Movies: Barbie (July 21st 2023)

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Hollywood can't help itself but to include symbolism and occultist ideas in their movies. Even Barbie, for f***s sake.

Oh no, anything but symbolism!

 

[BIeucheeseWithWings]

Oh no, anything but symbolism!

You like that shit, eh.

 

[Hammettf2b]

God damnit. am i going to have to watch this movie? my first impression was its going to be horrible but im hearing lots of good things from it. ill prob take the plunge

 

[ArGarBarGar]

You like that shit, eh.

Did symbolism steal your girlfriend or something?

 

[Jovavic]

It must be tiring looking for symbols and hidden messages in everything

 

[johnjm22]

I don't know if the movie is good or not (haven't seen it), but I'm happy that mid-budget films like this (140M) and Oppenheimer (100M) are doing so well at the box office.

Hopefully Hollywood cuts back on the insanely high budgeted action schlock films.

Very much looking forward to Napoleon. It's budget is said to be around 130M.

On the downside, the success of Barbie means we're going to get a ton of "product" films. But I'll take it I guess. I'd rather watch a movie about a potato chip than some more superhero/sequel/reboot shit at this point.

 

[BIeucheeseWithWings]

You want movies to not have symbolism in them? Huh?



I'd love to hear about these "occultist ideas"

When Barbie leaves her house, she is driving down a pink brick road. Barbie drives past a movie theatre. On the marquee, for a brief moment, you can see Wizard of Oz is playing. So within the first few minutes, two references to the theosophical evolution of consciousness is presented. When Barbie embarks on her journey down the brick road, she is becoming aware that life is not so ideal. Her feet go flat, her toast is burnt, there is no milk - the Utopia is gone. Suddenly she is burdened with the thought of mortality.

Barbie is directed to visit Weird Barbie for her flat feet, but this meeting is where Barbie learns she has "opened a portal" due to her evolution of consciousness. Weird Barbie, with a circle around her right eye, has already been enlightened. She has already faced death. With the knowledge of death, she make the transformation a reality. This is the Freudian Thanatos Drive. Barbie must make her way to the real world to find the girl playing with her as a doll. As above (real world) so below (Barbieland) is now Barbie's call to adventure in the hero's journey.

Weird Barbie, while already aware of what Barbie will choose, offers her a choice between a heel or birkenstock - her Neo moment of the red or blue pill. Barbie takes the birkenstock, where her voyage begins down a pink brick road (mirroring Dorothy's Gnostic awakening) and ultimately though space. While traveling through space, an image of Saturn is shown. This is interesting because the planet represents death; and the thought of death is why Barbie is on this journey. To occultists, Saturn is the ultimate grim reaper.

When Barbie and Ken finally make their way to the City of Angels, they both experience different feelings and emotions. For the first time, Barbie feels the opposite of happiness when she sheds a tear after channeling a vision of the girl playing with her doll. On the other hand, Ken is feeling empowered by seeing men in dominant roles. It was during this time when Barbie says something to the effect of "I'm conscious, but it is myself I am conscious of." Some occult philosophies believe God made himself into a human, to abstract consciousness. It is a way of seeing yourself, like looking into a proverbial mirror. "I think therefore I am." I definitely think Greta was not only inspired by 2001, but also Eyes Wide Shut. She paid great homage to Kubrick and his ideas.

It must be tiring looking for symbols and hidden messages in everything.

Nah. Not so tiring.

 

[BIeucheeseWithWings]

Did symbolism steal your girlfriend or something?

Did you just assume I am straight? It's 2023, bro.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Did you just assume I am straight? It's 2023, bro.

Did you just assume that ArGarBarGar assumed you were a man? Did you just assume that in 2023 a non-binary being identifying as a chair couldn't have a girlfriend? Damn... you should get on board with the times.

 

[Beau Knows]

When Barbie leaves her house, she is driving down a pink brick road. Barbie drives past a movie theatre. On the marquee, for a brief moment, you can see Wizard of Oz is playing. So within the first few minutes, two references to the theosophical evolution of consciousness is presented. When Barbie embarks on her journey down the brick road, she is becoming aware that life is not so ideal. Her feet go flat, her toast is burnt, there is no milk - the Utopia is gone. Suddenly she is burdened with the thought of mortality.

Barbie is directed to visit Weird Barbie for her flat feet, but this meeting is where Barbie learns she has "opened a portal" due to her evolution of consciousness. Weird Barbie, with a circle around her right eye, has already been enlightened. She has already faced death. With the knowledge of death, she make the transformation a reality. This is the Freudian Thanatos Drive. Barbie must make her way to the real world to find the girl playing with her as a doll. As above (real world) so below (Barbieland) is now Barbie's call to adventure in the hero's journey.

Weird Barbie, while already aware of what Barbie will choose, offers her a choice between a heel or birkenstock - her Neo moment of the red or blue pill. Barbie takes the birkenstock, where her voyage begins down a pink brick road (mirroring Dorothy's Gnostic awakening) and ultimately though space. While traveling through space, an image of Saturn is shown. This is interesting because the planet represents death; and the thought of death is why Barbie is on this journey. To occultists, Saturn is the ultimate grim reaper.

When Barbie and Ken finally make their way to the City of Angels, they both experience different feelings and emotions. For the first time, Barbie feels the opposite of happiness when she sheds a tear after channeling a vision of the girl playing with her doll. On the other hand, Ken is feeling empowered by seeing men in dominant roles. It was during this time when Barbie says something to the effect of "I'm conscious, but it is myself I am conscious of." Some occult philosophies believe God made himself into a human, to abstract consciousness. It is a way of seeing yourself, like looking into a proverbial mirror. "I think therefore I am." I definitely think Greta was not only inspired by 2001, but also Eyes Wide Shut. She paid great homage to Kubrick and his ideas.

Assuming all of these references and accurate and intentional (I haven't seen the movie), why is any of this a bad thing?

We all complain about mind-numbingly stupid blockbuster movies coming out every year, but you make this film sound quite thoughtful and interesting.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

When Barbie leaves her house, she is driving down a pink brick road. Barbie drives past a movie theatre. On the marquee, for a brief moment, you can see Wizard of Oz is playing. So within the first few minutes, two references to the theosophical evolution of consciousness is presented. When Barbie embarks on her journey down the brick road, she is becoming aware that life is not so ideal. Her feet go flat, her toast is burnt, there is no milk - the Utopia is gone. Suddenly she is burdened with the thought of mortality.

Barbie is directed to visit Weird Barbie for her flat feet, but this meeting is where Barbie learns she has "opened a portal" due to her evolution of consciousness. Weird Barbie, with a circle around her right eye, has already been enlightened. She has already faced death. With the knowledge of death, she make the transformation a reality. This is the Freudian Thanatos Drive. Barbie must make her way to the real world to find the girl playing with her as a doll. As above (real world) so below (Barbieland) is now Barbie's call to adventure in the hero's journey.

Weird Barbie, while already aware of what Barbie will choose, offers her a choice between a heel or birkenstock - her Neo moment of the red or blue pill. Barbie takes the birkenstock, where her voyage begins down a pink brick road (mirroring Dorothy's Gnostic awakening) and ultimately though space. While traveling through space, an image of Saturn is shown. This is interesting because the planet represents death; and the thought of death is why Barbie is on this journey. To occultists, Saturn is the ultimate grim reaper.

When Barbie and Ken finally make their way to the City of Angels, they both experience different feelings and emotions. For the first time, Barbie feels the opposite of happiness when she sheds a tear after channeling a vision of the girl playing with her doll. On the other hand, Ken is feeling empowered by seeing men in dominant roles. It was during this time when Barbie says something to the effect of "I'm conscious, but it is myself I am conscious of." Some occult philosophies believe God made himself into a human, to abstract consciousness. It is a way of seeing yourself, like looking into a proverbial mirror. "I think therefore I am." I definitely think Greta was not only inspired by 2001, but also Eyes Wide Shut. She paid great homage to Kubrick and his ideas.


Nah. Not so tiring.

 

[Roo Returns]

I don't know if the movie is good or not (haven't seen it), but I'm happy that mid-budget films like this (140M) and Oppenheimer (100M) are doing so well at the box office.

Hopefully Hollywood cuts back on the insanely high budgeted action schlock films.

Very much looking forward to Napoleon. It's budget is said to be around 130M.

On the downside, the success of Barbie means we're going to get a ton of "product" films. But I'll take it I guess. I'd rather watch a movie about a potato chip than some more superhero/sequel/reboot shit at this point.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying.

I think ultimately what killed modern Hollywood was those B-tier studios like Orion, New Line, Cannon, New World, etc. who put out the more fun and wacky/not always great but memorable films in the 80s-90s. That was a lot of the "fun" of going to the theater.

Hollywood does need to chill with the reboots and known properties and focus more on original content...kinda like those B-Tier studios did.

Napoleon I'm not excited about. More overdramatic bio pics.

Barbie is going to lead to all kinds of trash...they're letting Lena Dunham direct a Polly Pocket movie for crying out loud.

Superhero movies are cooked for now....it's all just pretty much a wait game for Marvel to do the X-Men...and they'll most likely mess it up by picking the wrong lineup and not focusing on when the book got really gritty and interesting (1985-1991).

Back to Barbie, no interest in seeing it until it comes out on streaming/home. It's crazy though we had the summer of Batman, summer of Terminator, summer of dinosaurs, summer of aliens, summer of asteroids, and welp......2023 is officially the summer of Barbie so good for them.

Also Margot Robbie can finally break her Angelina Jolie career projection of being in movies that were commercially bad. Can't take that away from her.

 

[johnjm22]

Napoleon I'm not excited about. More overdramatic bio pics.

When Hollywood dramatizes real life events or people, I often find it annoying. It's usually overly dramatized in a way that makes it unbelievable or corny.

But I trust Ridley Scott handling this. He's so good at giving the settings of his films a sense of realism, and that's part of the reason I'm excited. I can't wait to see him bring 18th/19th century Europe to life.

Joaquin is an actor very committed to his craft, and of course Napolean is a fascinating historical figure. I don't think Phoenix and Scott will go the cornball route with this.

 

[RandV]

On the downside, the success of Barbie means we're going to get a ton of "product" films. But I'll take it I guess. I'd rather watch a movie about a potato chip than some more superhero/sequel/reboot shit at this point.

I don't know, Hollywood was kind of going through that phase pre-MCU and it didn't get very far. There's a bunch of reasons why Barbie seems to have worked here, and the 'product' angle is probably the least of them.

 

[johnjm22]

I don't know, Hollywood was kind of going through that phase pre-MCU and it didn't get very far. There's a bunch of reasons why Barbie seems to have worked here, and the 'product' angle is probably the least of them.

Not a chance this movie would be anywhere near as successful as it is without the Barbie name.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I don't know, Hollywood was kind of going through that phase pre-MCU and it didn't get very far. There's a bunch of reasons why Barbie seems to have worked here, and the 'product' angle is probably the least of them.

Really? I think it probably extremely high up on the list on why it is as big as it is. If it wasn't for the product or name value the movie wouldn't have gotten people in the door to begin with.

 

[Osprey]

Asteroid City is also from an acclaimed writer/director, has similarly creative set design and features its own all-star cast. It bombed in the theaters, probably largely because no one could tell what it was about or relate to it. Just about everyone has a good idea of what to expect from a Barbie movie and can relate in some way.

 

[PK Cronin]

Not a chance this movie would be anywhere near as successful as it is without the Barbie name.

Really? I think it probably extremely high up on the list on why it is as big as it is. If it wasn't for the product or name value the movie wouldn't have gotten people in the door to begin with.

The story is defined by Barbie and couldn't be told by swapping it out for another doll. It's not just the name recognition, it's the actual doll that allows people to connect with the movie.

 

[RandV]

The story is defined by Barbie and couldn't be told by swapping it out for another doll. It's not just the name recognition, it's the actual doll that allows people to connect with the movie.

I wasn't very clear but yes obviously being "Barbie" is an important component here, I'm just below the other important components such as cast, story, marketing, etc. Like if you took the name Barbie and made a movie like, I don't know, Legally Blonde, or something just for kids, it's not going to make a billion $$$.

And the point I was making is that's going to be a hard thing to nail to make this a legit trend for the movie industry, which they've already tried before. If anything I think perhaps the real lowkey likely unintended genius here that you may see try to copy was the Barbie/Oppenheimer release combo that played off each other and went viral. Though I guess that's going to be hard to repeat as well.

 

[HanSolo]

It was fine. Some good humor throughout carried by Gosling, and Robbie elevates the character of "stereotypical" Barbie quite well.

The issue I find with it is it's really tonally dissonant. There are times it's bending over backwards to be emotionally profound and to carry meaningful messages and then others even people from the real world are acting between inconsistent/clichéd to straight up cartoon buffoons.

It's a movie that flows in a very strange way. My brother hyped the movie to hell, probably because Gosling's Ken is right up his alley from a comedy perspective but overall it just felt uneven.

I didn't actively dislike it but I doubt I'll revisit it.

 

[PK Cronin]

I wasn't very clear but yes obviously being "Barbie" is an important component here, I'm just below the other important components such as cast, story, marketing, etc. Like if you took the name Barbie and made a movie like, I don't know, Legally Blonde, or something just for kids, it's not going to make a billion $$$.

And the point I was making is that's going to be a hard thing to nail to make this a legit trend for the movie industry, which they've already tried before. If anything I think perhaps the real lowkey likely unintended genius here that you may see try to copy was the Barbie/Oppenheimer release combo that played off each other and went viral. Though I guess that's going to be hard to repeat as well.

Overall, I think it's just a perfect storm of things. They got people interested and through the door with name recognition (with Barbie and the cast) and a great PR push, then the movie was good on top so it created enough buzz and sustainability to keep the wave going. The part I'm emphasizing is the latter bit. In order for movies to do well it needs to have a good story. I'm not sure any other toy could've featured such a compelling story that resonates with the audience.

I think we'll see a lot of people try to mimic what just happened but none will be close to as successful but I don't think that's just because of the name recognition. The story they're going to be telling will be way less interesting.

 

[Beau Knows]

Barbie will be a huge fail. I’ll just call that right now.

'Barbie' is less than $100 million away from a billion-dollar box office heading into third weekend

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

'Barbie' is less than $100 million away from a billion-dollar box office heading into third weekend

Looks like it officially broke it. Does it have another $400 million to surpass Mario Brothers?

 

[John Price]