Blog Film · Is it woke?
Is Barbie (2023) Woke? chudrank Score and Reception
- Type
- Film
- Released
- 2023
- Genre
- Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy
Is Barbie (2023) woke? Above is its live chudrank score; below, the facts, why it scores the way it does, and what critics said. Disagree? Every vote moves the score.
What it is
Barbie is a 2023 satirical fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with her husband, Noah Baumbach.
Wikipedia, Barbie (film), quoted verbatim · CC BY-SA 4.0
Why it scores leaning WOKE
Barbie is widely seen as WOKE because its makers called it feminist and critics read it as a critique of patriarchy. Conservative commentators such as Ben Shapiro attacked it loudly for the same reason.
Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie felt it was "most certainly a feminist film", a description Mattel officials rejected. (Wikipedia)
Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times wrote that Barbie and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour both "tell female coming-of-age stories marked by existential crises and bitter confrontations with sexism". (Wikipedia)
Ben Shapiro opened his review by setting Barbie and Ken dolls on fire and said it was "one of the most woke movies I have ever seen." (NBC News)
Kyle Smith wrote in The Wall Street Journal that "its script is like a grumpier-than-average women's studies seminar", and Camilla Long of The Times said it "ended up feeling sexist itself". (Wikipedia)
Why it is not higher
It was also a giant mainstream hit, and some critics on the right defended it.
The film grossed $1.448 billion worldwide. (Wikipedia)
Jack Butler of National Review rejected the view of it as a "shallow, man-hating, and repulsive screed" and called it a "post-feminist satire". Ross Douthat called it "a movie with a feminist default" with "complicated and sometimes muddled feelings" about feminism. (Wikipedia)
So: a feminist message and a loud backlash from the right push it well left, while its huge, broad audience and some fans on the right keep it off the top. Disagree? Vote, and the score moves.
What critics said
Barbie attained widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 506 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.0/10.
Wikipedia, Barbie (film), quoted verbatim · CC BY-SA 4.0