Right-Wing Backlash Against ‘Barbie’ Is Just Sad

Barbie is making big bucks at the box office; a savvy marketing campaign, the “Barbenheimer” meme and enthusiastic moviegoers dressed in pink have propelled Barbie to a $356.3M global launch, with the film boasting a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and audiences.

Right-wing culture warriors, however, are claiming to be hideously offended by Barbie, with many expressing shock and horror that the film, starring Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig, contains feminist themes.

At this point, any popular cultural event is likely to spark backlash from anti-woke commentators (some even tried to brand the Super Mario Bros movie as woke, before shifting gears and heralding the film as anti-woke).

Without going into spoilers, Barbie contains light feminist commentary, with the Kens of Barbieworld initially oppressed by the Barbies and gaining equality by the end of the film, mirroring the trajectory of women’s rights.

Right-wing commentators chose to interpret the film as “woke” and “anti-man,” despite Ken (Ryan Gosling) experiencing the strongest character arc of the film.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro always has strong opinions when it comes to girl power in pop culture (his rant on Cardi B’s WAP is the stuff of internet legend), and sure enough, Shapiro was there on Barbie’s opening weekend, claiming to have been “dragged” to see the film by his producers.

On Twitter, Shapiro posted a photo of himself standing in the lobby of a movie theatre with a pained expression, holding a notepad presumably packed with his critiques of Barbie; the picture was instantly photoshopped into a variety of meme templates.

Shapiro then released a 43-minute long “review” of Barbie on YouTube, in which he lights Barbie and Ken dolls on fire; commentators compared Shapiro to Sid from Toy Story, a child who tortures his toys.

A video clip where Shapiro complains that a Barbie played by Hari Nef, a trans actor, had a deeper voice than him went viral with 1.2 million views, with commentators suggesting that Shapiro was projecting his own insecurities.

After enduring the mockery of the internet, Shapiro pushed back on Twitter, sparking even more mockery.

A negative review of Barbie from Ginger Gaetz, wife of Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, was widely mocked on Twitter, with Gaetz writing:

“The Barbie I grew up with was a representation of limitless possibilities, embracing diverse careers and feminine empowerment. The 2023 Barbie movie, unfortunately, neglects to address any notion of faith or family, and tries to normalize the idea that men and women can’t collaborate positively (yuck).”

Gaetz went on to describe Ken, Barbie’s famously flamboyant plastic companion, as exhibiting “Disappointingly low T,” which means low testosterone.

Anti-woke YouTuber the Critical Drinker released a hyperbolic review of Barbie, feigning deep horror at the film’s supposed misandry. At one point, the Drinker expresses concern that young girls will be negatively influenced by the film.

Many noted that “anti-woke” right-wingers had become what they used to hate, perfectly mirroring the cultural commentary of “social justice warriors” that was popular online a few years ago; pearl-clutching reviews based on shallow media analysis, focused only on the potentially problematic.

Right-wing culture warriors have long held the belief that media containing progressive values will be rejected by the masses, expressed by the mantra “go woke, go broke.”

With Barbie’s incredible success at the box office, it might be time to rethink that slogan.