30:00
    and you can't punch a a social system
    in the face
  • 30:00 - 30:02
    as much as you might want to
  • 30:03 - 30:04
    "Guess what happened?"
  • 30:04 - 30:06
    "I got into a fight. I'm fine, but I..."
  • 30:06 - 30:08
    "I think we solved feminism"
  • 30:08 - 30:10
    "Yeah! once and for all"
  • 30:10 - 30:12
    "It was just like a a total melee,
    like on the news"
  • 30:12 - 30:16
    And most of the time men lashing
    out in violence isn't helpful
  • 30:16 - 30:20
    as it simply replicates
    the core values of patriarchy
  • 30:20 - 30:25
    Allan fumbles around for a while, but
    eventually he joins the Barbies' revolution
  • 30:25 - 30:28
    and figures out how to stand with
    them in solidarity
  • 30:29 - 30:32
    Notably though, Allan never tries to
    confront the Kens
  • 30:32 - 30:34
    about what they're doing
  • 30:34 - 30:38
    And that's unfortunate because
    the most important thing men can do
  • 30:38 - 30:40
    is challenge other men
    on their behavior
  • 30:41 - 30:45
    and encourage them to rebel
    against patriarchal expectations
  • 30:48 - 30:51
    Despite all the harm it does to women
    and to men's well-being
  • 30:51 - 30:55
    the system of patriarchy remains
    invisible to most people
  • 30:55 - 30:59
    And the Barbie movie for all its flaws,
    makes it visible
  • 31:00 - 31:04
    This is, I'd argue, at the root of why
    so many right-wing pundits
  • 31:04 - 31:08
    were so extremely threatened
    by this cartoony fantasy land
  • 31:08 - 31:11
    Not only does the film acknowledge
    the existence of patriarchy
  • 31:11 - 31:16
    it dares to suggest that it's not a
    natural or inevitable institution
  • 31:16 - 31:22
    And in doing so it lays bare the
    fundamental truth about all social systems
  • 31:22 - 31:23
    they can be dismantled
  • 31:23 - 31:27
    "No Barbie or Ken should be
    living in the shadows"
  • 31:27 - 31:29
    "Or Allan"
  • 31:29 - 31:32
    Choosing to confront such an
    entrenched system
  • 31:32 - 31:36
    can be risky for men and
    extremely dangerous for women
  • 31:37 - 31:41
    Nonetheless, all over the world women
    are challenging patriarchy
  • 31:41 - 31:44
    like never before in modern history
  • 31:45 - 31:48
    And the reality is that every day
    more and more men
  • 31:48 - 31:53
    are choosing to stand with those women
    to join the struggle for liberation
  • 31:53 - 31:56
    and to reclaim their full humanity
  • 31:57 - 31:58
    "Thank you"
  • 32:01 - 32:02
    Thanks for watching
  • 32:02 - 32:04
    Umm, If you like these kind of long form
    video essays
  • 32:04 - 32:08
    please consider going over to Patreon
    to help back our project there
  • 32:08 - 32:11
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  • 32:11 - 32:12
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  • 32:12 - 32:15
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    there are no ads and
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    so anything you can do to help out
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  • 32:21 - 32:23
    I have a whole bunch
    of other videos in the works
  • 32:23 - 32:25
    including one on the myth
    of the alpha male
  • 32:25 - 32:29
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Title:
Patriarchy According to The Barbie Movie
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
33:01

English subtitles

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