Lisa Ray slams Barbie, asks why ‘young influencers’ are celebrating the film; Twitter asks, ‘Have you seen the movie?’

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which released on July 21, has received glowing reviews and a massive box office pull worldwide. Audiences have been also posting about wearing pink to watch the film based on the Mattel toys, which has now turned into a viral social media trend. Actor Lisa Ray seemed less impressed with the obsession over Greta Gerwig’s film and took to Twitter seeking answers. (Also read: Mira Kapoor reviews Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s Barbie: ‘Hollywood can’t do song-and-dance like Bollywood’)

Lisa Ray on Barbie marketing

Lisa took to Twitter on Friday evening and addressed the ‘woke’ millennials as she wrote, “Genuine question to the Woke millennials and Gen Zers: how are you not only not up in arms over the Barbie movie – which is really a huge marketing push for an agent of female oppression cloaked as a movie – but many of you are also participating in Barbiecore and posting cute photos in hot pink?”

She further added, “How?! I see young influencers who raise the alarm against social inequalities and sexism and yet are fervently celebrating a movie that not matter how subversive, brings unwelcome Barbie standards and it’s legacy to the next generation of girls.”

Concluding her tweet, Lisa said that her understanding of the entire attention given to the Barbie trend is because the marketing team of the film were linked with them. “I can only think that marketing budgets got to them. Please enlighten.” she wrote.

User reactions

Reacting to Lisa’s tweet, many reacted to the comments. One user wrote, “What’s a ‘woke’ millennial? A lot of millennials are reaching 40s. A lot of youngsters start as idealists and become pragmatic as they grow older. So, it’s very weird when gen Xers or boomers use woke in a disparaging manner. Boomers were bloody hippies when they were young.” Another asked, “The movie is exactly opposite of what you would expect a Barbie movie to be. Have you watched it?” A second comment read, “Hey Lisa, The movie is absolutely opposite of what you are saying.” “Have you seen the movie?” asked another.

More about Barbie

Barbie stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, along with a cast that includes names like America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Dua Lipa, Emerald Fennell, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera and Will Ferrell. The film’s premise read, “After being expelled from the utopian Barbie Land for being less-than-perfect dolls, Barbie and Ken go on a journey of self-discovery to the real world.”

The Hindustan Times review of Barbie read, “Greta is also quite indulgent with the satirising, constantly reiterating how she’s remodelling the Barbie myth. The humour, hence, lands only occasionally, even though one silently admires the shots fired with every line. But the tone, a mix of self-awareness and spelling everything out, remains consistent throughout.”