BARBIE and the Undermining of the Patriarchy
By Mark Harris
The Barbie movie, released in July of 2023, has become one of the highest grossing films of all time— and possibly the most successful female-centric film to ever hit the big screen. Banking largely on a huge fan base for Barbie dolls, but building great momentum due to factors such as innovative set design and viral curiosity, it became a cultural phenomenon.
It is no secret that Barbie has a feminist agenda. That may have been shocking back in 1959 when the first Barbie doll was sold, but it is almost passe in 2023. And yet, since the feminist vision has not yet been realized in full, this film is aimed at making its contribution to the cause of eliminating “the patriarchy.”
So, what is patriarchy, what should replace it, and how does Barbie go about promoting this?
What is Patriarchy?
The feminist definition of patriarchy is clear enough—it is built into the word itself. Men rule. In such a social system, men should be in charge, and women should follow their lead. The family is the foundation of patriarchy, where fathers are the heads of the households.
The more important feature of patriarchy, in feminist thinking, is that this is a societal structure that was established by men, imposed on women, and protected by those who benefit from the system (which is not just men, but also women who enjoy being protected, supported, and free to focus on raising children).
And even more insidious, the imposition of this system is seen as an oppressive subjugation that extends to every sphere of life (church, family, business, government, etc.). And feminists abhor the life of a submissive woman, protected by a man, and focusing her attention on the home. Passive acceptance of this status quo contributes to the continuation of the patriarchal system.
The establishment of the patriarchy is seen as one of the defining principles of the American social system, inherited as it was from European Christendom. The USA was established from the beginning as a degrading patriarchy, which is obvious given that women were not allowed the vote until over 130 years after the signing of the Constitution.
So, men have forcefully seized control of society, and then set about to put rules in place to keep themselves in power. Their male descendants then perpetuate the oppressive domination of society, suppressing any opposition. Those at the very top established laws and rules to benefit themselves. Dead white males still rule from the grave.
What is the Feminist Ideal?
If patriarchy is an evil system, it must be opposed and ultimately replaced. Feminists have suggested many alternatives over the decades, and there isn’t one “received” vision to which all are planning and striving. However, we can discern several desirable elements of a culture that has been restructured to remove any vestiges of male control.
Autonomy—Prevalent in all visions for women is freedom from any control by any man. She should set her own laws and rules for life. She will decide whether or not she wants a man in her life, and how she wants that relationship to function.
Equality—The ultimate goal of feminism cannot be to eliminate men. This would end the culture. They can, however, aim to be exactly the same as men, with no assumed differences in roles. Anybody can do anything, without exceptions for gender. This is one of the most important reasons for abortion right demands. Being forced to give birth puts her at a disadvantage.
De-masculinization of Culture—Can men be reconstructed from their toxicity? If so, they must jettison any promotion of entitled male leadership, along with all aggression and condescension. This is the kind of man that will be an asset to women in the new order. A pure equal at every level.
Matriarchy—This is among the more radical of feminist ideals, not held by all feminists. The evil patriarchy is seen as a slavery where men (who are bad) control the women (who are good). Because men lead, they also create angry and aggressive societies which hurt women. If women were in charge, they would turn this all around, and institute a benevolent matriarchy. Everything would be happy and peaceful.
The Anti-Patriarchy Worldview of Barbie
The Barbie movie is primarily a comedy, and so we should not take every element of its story too seriously. It assumes a worldview that would exist in a fantasyland (where all the Barbies live), and juxtaposes that fantasy against a hard reality that, of course, shocks the Barbie that enters into that “real world.” Exaggerations are required in comedy, so we can grant that these are cartoon worlds. But let’s look at worldview assumptions that allow for the morality play of the movie.
First a brief synopsis. We meet Barbie in her perfect plastic Barbie Land, which represents where they live when their human owners play with them. After having an existential crisis regarding death, Barbie (with a stowaway Ken) ventures to the real world to find her owner. In the process she learns about patriarchy, as does Ken, who returns to Barbie Land to change it into the image he believes he saw in the real world. The Barbies and Kens are thrust into a crisis to determine who they are and how they ought to operate. In the course of the movie, we observe at least the following elements of male/ female relationships:
Harmonious Female Society—Barbie Land is an idealized mirror image of patriarchy. The Barbies run absolutely everything. They are happy and fulfilled, and in total control of their society and environment, including their male counterparts. Each day is a perfect day.
Kens as Accessories—The Kens in the movie live in total dependence on the Barbies. They are emasculated “girlie men” who are unfulfilled apart from what might be offered them by the Barbies. Ken can’t be happy without Barbie’s favor. There are shades here of “Toy Story,” where the toys have no purpose in life other than being played with by their human children. The Kens act and feel as would all of Barbie’s possessions if they were sentient. Their only purpose is to beautify and feed the desires of Barbie.
Real World Misogyny—When we experience the “real world,” we find that negatively stereotyped men dominate. It is just the opposite of the fantasy Barbie Land. Whereas in Barbie’s world everything is harmonious and perfect, the real-world men are tyrannical buffoons and turn everything negative, much to the suffering of the oppressed women.
Rogue Ken Awakened—Ken observes the real world men’s situation favorably, and returns to Barbie Land to become controlling and demanding, putting the Barbies into subservient roles. So, the only masculinity that he absorbed, and patterns, is the toxic sort. Ken doesn’t act like a mature man—he acts entitled, taking on patriarchy as a male birthright.
Awakening to Patriarchy—After the Kens subdue the Barbies, turning them into creatures who can’t think for themselves, they are reawakened one by one to remember “who they are” and recognize how they are being oppressed.
Twin Themes for Cultural Subversion
A not-so-hidden agenda of the Barbie movie is to help change the way we look at male and female roles. This is nothing new—it is Feminism 101. But the popularity of this movie, and its unique point of view, make it particularly effective at subverting gender norms. Here are the two complementary themes:
Glorification of the Feminine—In the fantasy world of Barbie Land, when women are in charge, everything is beautiful and perfect. And so, doesn’t it make sense that the world would be a much happier and more peaceful place if we could establish a matriarchy? In the movie, every problem occurs due to the bumbling assertiveness of men who have never grown up. On the other hand, we never see any model of a respectable and loving man. This is a brilliant strategy to awaken girls to their plight as victims of the toxic patriarchy and see themselves as the ones who can save the world. I once heard a saying in Russia: “All men are dogs, but some can be trained.” Honor to women and disrespect toward men is at the core of this morality play.
Shaming of the Masculine—The emasculating of a society can be accelerated when more and more men feel ashamed of their supposed entitlement to leadership and desire to subjugate women. Nobody wants to be like the men in the “real world” of the Barbie movie. The steady growth of feminism is inevitable as long as male opposition is shamed into not vocally opposing it. Even better, they should be pressured to acquiesce to each new culture change, signaling their virtue by vocal agreement. And those who continue in opposition are portrayed as cavemen who need to die out and let evolution take its course toward the liberation of the culture from any vestiges of male domination.
Successful Feminist Subversion
The Barbie movie is really a symptom, and not a cause, of feminist encroachment into traditional cultural values. But it is also a cheerleader for changing the status quo. Here are some of the cultural factors at work in this subversion:
The Long Game—Note first of all that this subversion has been going on for decades. Barbie is just a very successful broadcast of a worldview, in a long list of communications by the deconstructionists of Western culture. Along with the LGBTQ+ vision, the feminist mission is to change the culture, not just a few practices such as equal pay for equal work. It is almost comical to think that a supposedly child’s film could have such a large influence on culture. But the fruit takes time to mature. We are just living on a small segment of the overall cultural timeline, and many of the changes will happen when we are unable to prevent them. Only then could we look back and see how capitulation after capitulation has been aiding the feminist cause, over time, by a process of steady erosion.
“Toxic” Masculinity—This term has become the watchword for the feminist agenda, in that it is a picture of how feminists view masculinity. Male dominance is a perversion of the ideal feminine order. It is a de-civilizing of the soul. But then, this is what men do. They use their physical strength and relative freedom to usurp societal power. Then they protect their hold on power and privileges against women who would want
to break into the club.
Male Complacency—Much of the deconstruction is discounted or ridiculed byoldermales,butsuchmalescanbeshort-
sighted and don’t take seriously the long- game of the opposition. They chuckle at the antics and demands of women, underestimating the shift of culture that is gaining momentum. But they won’t see the full fruition of the movement, since they will be dying off when the next
culture shift acceleration occurs.
Disempowering Manhood—One primary way to diminish male leadership is to try to turn men into emasculated boys. This is actually a good description, because it is painful to rise into manhood (one reason so many cultures have “coming of age” ceremonies for boys). And it is easy to become weak and passive, accepting the call to be ashamed of their manhood. It then becomes normal to be a semi-passive partner with
women. But many lose all semblance of their manhood and look for a partner who will replace their mother. Then the woman runs the household and, as a weak husband, he just goes along.
Devaluing Motherhood—Young women have been effectively sold an attractive image of a woman who can do anything that a man can do, and who thus needs to demand equal outcomes in the marketplace. But this vision is not possible for committed mothers. When a woman tries to raise children while competing with men in their career, they find they do both in a mediocre way, or else they select one or the other to do well. Too often career comes first, and children suffer. Marriages suffer as well. Once women remove themselves from the protection of their husbands and enter into the high stress world of competitive men, they are vulnerable in a way they did not anticipate in their ignorance of God’s truth. And they can’t really relax at home since most husbands are not taking on their share of domestic duties. Conflict inevitably follows. God is not mocked. His order, once deconstructed, cannot succeed. Women will not find fulfillment in a man’s life. This is delusional thinking.
Worldly Backlash
Not every rejection of feminism comes from a biblical perspective. True, many young men have been tamed as a result of feminist ideology. But with another sort of man, the feminist strategy has generated an angry backlash. This is seen in the rise of misogyny, the treatment of women as objects, and an increasing male devaluation of marriage(what are the benefits?). So,
feminism has resulted in both“girly men” and “cavemen.”Both are godless, but from different sides of the spectrum. The multiplication of passive and acquiescing men, on the one side, and caustically domineering men, on the other side, has been a great loss for women. Many find themselves either despising men or basically selling themselves to men. Again—God is not mocked. His ways are the best for both men and women. Rejecting them leads to inevitable cultural dissolution.
The Power of Propaganda
The Barbie movie is effective subversion, dressed up as child’s play. But subversion is an adult endeavor, and it is being played for keeps. The goal is to undermine traditional society to construct a better, and, importantly, post-Christian, future. And the targets of their propaganda are our children—in this case young women and girls who have no resistance to the moral vision and presuppositions of the Barbie message. Hearts are being converted to a worldview at the deepest levels. Attitudes toward American history are being deeply polluted. This is the power of effective propaganda, and feminists on the left are not about to reduce the pressure. Those who control attitudes, through the media, have a leg up on everyone else.
The Trap of Biblical Opposition
The Church has been on its heels for decades, and part of the reason is that its reactions are not just predictable, but in many cases further exhibits to the world of how out of touch are Christians and other cultural conservatives. Here are two clever ways that feminists frame the opposition:
The Church Preserving Evil Systems—Christian doctrine has long been explained away as designed to keep the masses under control to benefit church coffers and oppressive leaders. The narrative today is that followers of Jesus are perpetuating a myth of the dark ages, blindly supporting structures that favor men. And so, when preachers focus on the need for women to be submissive to their husbands, sound bites are extracted and displayed as proof that Bible-believing churches are complicit in the patriarchy.
Men Oppressing Women—Christian
men are the ones most identified as oppressors. They are holding back the culture from reaching utopian goals. This is diabolically clever. Build up a picture of the great world that is being kept from women, and point the fingers at the Christian barnacles that hinder the progress of the ship of culture that needs to sail away from the oppressive Christian patriarchy. When you hear calls to tear down Western culture, feminists are behind many of the slogans. They see modern conservative men as the ideological descendants of the patriarchal founders who obviously didn’t value women. Today’s men want to perpetuate their privileges and prevent any substantial changes to the system.
Conclusion
We should not underestimate the power of the deceptions that are progressively darkening our culture. That is, they could get much worse than they are. Once the fear of God is lost among a people, sinful desires are released which have been suppressed due to culturally influenced fear of judgment. Remove this fear, and the results are predictable. The Word of God promotes godliness, which is a blessing to society. But sin is a plague, and cares little for the preservation of any society that restricts its expression.
The historical consensus was that it is imperative to suppress godless behavior, and thus law-based religion was valued. This cultural value has been undermined by relativism, and only an aging portion of the population still insists there is a right and a wrong. The younger generations have been trained to assume that this was all bigotry, and that dead white men created categories of right and wrong to protect their own privileges. These categories must be smashed.
At the same time, God is in control, and there are women who are waking up (even outside faith communities) who are seeing the destructiveness of radical feminism, and who see through the lies about the “destructive patriarchy.” But great wisdom is required to communicate God’s truth in a way that wins souls. We could be observing only the early stages of a much greater cultural slide. In the end, God will be glorified even in this. His plans are complete and perfect. “Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16)
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