A Man's Barbieland?

 Throughout the course of the film , Barbie , the satarization of masculinity is a reoccurring theme. Aspects of masculinity and the patriarchy are taken to an extreme in order to critique those themes within our modern society. One example of the satirization of masculinity is when Ken turns Barbie's dream house into his mojo dojo casa house. In this scene, the director is making satire out of the common masculine theme of being dominant and having more power than Women. He changes her dreamhouse, completely ruining it for Barbie without ever considering her in his decision. When Ken discovers the patriarchy, it is as if he discovers a secret that he never knew about that grants him unmatched power over Barbie and all Women. Ken's enlightenment means he becomes inconcerned with Barbie, whom he now views as lesser than him. 

During the Barbie Movie, there is a striking similarity to a scene within A doll's house where demeaning language is used by a man to reinforce an inequality between Men and Women. Ken rudely refers to Barbie as his "tiny baby" and "mini baby" as an attempt to belittle Barbie and enforce his own position as superior to Barbie. In a dolls house Torvald refers to Nora as his "little squirrel"(Ibsen, Act 1). In both instances Women are referred to by seemingly sweet nicknames that actually have malicious intent behind them. This is a common practice among men whose ideology aligns with one that supports the patriarchy. In the Barbie Movie by Ken not only calling Barbie a baby but a "little baby" is in reality a decision by the director to critique and satarize how common and ridiculous it is to refer to Women as nicknames that are associated with weak and incapable things such as babies or even little squirrels. These names attempt to further enforce the idea onto Women that they are not as smart, strong, or capable as Men are, which is a critical aspect to the ideology associated with the Patriarchy. They are attempts to label Women as inequal to Men and personally this made me reflect on my own usage of nicknames that may have this same affect on Women. 

Since 1879 many things have changed, and our society is drastically different. Women are much more empowered and, legally speaking, are treated the same as Men. They can vote, work in any field they wish, and are encouraged to do things that they were previously discouraged to do. Certain things remain, however, such as demeaning nicknames as common practice for Men referring to Women. I personally hear Men refer to Women as baby all the time, which is often done with very good intent. However, the usage of these nicknames can be seen as some that don't appreciate it as rude and demeaning. This is something that should be kept in mind when participating in the common practice of referring to Women by nicknames such as baby. Today the patriarchy is just more hidden and less commonly admitted to existing. Nicknames can be played off as just being friendly and kind however it has a history of belittling and labeling Women as lesser than Men. By Ken admitting to things associated with the patriarchy it is a brilliant satarization by brining things that are present and not admitted to such as the idea that Men are better than Women, and bringing it into view and openly admitting to it as an extreme.