Super curricular

 Barbie: A Feminist Film?

The main way to establish whether Barbie was a feminist film is by asking yourself one question - what was the main message for women? Bell hooks stated that feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal oppression as well as the ideology of domination. The 2023 film Barbie attempts to do both, and yet still doesn't achieve anything in doing so. This could be because making a feminist film about the doll, Barbie, would always be challenging, unless the producers made Barbie eradicate all beauty standards that the doll stereotypically promotes. Although she promotes a fairly matriarchal lifestyle, where women can indulge themselves in careers such as doctors, pilots and mechanics (jobs that may usually be seen as "male" jobs), Barbie is still very much shaped by the male gaze, and even more so by the white-western beauty ideal. The actress playing the role of Barbie is Margot Robbie - who looks like a real life Barbie, which therefore is a big part of the appeal of the film. 

It cannot be overstated that sexual objectification and the narrow beauty standard of women is a major part of the patriarchal society we live in - it reinforces gender stereotypes, dehumanises, and sometimes even makes women feel almost animal-like, and yet it still often the way that a woman's value is measured by society. 

The idea that women are less human than men in the way Ken was less human to Barbie is definitely an important idea to highlight to a mainstream audience. However, it could be argued that in the film, viewers didn't spend enough time in Barbie's world to explore this idea properly. When Barbie's world experienced male dominance, why were the Barbies so ready to conform, and why did they have to use seduction to distract them to get their power back? What message does this give to women? Flirting has the ability to take down the patriarchy? 

Arguably, Ken is the most likeable character in the film. He is fun, and although he struggles, he learns from this difficult times, and is consequently put back in his place, which seems like a strange resolution, because this doesn't end up helping Barbie, the protagonist, in any way. Instead, it simply reinforces the idea that there must always be one group dominating another, which according to bell hooks, is the ideology of patriarchy.

 https://youtu.be/iHRLOtFfNQ8?si=5-n8UkaF-sYM6Yn- 

This is an advert for the charity, Shelter. Shelter focuses on helping with the homelessness crisis. 

I like this advert because it appeals to the digital audience, preferably younger people as well, as the song in the background is the type of music that stereotypically younger people would like. It is reported that over 145,000 people who are homeless in the UK are homeless, therefore it makes sense to add in a factor which will reach a large number of young people. Additionally I think it is very clever by projecting people who are struggling on houses, for 2 reasons. 1) being that these people probably do not actually have a house of their own , so it juxtaposes seeing a homeless person being projected onto someone else's home. 2) because the large majority of people tend to ignore homeless people on a day to day basis, making them feel insignificant and tiny, so this changes that message, to that they are being seen.

Overall I think this advert is very cleverly executed.