Writes Elise McCue in "Don’t Blame The Patriarchy For Ryan Gosling’s ‘Barbie’ Oscar Nomination" (The Federalist)(Gosling got nominated, and the female director and lead actress did not).
I saw "Barbie" and blogged about it (here): "Last night, we actually watched 'Barbie,' which just started streaming on Max. 'Barbie' is one of those movies where I had one favorite line (and one favorite character)...." The line is in this Ken highlights reel:
"To be honest, when I found out the patriarchy wasn't about horses, I lost interest anyway."
Posts
37 comments:
He has great comic timing for a guy who does a lot of 'serious' movies.
Gosling is great in Barbie. Every scene and every look and line
It’s funny to complain about Robbie not being nominated, because it was other women who were nominated instead. Is there some lead actress they are willing to say doesn’t deserve the nomination?
Back in the day where I worked, Mattel's owners were known as "Mr. and Mr. Handler."
Well, I can't really say that I "always wondered" who Ryan Gosling was, but I didn't know. And now it looks like I do.
That must have been one really stupid movie. I guess that's kind of a given, isn't it. Margot Robbie looks nice, but I suppose that's mostly makeup. Is the whole thing that pink? Like one gigantic pussy hat?
Gosling was also great in "The Nice Guys". He has an expressive face and knows how to use it for comedic purposes, not just for drama.
Ken's realization about the strength of the patriarchy is interesting.
Something resonates in that line. The somewhat slothful male, doing what he has to do (perhaps) for a pay check, and doing as little as possible at home, could rationalize that he's waiting for a big crisis like a war. After a period of time with no war, he loses interest. Horses are always good.
Randy Newman:
Cold gray buildings where a hill should be
Steel and concrete closing in on me
City faces haunt the places I roam alone
Cowboy, cowboy, can't run, can't hide
Too late to fight now, too tired to try
Wind, once blew free
Now scatters dust to the sky
Cowboy, cowboy, can't run, can't hide
Too late to fight now, too tired to try
Also "Rider in the Rain."
"would you get me a coffee"
LOL.. It's like the movie "Nine to Five" all over again.
Women - always fighting the patriarchy. No matter the decade.
Margot Robbie was fine/adequate in 'Barbie' - she did nothing exceptional however. I am therefore surprised to learn that there is an outcry over her supposedly being snubbed. In the context of Gosling's being nominated, I shouldn't be, I guess.
Incidentally, I was "forced" to watch this vapid panegyric to Third Wave Feminism and its silly liberated females with nothing really left to angrily whinge about. I should be angry about that...
I thought the movie was insipid and self-congratulatory. It wasn't as incisive--or as funny or charming--as it believed itself to be. Preaching to the believers. Which is a shame, as I'm generally a big fan of Greta Gerwig.
Barbie World begins with the women in complete power. The Kens are secondary and their feelings are unimportant to the career-pursuing Barbies. When Barbie goes to the real world she learns that a board comprised of men has been dictating the Barbie power roles and the subjugation of Kens. (I'm not sure the film realized that this was the message.) In order for Barbie World to balance, the Barbies need to become more engaged with the men and less focused on their selfish concerns.
It's a fairly subversive movie, even to the intentions of the filmmakers.
And, yes, the horse line from Ken was so good we nearly paused the movie.
Feminism framed in handmade tales.
I thought Barbie was much better than expected--entirely because of the Ken character. Which is to Gerwig's credit as much as to Gosling's. They set up a very interesting dynamic, where Ken was created to love Barbie, but Barbie wasn't created to love Ken. Which left Ken frustrated most of the time, while Barbie didn't care at all. She had parties to go to. She was supremely selfish.
It was a courageous choice to make Ken World better than Barbie World--everyone was happy in Ken World, whereas only the Barbies were happy in Barbie world.
I have no interest in the movie. This clip does not tweak any part of my giveashit gland.
But I'm genuinely happy others like it. We need a wider range of movies. It takes all kinds. Comic book heros, Fast and Furious #28, and cookie cutter love stories.
For me there is precious little out there for me.
I watched "Barbie" (still haven't seen Oppenheimer). I have to agree that Ken was more interesting than Robbie's Barbie. However, Kate McKinnon's Barbie was more interesting than both, and I'm not a fan of McKinnon generally. It was McKinnon's character that really sold the underlying notion that the dream life of Barbie was that of the IRL owner's imagination. That notion also undercut the complaints of the movie being too feminist. It's ultimately a movie about how women imagine their life as a Barbie, and spoiler... how it changes when they are actually experiencing adult womanhood rather than living it through a Barbie imagination.
Whether Gosling deserves an Oscar nom is another thing. I understand the music from the movie getting nominated and perhaps some of the technical stuff like Costume and Production Design. Also, Gerwig got a nom for Adapted Screenplay (they wanted Original Screenplay). However, I think one should consider the lack of competition for Best Supporting Actor as to why Gosling got a nom at all.
I saw nothing in Barbie that would support Best Director. How do you tell when the actors are acting like the set is fake because it is fake or was supposed to be fake? Lots of scenes felt like a school drama production, and again that style could be in support of the child's imagination or because the direction was no more creative than a child's.
Making horses integral to Ken's conception of the patriarchy was a stroke of genius. Bravo to whoever came up with that!
SUBLIME!
I know some were singing praises of the movie and it's endearments, and some turned purple over it. I thought they explored the premise pretty predictably and I wasn't enchanted or enraged. Meh. The movie, the acting and directing, wouldn't have ranked in the Oscar nominations, say, 50 years ago - or even 25. People would have been impressed by the CGI and confused about what all this patriarchy/feminism battling was about - but that's about it.
'Margot Robbie looks nice, but I suppose that's mostly makeup.'
I hope this is sarcasm.
Makeup has nothing to do with it : )
How did he get away with that? There must be a story behind it.
Wow, you guys really get into this shit.
I find pretty much all real-time presentation to get annoying very quickly. Movies, podcasts, meetings. Everything seems to happen at 1/4 speed, and I just want to get to the point. And then something happens that is actually interesting, but someone else is setting the agenda, and you don't hear any more about that topic.
After seeing Barbie I told many friends that the dirty little secret of this "feminist" movie is that a guy is, by far, the most interesting character.
As someone with a Ph.D. in Women's Studies, I heartily endorse Ryan Gosling as the hero of the film and well-deserving of the nomination.
I apparently have the only approproate credentials. Any other Women's Studies Ph.D. hags out there who want to challenge me?
Finally, I get to use my credentials for good.
He was Will Ferrell Funny. Everything I say is backed by my academic research.
Gosling completely stole the movie. The nomination is well-deserved, and I hope he wins.
I wish the Academy would stop nominating Carey Mulligan for Best Actress. This is her 3rd Best Actress nomination, and she's only 38 years old. I've seen about five movies with her, and I just don't get the appeal.
I snicker at those who think the Barbie movie has something positive to say about women. It is pretty anti-feminist. Men must be accountable for their own emotions...but men are also accountable for women's emotions. Women are bubble heads that lack the intelligence and "immune systems" to protect them from unfamiliar ideas. Women are judgmental and condescending and look down their noses at simple joys like drinking beer and singing silly songs on the beach. Women are celebrated for playing on male insecurities and manipulating them into fighting a *war*. (Female insecurity is 100% the fault of men because, again, we can't expect adult women to be accountable for their own insecurities.) And, the cherry on top, women, if given an opportunity would be just as big "oppressors" as men.
My favorite face palm moment was the end when men/Ken are prohibited from serving high offices (judgeships) until women are given the same opportunities in our "real world." Do they know that SCOTUS has 4 women, including two minorities, one working mom, and a Jewish woman?!!
Hilarious. It paints women as judgmental, entitled, irrational infants.
It must pain the academy to give any comedy a nomination of any sort outside of animation, song, or one of the very technical ones that no one cares about. True art is drama, even if true art is boring and no one watched it.
Godzilla Minus One got nothing, of course. I want to say that it is better than many of the other nominees, but I have not seen any of the others. Godzilla and The Holdovers were the only ones I wanted to see.
He was great as Neil Armstrong in "First Man".
Listening to Goselin’s voice in that clip, l got an Elizabeth Holmes vibe. Remember her? The blood test lady?
Gosling has played a series of increasingly plastic characters, leading to his role as a Ken doll. He wa an emotionless motorcycle bank robber, a mindless f**kboy, a manufactured replicant, to name just 3, and now a living doll. Will he be the star of the "Ass" remake when the Idiocracy documentary is fictionalized?
Leland:
It was McKinnon's character that really sold the underlying notion that the dream life of Barbie was that of the IRL owner's imagination.
For example:
When I was running my show, we had to do all our costumes. Some of us would sit in a circle and bring up pieces together at once (like for 12 uniforms). I was also working on my two story house at the time.
My daughter was upstairs and we were busy on boots or something when very slowly, descending from a hole in the floor above came a Barbie spinning leisurely, half dressed, limbs akimbo - from a string tied around her neck. We all stopped and watched as it rotated then ascended just as slowly.
A few later seconds my daughter (11) came downstairs.
"You know what I like best about Barbies? They never complain no matter what you do to them."
'As someone with a Ph.D. in Women's Studie...'
I hope to God you didn't take out student loans for that!
DD Driver said:
My favorite face palm moment was the end when men/Ken are prohibited from serving high offices (judgeships) until women are given the same opportunities in our "real world." Do they know that SCOTUS has 4 women, including two minorities, one working mom, and a Jewish woman?!!
And 6 of 7 on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are gyno-American. Could explain in part the nasty shit show it's become. Need a few more dudes to mellow the place out and reduce the average estrogen level of that august body.
"To be honest, when I found out the patriarchy wasn't about horses, I lost interest anyway."
Hee—a line only a girl would come up with. It’s little girls who are obsessed with horsies; boys know they belong under the hood.
Oligonicella!!!! Yes, that...
“He was Will Ferrell Funny. Everything I say is backed by my academic research.”
He was better. Ferrel is to self consciously funny. He tries too hard. That wears on me. I think Gosling is a lot more natural.
"Ken's Mojo Dojo Casa House," is now the name for the Joe Bar compound.
You mean there's something that's not the fault of the patriarchy...?
Post a Comment